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Apple Working on Advanced Gesturing and Multi-Touch Version of iWork
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One of the few sane comments from all of the tablet speculation threads.
You are part of a rare group of individuals here.
True, Apple must target the masses since that is where most of the cash is. But working with a large national engineering company that has recently made the moved to Macs, we've been assured by Apple that their future products will not leave business and Education behind. I'm sure their future products will be developed primarily with Joe Consumer in mind, but also with some thought given to business utility. The potential of the "Slate" is getting a lot of interest in business.
I was actually thinking something similar to this. Two buttons on each side where your thumbs are and eight buttons one the back..One for each finger.. this would allow for typing. all though you would have to learn what each button is, I think you could eventually type very fast like this. I dunno just an idea. Can't wait to see what they have done.
That was great!
That was well put, martint84! Well put indeed, highly amusing, and highly plausible too!
To the other person who inferred that Pages and Numbers would not be good on a tablet Mac, I disagree: modified for the tablet format, both apps would be great, just as the whole iLife suite would be. What a natural fit iWork and iLife would make for an "iLife" device! Just think: Apple's been testing parts of iWork in the "cloud" this past year; MobileMe development has been a big push for the company; WWAN 3G wireless internet support is now native in Snow Leopard; there has been increased testing and deployment of multi-touch in MacBook/Pro and mouse; and so on. There's more too, but these things all seem to be testing aspects of future portable computing, tablet-style!
That was well put, martint84! Well put indeed, highly amusing, and highly plausible too!
To the other person who inferred that Pages and Numbers would not be good on a tablet Mac, I disagree: modified for the tablet format, both apps would be great, just as the whole iLife suite would be. What a natural fit iWork and iLife would make for an "iLife" device! Just think: Apple's been testing parts of iWork in the "cloud" this past year; MobileMe development has been a big push for the company; WWAN 3G wireless internet support is now native in Snow Leopard; there has been increased testing and deployment of multi-touch in MacBook/Pro and mouse; and so on. There's more too, but these things all seem to be testing aspects of future portable computing, tablet-style!
If Apple did work hand writing recognition into iWork for the tablet and you could use a stylus pen, there is a 90% chance I would buy it.
Your link doesn't work, but 3PM are stepping up to the plate with hard keyboards. At least that is what Ion, with the iType, wants you to believe at CES.
Your link doesn't work, but 3PM are stepping up to the plate with hard keyboards. At least that is what Ion, with the iType, wants you to believe at CES.
you would "see" you fingers on the other side.. they would show up as shadows when they touched the screen. ( or better yet, transparent screens like the demo device someone just posted ).
It would be tricky that's for sure. Since I was thinking you would have total multitouch on front and back, you could just stick with front only if you wanted and then try out the back side if you were feeling more "advanced" maybe?
I dunno. We'll find out in a couple of weeks what Apple has in store!
Charles
XCode?
Why does anyone think XCode would be ported to run on an ARM processor? This is just plain crazy. You could get gcc running (if they supported Terminal) but XCode?
But even if porting XCode was "free" (meaning easily accomplished and simple), Apple wouldn't do it. For one thing, it is barely usable on a 13" widescreen monitor (hard enough on a 17" monitor). On a 10" device? It would be horrific. For another, Apple wants to use devices like iPods, iPhones, and this new tablet to spark sales of their other Macintosh computers.
This device will not be considered to be a notebook computer replacement if it is running an ARM processor. There is just too many things that won't run on it, with no simple port.
What Apple is banking on, is that there are a lot of people that are currently buying notebook computers, because that's all the industry is offering, but that's not what they really want. There are a lot of people buying notebooks with no intention of coding, or photoshopping, or editing home movies on them. That stuff doesn't matter, they just want to see their media (movies, music, photos, books, magazines, newspapers, etc.), put together simple presentations, and surf the web.
Apple plans on giving them that device in a way that no one else can. When they do, the collective moan from the ubergeeks will ring out saying: "But I can't replace my Macbook with it because it doesn't do 'X'". To which I reply, this device really isn't for you anyway.
Why does anyone think XCode would be ported to run on an ARM processor? This is just plain crazy. You could get gcc running (if they supported Terminal) but XCode?
