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Looks cool but reminds me of the Nintendo DS. We all know how huge a hit that was. :)

Just a bad feeling on my part, but I'm sure the design has potential.
 
I don't know that I'd like to be looking through the bottom of the computer when I'm not wearing pants.
 
This is a CYA patent and we'll likely never see it in any Apple product, unless they are planning on spending the whole $19 billion on R&D.

The R&D for extreme touch applications already exist. Watch the u-tube clips I posted ... and those aren't even the most cutting edge.

Touch technology is going to be standard and there will be all these people that say "Back when I was young, you had to PUSH down on buttons."
 
Good catch......

Good catch he says. :rolleyes:

It took macrumors friggin long enough to post this story! Its been all over the net since this morning. Gotta move faster macrumors. ;)
Anyways here is an artist's concept on what an iphone nano might look like based on this new patent.......awesomeness! :D :

iphone-20-30-clamshell.jpg
 
Look closely at Figure 15D. Now doesn't that look familiar???

metro.jpg



The Metro Notebook is still real!!!
 

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I would like the transparent OLED... if its possible. Without any tactile OR visual response, I wouldn't know where to type. Cool idea tho! You could carry around a photocopy of a keyboard and put it under the "keypad" i guess, lol

So the touch surface would be transparent?

What would be cool is if it, somehow, was a transparent LCD/OLED display... so it could display the shape of a keyboard or anything, like that keyboard we keep hearing about, but you could also turn off all the displays and have it just look like a transparent glass overlay.

This is actually mentioned in the AppleInsider article. This technology is the most interesting part of a device like this, in my opinion.

Given that the touch-screen element would be completely translucent, Apple suggests several methods of displaying keyboards, number pads, and controls on panel while in the "open" position. These include using a "polarized light source so as to be slightly visible when lit" or displaying the controls through the use of minuscule LEDs embedded in the translucent touch-screen element.
 
Think about it -- on a multi-touch surface of this size, you could really express way more information with your hands than you can with a keyboard. In other words, the overall bandwidth is potentially greater. It should be possible to use this in a way that improves on a physical keyboard, if you're willing to branch out a little beyond the touchscreen keyboard metaphor.

It's true that people have tried to replace the keyboard before and met with limited success, but it's usually been because the devices have a lower inherent bandwidth. Consider the stylus method of the early Palms, or the chorded keyboards limited to 20 buttons or so -- low bandwidth. Ten fingers on a multi-touch surface could do much better than that, though it would take years of R&D to perfect it.

What a load of BS. "Bandwidth", now there is someone acting like Erasmus Montanus*.

You obviously forget the notion of "communication" between people, that this happens with words. Yes, words, and for some strange reason these consist of letters, yes letters.
There is nothing more here, than a tablet PC that have a hinged touch screen. If you think that you can do without a keyboard, be my guest purchasing a tablet pc.
While you're talking "bandwidth" (LOL), the rest of us are actually communicating with one and another. Have fun.





*look it up
 
What a load of BS. "Bandwidth", now there is someone acting like Erasmus Montanus*.

You obviously forget the notion of "communication" between people, that this happens with words. Yes, words, and for some strange reason these consist of letters, yes letters.
There is nothing more here, than a tablet PC that have a hinged touch screen. If you think that you can do without a keyboard, be my guest purchasing a tablet pc.
While you're talking "bandwidth" (LOL), the rest of us are actually communicating with one and another. Have fun.

*look it up

A post worthy of your user name. :D
 
Sounds familiar!

I'm a little confused about the transparent part. Can it display things in any way? Do you just touch see through nothing? Not sure how I feel about this.
 

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This is a CYA patent and we'll likely never see it in any Apple product, unless they are planning on spending the whole $19 billion on R&D.

Sounds like a great idea.

Beats buying a flagging Internet Search engine for $30B!!



Postscript: What I find really bizarre is that it took Apple to kick start this entire multi-touch revolution - and now suddenly everyone is at it - and yet the anti-apple whiners will still claim that Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola, Rim (blackberry's from your butthole?) etc etc are 'just as good - if not better' - well if they are just as good how come they've done nothing for 10 years but recycle the same old crap?
 
Sweet I would love to have something like this, I think a tablet type laptop would be very nice for a mobile small sized computer.
 
