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Re: Beyond tablets

Originally posted by Toe
While we're investigating the possible, how far do you think we are from using glasses instead of screens? The advantages are pretty clear... you can have an effective 80" screen with minimal weight and cost.

Here are some current glasses:
http://vidsyn.com/iglasses.htm

And here's some eyeball-tracking technology:
http://www.eyegaze.com/doc/cathuniv.htm

Have there been any rumors of Apple getting into this realm? Seems like a great place for them to be the vanguard... or else IBM will do it (they're already advertising it, though they haven't produced anything).


Here is my favorite... Microoptical

Also notice the video on this page.

Here is a prototype, i guess, that is shown in a article from the press section..

prototype?

The great thing about it is it would allow you to not need a monitor on every portable device. Digicams, MP3 players, video cameras. home TV, laptops.
 
DUDE!

I saw something just like those a few years ago on this Discovery Channel show: Beyond 2000 (like i said... a few years ago)...

and I'd been wondering where I hypothetically get a pair. Thanks, but I think these are way too first-gen to use with an iLeaf or iPad.
 
Discovery Channel show: Beyond 2000

I miss that show! That was a great show.


I just wonder why the "big shots" like sony and the rest of the TV makers aren't putting all their money into this. These guys seem like a small company.

Oh, wait, now I know... it might destroy their business. If this was perfected it would destroy the market for huge 80 inch plasma TV's.

Lets hope this company doesn't get bought out and this technology put on the back shelf.
 
it won't ruin that market, it's just that the market for these things is way too small.

think about it... have a screen floating in front of you when you're crossing the street (like the businessmen do in the commercials)... and WHAM!

and also... input devices. I can imagine that there could be a glove version of the keyboard for touch-typists, but there is no viable input device for text input on the road or on foot.
Don't say handwriting recognition... have you ever tried to write without looking at your writing space, while walking, and while trying to make out a translucent 80-inch screen floating in front that stoplight that just changed colors? it would be a doozy, to put it nicely.
No... until someone invents an input device that's easy-to-use, doesn't look like crap, easily activated/deactivated (e.g. you point to some point of interest, and computer registers your hand motion as "Quit Without Saving" or "End Call"), AND gives the functionality of a keyboard, these goggles/eyepieces just aren't going to fly. (they're neat, though. I'd buy one if theyd bump the resolution up to 1024x1280)

P.S. - such eyepieces/tablets-you-can-scribble-on-while-on-the-road currently have a high nerd factor (especially if the user is a bit awkward is accomodating the new I/O scheme)
 
"""think about it... have a screen floating in front of you when you're crossing the street (like the businessmen do in the commercials)... and WHAM!"""

In its current configuration yes. But I think there is a lot of advancment yet to be made. If this concept had the money thrown at it that large corporations have like Sony and all the other TV and monitor companies have. I don't think they want to do it though because one pair of Uber glasses could replace every monitor you have. I have 3 TV's and a computer monitor not to mention all the smaller devices that have monitors.

Does anyone know how OLED's might be applied to something like this? Or nanotechnology? I envision a monitor that could track across your glasses and follow a small tablet "pad" with out a monitor on it. Also consider headsup display configuration that would over-write your surroundings like a fighter pilot.

"""and also... input devices. I can imagine that there could be a glove version of the keyboard for touch-typists, but there is no viable input device for text input on the road or on foot."""

Why not voice recognition?
 
Originally posted by iSegway
I miss that show! That was a great show.


I just wonder why the "big shots" like sony and the rest of the TV makers aren't putting all their money into this. These guys seem like a small company.

HAHAHA, I was about to reply and say the same thing! Every Thursday night I was there! I loved that show and still can't figure out why it was canceled. It was a UK show right? Maybe they stopped it leaving Discovery no choice.
 
There is TechTV now, I wonder if that is any good. Anyone know if there is a show comparable to beyond 2000. Another good one was called "the next step" I think. Scientific American was pretty good. I don't even know if it is still on now. Havn't see it in awhile. It had that guy freom MASH hosting it.
 
TechTV - Tomorrow's World

Eh, they have something called Tomorrow's World which is ok...but the music on it and the floating kid blowing bubbles annoys the heck out of me!! 😀
 
voice recognition? maybe.
Still, you'll need a mouse replacement, and that commercial for HUD computer with the guy yelling at the pigeon really discourages hope in voice-activated free-ranging navigation (a.k.a. verbal mouse)
 
apple tablet...