But even if porting XCode was "free" (meaning easily accomplished and simple), Apple wouldn't do it. For one thing, it is barely usable on a 13" widescreen monitor (hard enough on a 17" monitor). On a 10" device? It would be horrific. For another, Apple wants to use devices like iPods, iPhones, and this new tablet to spark sales of their other Macintosh computers.
This device will not be considered to be a notebook computer replacement if it is running an ARM processor. There is just too many things that won't run on it, with no simple port.
What Apple is banking on, is that there are a lot of people that are currently buying notebook computers, because that's all the industry is offering, but that's not what they really want. There are a lot of people buying notebooks with no intention of coding, or photoshopping, or editing home movies on them. That stuff doesn't matter, they just want to see their media (movies, music, photos, books, magazines, newspapers, etc.), put together simple presentations, and surf the web.
Apple plans on giving them that device in a way that no one else can. When they do, the collective moan from the ubergeeks will ring out saying: "But I can't replace my Macbook with it because it doesn't do 'X'". To which I reply, this device really isn't for you anyway.
Maybe it'd work like, you put your fingers wherever, and that will be your "home" position, and you just start typing, and the computer would be smart enough to figure out which letter you're "hitting" (if you move your left index finger upwards and tap, that'd be a "r", and if you move your right middle finger down, it'd be a "," and so on.
Just an idea I'm throwing out there, no one really knows what Apple will come up with, though.
Possibly, but I digress.
What reproducible scenario are you inferring?
what ownership read/write permissions are on your files and in you basic system configuration for security?
644? 611?
Are you parent folders 755? 711?
What suid do you have on your files?
Yes, sorry I chose that phrasing poorly. I can see a lot of practical benefit to your idea too.
you guys are getting crazy with your behind the screen keyboard ideas. it's way too esoteric. try holding a book that weighs about a kilogram or so (based on a 10" cover) and try to imagine typing on the back.
this will not happen. it will be an on-screen keyboard. this is guaranteed by the success of the keyboard on the iphone. what we will see slow and steady development of, as indicated by this article years of patents and acquisitions is increasing use of gestures.
if you want to look to the future, look to minority report style developments. the idea is to make things easier and more efficient, not harder.
this will not happen. it will be an on-screen keyboard. this is guaranteed by the success of the keyboard on the iphone. what we will see slow and steady development of, as indicated by this article years of patents and acquisitions is increasing use of gestures.
if you want to look to the future, look to minority report style developments. the idea is to make things easier and more efficient, not harder.
maybe thats the difficult part we have told about, training the device to your voice.
Its about time advances were made in voice technology.
just after i railed against you all for your crazy ideas, may i propose that while the likelihood highly sophisticated voice input is inevitable, it's just not marketable to the mainstream. however, as direct neural interface control rapidly picks up pace, this is the future you are looking for.
edit: and this will be a commercial product much sooner than you many anticipate.
You misunderstand my point. People who type or use manual input devices have some modicum of privacy. Having to speak aloud eliminates any privacy. For many professionals vocal input is an absolute impossibility.
although apple seems to be putting all its effort into on-screen keyboard techniques, i wonder how a model could be made with a physical keyboard that is sliding out from/retracting back into the main body, such as is on many slider keyboard mobile phones.
iWork: current version is '09. it sounds credible that a new version would come out in late january.
iWork: current version is '09. it sounds credible that a new version would come out in late january.
If this is your belief then it will cater to a very, very small crowd unlike the iPhone. It will not only be ubergeeks that have a problem with this. The average user generally has basic apps which are necessary for them. And yes, photo and video editing are two of them. When you mention that these people want to watch their movies, this also include home movies which they edit. These can be replaced by third party apps though the concerns of the openness of the OS will also come into play.
I don't think that this is just some content consuming device otherwise there is no point to having iWork on it. I think that this is eventually where the Mac OS is headed. This tablet will be initially underpowered but it will be considerably moreso in the years to come.
If this is just a device for consuming media, Apple will have hard time selling it in an economy with a 10% unemployment rate and unofficial rate that is twice as high. It is relatively easy justifying the price of a Mac and iPhone. It would be very hard to justify what is essentially a luxury device.