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Apple Exploring MultiTouch Interface Gestures

mozmac said:
These remind me of the Graffiti icons from my old Palm. Apple will definitely make them simpler and more intuitive. I think it's great that they're making this they're "next big thing" because it will give people a naturally human interaction with their computers instead of requiring them to learn how to use special input devices. I want to go down on record as liking the keyboard more than the mouse. The mouse has certain functions to perform, but people rely too heavily on it. You can get so much more done in a short period of time using keyboard shortcuts.
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I like your analogy with keyboard shortcuts on this, I think it shows the strengths and weaknesses of these gestures. These look like fast, easy ways to get jobs done, but require learning rather than intuition. I think you could fly on such a device, much as keyboard shortcuts allow you to do so, but I also think that few would, because the effort to learn them would be too great for most. Things that need to be learned are great if you know them, but if you have a job to do, and you don't know how to do it, figuring out can be quite tricky and frustrating, because it's not what your'e actually trying to do. I wouldn't expect apple to release a device capable of more than 10 gestures or so, and if they did release such a device (or even one with fewer), they would be redundant, so one can save time but doesn't need to know them, like keyboard shortcuts.
 
Imagine...

(finally, my first post!)

Imagine this: the difference between laptops and desktops starts to fade!

It is proven that vertical screens aren't so user friendly. It would be much easier to use a screen that lies flat on your desk.

So, let's put down the current iMac from the stand on the table, slightly tilted. Where the chin is, you could easily insert a full keyboard (especially if the 17' model is discontinued). A trackpad or mouse are still possible but... if the screen is touch sensitive, it would provide a whole new way of using a computer. In fact, you would be able to input text in the 'classic' way or using the touch interface, same goes for other uses then data entry.

The difference between desktop and laptop is only... the battery! iMac would not have a battery, so that it would be harder to move (and perhaps the size: who would want a 24' laptop?).

What do you think?
:)
 
It's great but most of those patent applications will not see the light on mac computers for the next 10 years. I think |Microsoft is leading the way (for once) and Apple will have to follow once they see they can't stay behind.
 
princigalli said:
It's great but most of those patent applications will not see the light on mac computers for the next 10 years. I think |Microsoft is leading the way (for once) and Apple will have to follow once they see they can't stay behind.
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Why? Apple have a Multi-Touch computer in the form of the iPhone, and MS have a multi-touch computer in the form of the surface table thing.

Neither have as of yet announced anything in the way of a full on multi-touch PC, and i'd bet both are looking at it very closely. It's way too early to be calling the shots now.
 
bigraz said:
I think that an iMac that can remove the "screen" or essentially the whole computer from a stand and you can use while surfing the net, etc. would be great and then when you need to create a movie or do some intensive things like photoshop or page layout, you put it back on the stand, pull the keyboard our and go to work as usual.
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Sounds great, but if the rumors of 20 and 24 inch are true, I don't see this working. Sitting on the couch, browse the web on a 24 inch screen in your lap. Sounds uncomfortable. Heck, 17 inch on a powerboook feels sometimes big already. But I can see up to a 15 inch screen work that way. But then 15 inch for a desktop doesn't cut it anymore.
 
Much Ado said:
Why? Apple have a Multi-Touch computer in the form of the iPhone, and MS have a multi-touch computer in the form of the surface table thing.

Neither have as of yet announced anything in the way of a full on multi-touch PC, and i'd bet both are looking at it very closely. It's way too early to be calling the shots now.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, Apple "seems" to be ahead of the game, but they are not. PC's have had tablet PC's for years now, Laptops with Swivel Screens, The New Samsung Q1, which is a 7" TFT Touch Screen Ultra Mobile PC and of course super hot deals like Walmart's $399 14" Acer Aspire Laptop with CD-RW and WiFi... That is why the sell millions when Apple sells thousands. That is why PC's rule the market. There are hundreds of brands with dreadful Windows but only ONE Apple.
Apple tried branching out back in the 90's with PowerComputing clones and it didn't work. They should have done it from the beginning, but no, they wanted to be the "elite" of computers... Elites are usually just a few lucky ones... They dug their own graves in that sense. It is sad that a music player like the iPod brought the company back into track, where the heart and soul of the Mac is not the computer case, but the Mac OS.
It seems nobody knows about this but there is a Mac OS tablet out there. It is called the ModBook by Axiotron which even comes with GPS... http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ModBook
A little expensive but something that Apple should have done long time ago...
 
sartinsauce said:
I pretty much had the same reaction. It's a whole new language to me, and one that seems tricky to learn. However, children learning it as they grow up will find it natural. Whole new interfaces can be built on the basis of this language and users will find it intuitive, because they've know this language their whole life.
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We'll be fine. Just keep your finger on the pulse. Or the touchpad...
 
