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Apple's 'Magic Trackpad' or 'Magic Slate' Revealed?
- Thread starter sammy2066
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I'm not going to allow tat to be in front of my face on my desk with my iMac. No way I'm sorry. Handwriting recognition bbwwahahaha.
On a MBP, I'm used to having the trackpad between me and the keyboard. I guess having it beside the keyboard could be fine too... although at the moment I like to use fingers from both hands on the trackpad, if that makes any sense. ie, when gliding downward to show all opened windows, instead of using four fingers from my right hand, I use index and middle from both.
Doesn't look fine at all.
The ergonomic benefit of getting rid of the numerical keypad is that you have have the alphanumerical keys centered right in front of you. If you do this with an old-school keyboard you'll either have off-center keys or the numpad will be sticking out on the right.
The lady on the left will have plenty of mouse arm pain when she goes to bed...
That's why I'm going to place the 'magic pad' on the left. I'm a southpaw anyway, but not one of those who put the mouse on the left side.
If you noticed the black keyboard is centered to the monitor as the white one is moved closer to the right, very skewed. the number pad really doesn't change your ergonomics that much
Fingerworks
I'm not sure I'm going to get this, until I've tried it. If it beats my current iGesture pad (http://www.fingerworks.com/ - Apple bought this company) then maybe. However, if you've never used one, these pads are amazing!
I'm not sure I'm going to get this, until I've tried it. If it beats my current iGesture pad (http://www.fingerworks.com/ - Apple bought this company) then maybe. However, if you've never used one, these pads are amazing!
I'm a Video Editor, I use a trackball for my right hand, and keyboard under my left hand... I can't see it getting much faster than that... maybe they'll prove me wrong, we'll see.
Yeh, until Apple starts shipping iMacs with a keyboard+trackpad combo. So much for Steam.
But this wasn't about a numpad, I just used the picture to illustrate the ergonomic issues with having the mouse too far to the right. The point the picture makes is that the alphanumerical part of the keyboard should be centered in front of you. If you center the entire keyboard the alphanumerical section will be way off to the left which is also an ergonomic no-no.
This was about placing something much larger than a numpad (i.e. the "magic pad") between the keyboard and the mouse. If you're going to use the "magic pad" on the right side, it'll have to be a mouse replacement, not an addition to the mouse.
Depending on it's size, I think this looks promising, if it's a fair size bigger than the MBs trackpad, I might be tempted to get this along with a new bluetooth keyboard.
Although that one is much slicker, those kind of devices habe been out for many years in the PC world. This is an OOOOOLLLLD Idea
Are you referring to the similar touchpad made by Wacom? I bought it after finding the guy experience on the MacBook touchpad so much smoother tha. A mouse but I stopped using the wacom device after about a week. The touch interface is just not responsive enough. It's just a litle bit off but that little bit throws off the user experience by a mile. Surfing and just getting around osx on the MacBook is so much better with the touchpad but its not. Just because of the touchpad concept but how well the touchpad works. Same thing for the touch interface on mobile devices. Some of these smart phones market their touch interfaces but the response time and gesture understanding is a joke for the ones I have used outside the iPhone. The Idea of a touch pad only works if the pad itself is easy to use.
I have been waiting for something like this so I could ditch the mouse. The Wacom touch has a lot of problems so I have steered clear of it. This will be fantastic!
Thanks for the video.... If this is pressure sensitive this just might replace my wacom on day one.
After watching the video I can see quite a few things this being really useful for.
Use for Apple TV
Sorry, I am at work, and don't too time to read all the comments, so if someone has said this, I apologize.
But....what if this can be paired with the possible Apple TV refresh that has been rumored. Something that you can then use to play apps from the app store, which would obviously have to be incorporated into the Apple TV software. I would have to think that Apple has thought about doing this. There is too much money that can be made if app developers could develop games for my big screen.
Think about it, how many games in the app store require you to touch the screen. Its same concept with this pad for games on the TV through the App Store on the Apple TV.
Just my two cents...
Sorry, I am at work, and don't too time to read all the comments, so if someone has said this, I apologize.
But....what if this can be paired with the possible Apple TV refresh that has been rumored. Something that you can then use to play apps from the app store, which would obviously have to be incorporated into the Apple TV software. I would have to think that Apple has thought about doing this. There is too much money that can be made if app developers could develop games for my big screen.
Think about it, how many games in the app store require you to touch the screen. Its same concept with this pad for games on the TV through the App Store on the Apple TV.
Just my two cents...
I am predicting "death of the mouse" like we had the funeral for OS9... I think Apple have always wanted to find an alternative for the mouse, which is why I think I find myself not using it very much. Everything I do in OSX seems to be based round shortcuts, and when I'm on a laptop a lot of gestures.
Of course there's still plenty of times when i've needed to point at click, but I seem to do it much less when I used a windows machine (albeit a long time ago now... windows 95... but still...)
Multitouch is the future on mobile devices, this is obvious... but for our PCs there need to be a massive shift in the operating system which I can't imagine what that is yet... I don't imagine we'll see this until OSXI or OSXII...
Of course there's still plenty of times when i've needed to point at click, but I seem to do it much less when I used a windows machine (albeit a long time ago now... windows 95... but still...)
Multitouch is the future on mobile devices, this is obvious... but for our PCs there need to be a massive shift in the operating system which I can't imagine what that is yet... I don't imagine we'll see this until OSXI or OSXII...
THIS. I could not live without BTT. I can't believe its still free - I'd probably pay $100 for it.
At first glance, this thing is cool, but thinking about it more it doesn't seem like that great of an idea. The Magic Mouse seems like it would be faster, especially combined with BetterTouchTool. Dragging your finger around this thing to move the cursor, and then using two fingers to scroll an active window, seems cumbersome. You can move the cursor around a large desktop area much faster with a mouse, and the Magic Mouse lets you scroll at the same time. Not to mention all the other quick gestures that are supported. I guess, to me, it just seems like for general use, a mouse is much faster, and the Magic Mouse is basically perfect already.
I could see some specific application uses though. Especially if Apple allows you to use in alongside a standard mouse or other input device. Specifically for 3D modeling or used in conjunction with a graphics tablet and digital painting software. For example, one could easily manipulate 3D objects in a window while also clicking on tools and manipulating the object. For 2D illustration, one could easily pinch to zoom, and rotate the canvas, while also using a Wacom tablet to draw.
I could see some specific application uses though. Especially if Apple allows you to use in alongside a standard mouse or other input device. Specifically for 3D modeling or used in conjunction with a graphics tablet and digital painting software. For example, one could easily manipulate 3D objects in a window while also clicking on tools and manipulating the object. For 2D illustration, one could easily pinch to zoom, and rotate the canvas, while also using a Wacom tablet to draw.