Two words. Kick. Stand.

Have a small prop on the back that would support the weight.

It would work, but doesn't seem very apple-ish. Plus you don't want to take up too much space, if it doesn't fit on an airplane seat tray it's not very usefull to a lot of people (wouldn't want it in tablet mode the whole flight). Guess it depends on how it's actually implemented and how it looks.
 
Since when? Have you even thought about _why_ it's called "touch typists" and what that entails?
:rolleyes:

What part of "touch typist" doesn't go well with "touch screen"? Being able to physically feel the keys can be useful sometimes, but it's really not necessary. There may be a learning curve but it's not that hard at all to type without the physical feedback of a physical keyboard. It's no different from switching from a fretted guitar to a fretless guitar. Yes, it's a little harder, but when you get used to it, you have much more power over what you're doing than before.

A while back, someone said that typing without physical feedback is difficult, and to try typing on a flat desk to see how hard and unnatural it is. I tried it. It was easy. Felt more natural than a physical keyboard. I know where the keys are. For any touch typist, it'll take maybe a week at most to get used to the flat surface.

What a load of BS. "Bandwidth", now there is someone acting like Erasmus Montanus*.

You obviously forget the notion of "communication" between people, that this happens with words. Yes, words, and for some strange reason these consist of letters, yes letters.
There is nothing more here, than a tablet PC that have a hinged touch screen. If you think that you can do without a keyboard, be my guest purchasing a tablet pc.
While you're talking "bandwidth" (LOL), the rest of us are actually communicating with one and another. Have fun.

In your own words: what a load of BS. There'll still be a keyboard. The method of entering letters won't go away. The only difference is that you'll be able to do much more than that. Imagine being able to move the mouse without taking your fingers away from the keyboard. You'll still have the keyboard. You'll just have a whole world of other input options open to you along *with* the keyboard.
 
not sure how much of a market there would be for a product like this. think about cost as well. for it to be a viable tablet they would need to make it very small, and i dont see them using anything but SSD on something like this. that said, this could coincide with intel entering the SSD market, and with increased competition among SSDs the prices could drop enough to make a product like this possible.

in my opinion, i think it would be cool if apple incorporated the clear/OLED technology in the top of the notebook, making it a screen with touch technology, but leave the conventional keyboard and computer component on the bottom. think MBA with a transparent screen.

I know apple is trying to come up with a replacement for the conventional keyboard, but i really dont know if this concept will manifest itself in the next few years. it could be a while. i think there would be a lag in sales if apple switched to a totally touch keyboard, as the entire computer using generation as of now is used to a conventional keyboard. the switch would occur with the next generation of computer users.
 
Remember it is a patent not a prouct...
It sometimes takes years for it to go into a product. Sometimes not at all. It is an issue if it brings anything useful to the table for the price... If you look at the competition there are notebooks with touch displays while the MacBooks don't have that option... Apple Clearly has skills in the touch display area but decided not to use it in that fashon... Why? Because other then an itial wow effect it doesn't offer much to the system. And makes it cost more. Apple will normally wait until they see a good use for the feature before putting it in.
 
What a load of BS. "Bandwidth", now there is someone acting like Erasmus Montanus*.

You obviously forget the notion of "communication" between people, that this happens with words. Yes, words, and for some strange reason these consist of letters, yes letters.
There is nothing more here, than a tablet PC that have a hinged touch screen. If you think that you can do without a keyboard, be my guest purchasing a tablet pc.
While you're talking "bandwidth" (LOL), the rest of us are actually communicating with one and another. Have fun.





*look it up

Why would you respond to a post if you don't understand it?

The point isn't that you'd use something other than letters, obviously. The point is that the best way to use a multi-touch surface to enter letters is yet to be discovered. It's probably not to just display a keyboard on the surface, for various reasons. But the variety of gestures that you can make on a surface of this size is probably large enough to compensate for the lack of tactile feedback.

None of the tablet PCs have a multi-touch screen... why would you bring those up? Do you know what multi-touch is? Did you hear that Apple might make a phone?
 
iCreate Mag got there first

I have a copy of UK mag icreate that ran this as a back page special a couple of years ago. I thought it was awesome then!!
 
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This sort of thing has the feel of a new innovative Apple product. I wonder if and when we might see something like this.
 
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