Steoke said:
It is proven that vertical screens aren't so user friendly. It would be much easier to use a screen that lies flat on your desk.
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Do you have eyes in your chin? How has it been proven that looking straight forwards is bad for you, and that it's better to look down all the time?

It would seriously hurt.

Steoke said:
What do you think?
:)
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You seem really nice, and I almost feel bad being negative toward you, but it won't happen.
 
dontmatter said:
I like your analogy with keyboard shortcuts on this, I think it shows the strengths and weaknesses of these gestures. These look like fast, easy ways to get jobs done, but require learning rather than intuition. I think you could fly on such a device, much as keyboard shortcuts allow you to do so, but I also think that few would, because the effort to learn them would be too great for most. Things that need to be learned are great if you know them, but if you have a job to do, and you don't know how to do it, figuring out can be quite tricky and frustrating, because it's not what your'e actually trying to do. I wouldn't expect apple to release a device capable of more than 10 gestures or so, and if they did release such a device (or even one with fewer), they would be redundant, so one can save time but doesn't need to know them, like keyboard shortcuts.
Click to expand...

Agreed. They don't have to learn a new input device. They have to learn what their fingers do. I don't like to rely on my mouse because of the waste/drain on the battery. It's also a lot better to use keyboard shortcuts, but telling my girlfriend that only makes her mad.
 
Grimace said:
Fingerworks...

Best
Acquisition
Ever!
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A co-worker has an iGesture she bought right before Fingerworks was acquired by Apple - it totally rocks. I just bought the more diminutive SmartCat by Cirque/Adesso to help with some RSI issues I'm having. The SmartCats use Glidepoint, which predates multitouch, but has made "mousing" a dream. I totally think this is the way to go for computing - if Macs shipped with touchpads I'd be totally thrilled, and it would do wonders for alleviating some types of RSI. It's a bit of an adjustment to thinking about how to move things on screen, but a relatively easy one.
 
Nice photos zombitronic, i have see this device in Web yet, thanks for the tip.
 
Small White Car said:
You know how old folks all seem to be techno-phobic fuddy duddies who don't understand anything more complicated than a TV remote? It's not that they're stupid. The world just moved faster than they could keep up.

Well, this is the begining of the end for us, my friend.

Yes, I agree that a mouse seems easier. But I bet my 5 month old daughter is going to know all these hand motions by the time she's 4.

Give it another 2 decades and she'll be flying space shuttles with her toes while you and I and all the rest of the 'mouse users' will be sleeping in boxes under the freeway overpass.
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haha

:(
 
This all looks way too complicated to me. Kind of like learning sign language. If I had a touch screen, I would want it to work like the "PAD" on Star Trek, where you work your way through a series of simple menu trees using single touch only. This system looks to me a "finger keyboard". I would be hoping for something much more simple, yet elegant and easy to use. To me, having to use and learn a bunch of "finger codes" defeats the purpose of a touch screen. I don't want to learn a new language to be able to use a "touch" screen. It seems really lame to me. Just my opinion , I guess.
Rich :cool:
 
maxp1 said:
My point was that using the word 'intuitive' isn't right here. If it were actually 'intuitive' then it wouldn't need to be explained or the explanation would be very common sense. A mouse is intuitive. The explanation is something like "moving this mouse attached to the computer moves this pointer on the screen. When the pointer on the screen is over something you want to interact with, click the button on the mouse". Even small children get that easily.

A set of gestures, although they can be learned and some may make more sense than others, are not 'intuitive'.
Click to expand...

No the mouse is not intuitive. Sure the icon on the screen moves with it but nobody has any idea what do with it until they're told. Single click, Double click? Why no triple click? Left click, Right click? What if you click both at once? Drag and drop? Why not click and drop? Or double click and drop like with trackpads?

I didn't know what to do with a mouse until I was shown but it's so common, like driving a car or riding a bike, that we can't think back to the time before we knew how to do such things and how complex they seemed.

If these get applied to trackpads of mouses like the Mighty Mouse, then I can finally do more than click and right click. Copy text, move text, open expose (all three variations) perhaps set gestures to certain keyboard combinations. Sure there will be a learning curve but everything has a learning curve.

What's with all the Star Trek references? Star Trek is not the future. If this reminds me of anything it's Minority Report.
 
barcodebawtv said:
I don't know if I love it, but it is the most practical design so far. I personally believe that it needs an iMac G4 neck so it can be bent down to keyboard level and put back upright for regular typing
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It's perfect, they just need to make the screen 8" to make it worth it... to me. :p
 
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