I did a sketch on photoshop about the tablet, the topic is a hot one, It began as a rendering then quickly became a crash-course in engineering & product developement, i ran into serious aesthetic issues, i cant imagine the enginnering
issues that will arise if they try and develop it,
but whatever they come up with Im sure it will be a kick-As* product, highly conceptualized and refined with new apps. unique to this tablet,
One person's input regarded it as a tool for students and Dr.s but Im sure there must be other groups this item can be useful to, whether as a tool or a luxury. I did a portrait mode aswell,
for myself Im sure I would not buy it until I experience it 3D-imensionally, Im sure new apps have to me made for it, so until someone doesnt start conceptualizing or generating possible apps, we are going to be in an ambigous state.
http://www.spymac.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=18338&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500
 
Re: apple tablet...

Originally posted by Mlobo01
One person's input regarded it as a tool for students and Dr.s but Im sure there must be other groups this item can be useful to, whether as a tool or a luxury.
I can't think of who wouldn't find a fully functional computer-in-a-tablet useful.

I have a PowerBook, a cellphone, and would like a PDA but think that's just too much junk to carry around. And I'm not some mobile businessman... I just like my tech to be available to me where ever and when ever I choose.

If my computer were the size of a cellphone and had a phone in it, I'd take it everywhere. And then when I got home, I could plug it into a nice big screen and Bluetooth a keyboard and mouse if I wanted.

Why is this seen as a niche market, when a $400, single-function iPod is such a successful product? And a $100-600 phone... and a $100-600 PDA?

If an iPad has all the functions of a PB, minus the optical drive (which you could always jack in, and which could also double as your set-top DVD player and home stereo), then who wouldn't want one?
 
mlobo01, that is one TINY tablet (by current tablet standards). Looks pretty nice, though I'd prefer clear plastic side handle plates and a thinner bezel

instead of thinking radical, why doesn't Apple just turn the 12" Albook into a tablet? Make the keyboard/touchpad wireless, and you'd have a nice (albeit unoriginal) tablet computer.
 
Tablet

I agree with you entirely, the Apple Tablet has to be more practical than the idea I rendered. I started off doing a photoshop exercise and then quickly turned into a crash course in product development and seudo-engineering after posting my sketches on http://www.spymac.com/ I received so much feedback some good some so-so, the things I realized for myself is that this item presented a ton a issues to be addressed that if ever Apple makes it, it has to be one HELL of a product, for 1) it has to be as functional as the iPod, as endearing as the iBook, or as productive as any of the desktops, possibly supply a service that it would be better on it than your desktop or laptop. 2) I read postings on apple ordering new plastic enclosures (5x7x1 inches) can that be a new iPod or a possible iPad? or neither??the return of Steve S. from Palm! For me if the Tablet is the size of an iBook I would just use my iBook, I dont really care for handwriting anything, I prefer a mouse and the graphic pen.
I just got a hint of what problems they would be presented with, but Apple is always famous for improving rustic ideas like this Tablet into actual innovation. Im not sure I would buy one, at least not until I try it at an Apple store, I use my computer as an extension of my easel. if I do anything artisitic it would be on my desktop in the privacy of my home, I can always do so much more on a desktop or laptop than I would do on one of these tablets except if they come up with excellent software to match this would-be product. peace Mario🙂
 
Re: Think digital hub...

Originally posted by paulie
Why not an iTablet that works WITH your existing Mac, rather than AS a Mac on its own. It should further integration with other digital devices.

Leave the iTablet on your coffee table, and it acts as a photo album or picture frame. Pick it up, use it as a remote control to play your iTunes library on speakers in your living room which are wired to your Mac through an iHub in the other room. Watch videos streamed to it over 802.11g, then pause the video to receive an instant message or a telephone call.

Why use pens and virtual keyboards to write email when voice recognition is starting to reach the level where its usable?

I think that is the market where Apple's iTablet could shine, as a piece of your digital home, not just as a laptop without a keyboard.

Take it one stage further and think of this as a device that communicates with your Mac and other home entertainment kit through 802.11alphabet.
This then allows you to stretch out and listen to your iTunes library through a Hi-Fi, show your Mum your holiday snaps on the TV or your latest movie of the kids. Then it can act as a conduit from a satelite box to your Mac to create a PVR, surf the web, check E-Mail, dictate replies through the triangulated mic setup a patent has been applied for.
This could then create a totally connected home at least entertainment wise.
Call it the Airhub perhaps and make loads selling phono leads attatched to Airport cards, Scarts attached to Airport cards etc.
I'll buy😀 😎
 
Re: Re: Think digital hub...

Originally posted by Winston Smith
Take it one stage further and think of this as a device that communicates with your Mac and other home entertainment kit through 802.11alphabet.
This then allows you to stretch out and listen to your iTunes library through a Hi-Fi, show your Mum your holiday snaps on the TV or your latest movie of the kids. Then it can act as a conduit from a satelite box to your Mac to create a PVR, surf the web, check E-Mail, dictate replies through the triangulated mic setup a patent has been applied for.
This sounds a LOT like the tablets they use on Star Trek. Toss in eBook Reader capabilities too (should be a snap).

If Apple could produce a "dumb" tablet that just displayed PDF/.doc/.rtf, displayed photos, played MP3s, read e-mail, and browsed web-pages; and if it cost $200, the market would be huge.

Imagine in the office (or school!) environment never carrying around piles of paper and notepads, but instead carrying a tablet. If someone wants to give you a copy of something, they just beam it to your tablet (think Rendezvous!). The more I think of it, the more it looks like iChat would be integral to this tablet... it could even be an iChablet or something. 😉

The problem is, I can see Apple producing dumb tablets that cost $600, and then we'd have another Newton, just waiting for someone else to come along with a crappy $100 version that everyone would buy.
 
I don't think Apple would create such a tangled web of disparate connections, products, and functions just so they could push their new iTablet as a digital media hub and portable screen. I mean, Crestron has had large touchpad uber-remotes for years, and there are Windows devices which are ready for such things. Viewsonic's $1000 porta-screen lets you surf, click, yadda yadda yadda from the comfort of your couch, bed, etc.

To have these two technologies converge isn't too hard, but to entice Tom, Dick, and Harry to buy the miscellaneous equipment needed to connect such a convergence device with the rest of your home is no small chore. Ideally, electronics makers would gradually phase home networking into their devices (WiFi, Wireless-G, etc.), standardize their connections (e.g. FireWire home theater), and put everything on an easily accessible, yet very capable, modular network.

Only then could Apple release a blockbuster product that lets users access this already-established network five times easier and more reliably than competing technology. (and encase it in brushed aluminum and white-backed Lucite😀 )


Of course, such a product would come at no small price.
Persuading people who are uncomfortable with/unaccustommed to the network itself to buy such a thing (iTablet) for "convenience" and to one-up the Joneses is another nightmare in and of itself.
 
Mac Tablet essential for Education Growth

Apple's chances of serious growth in the education market will only come about with cheap portable hardware for students.

Look at the Maine project, that is a serious success story for Macs in education, but not every school board has $50Mil lurking in a closet.

The whole concept of a tablet is a laptop using the cheapest, slowest, ie most power efficient components (runs all day), losing unnecessary features like optical drives custom engineered hinges, keyboards. It'll be a device thats supported either through a schools wireless infrastructure (WiFi) or a home users existing Mac ie. Docking. Something that is designed more for the digestion of knowledge than the creation. OS X is probably a shoe in as there just ain't enough developers to support this market.

As someone else mentioned, just like the StarTrek pads, except slightly thicker and including a hard drive.

Price range 100-150 $ less than the lowest ibook. With a bit more discount for the huge Education orders Apple will expect from this. Sorry i just don't think they'll ever bet the mass market and take on Palm at the $200 mark.

Cheers from the Tyke...
 
Update

Mac Whispers now says that the 5"x7"x1" case has an opening "that effectively includes one entire face" of the enclosure.

This sounds more and more like a tablet.

I have those little, yellow, lined paper tablets that look like mini legal-pads. I just measured one and found that it is 5"x7" (excluding the binding at the top). Hm!
 
Killer Feature

Here's an idea I thought of before, but there really wasn't a platform that would do it justice. The Mac Tablet, however, would be absolutely perfect! *** Apple, are you listening? ***

How many times have you made a list on your palm (handspring in my case) of things you want to buy the next time you are at WalMart, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.? But, a week later when you actually go there, you've got so much going on that you forget that you even made that list. What if your spiffy new Apple Tablet either had a built-in GPS receiver (or had the capability to add one via an expansion slot like a Visor) and you could receive reminders based on your LOCATION!

You could either add new locations via lat/long, or when you are out and about you could say I am at XYZ store. Then you could create a list or reminder that says hey, the next time I'm at Home Depot don't forget to pick up some super glue and more AAA batteries.

What do you think -- would you buy it?

-- Scott
 
Well I made a "prototype" of this device out of pictures of ipods/imacs/ibooks. laid them out in quark, and printed and folded it together. It looks cool, but it doesn't look like it will be able to fit an optical device of any kind. 🙁 I really want to be able to rip music and movies on it. I'll post pictures of it when I get home.
 
here is a sample

Here is a crappy mock up I made in photoshop. The actual one I made and printed looks more to scale. Again, I'll post it when I get home.
 

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OK, I made it home, and here is my "prototype". I'd like to see how close this is to what actually comes out.
 

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