The Apple Tablet -- iInterface
I brought this idea up in the Tablet thread but I feel like it's lost in the shuffle there.. I was hoping to get more input by posting it here on the main board.
What I am thinking a killer app for a larger iPhone/Tablet would be is as a peripheral device for your primary computer... thnk of it as a "keyboard" from the future, completely customizable and that has actual computing power in addition.... oh yeah.. and on top of that, while you aren't using it as a peripheral it would also be the ideal personal media player available.
What I am thinking is that if you just try to market this Mac Tablet as a pure media device it seems kind of redundant to a laptop or even your primary PC. BUT if you market it as primarily an interface device that you use with your current computer.. be it Mac or pc then you have a killer app for this device. And this is on top of all the things it can do that the iPhone and iPod can do as well.
So when I say use it as a peripheral let me flesh that out a bit. let's say you are a film student.. and in your spare time you make a lot of student films. You know how there are those machines editors use when making films that have all kinds of buttons and sliders to make editing more efficient and easily controlled? They have the same thing for audio editors too.. like a big panel with all kinds of sliders etc.
Well.. the iPhone touch interface in a tablet form would be the PERFECT interactive canvas for making all kinds of customizable interfaces for this purpose. Any application you could think of you could have a custom control panel designed to use in conjunction with your primary computer. And the great thing about this is that rather than having this tablet that is JUST a low tier laptop.. instead you have something that can be used with your primary computer to make it more powerful and easier to use.
Basically, I view this as being an attachment for your computer, be it apple or PC, that makes it better and more usable.. whether it is by making a custom control panel with all different kinds of controls.. or as an input device for drawing OR just as a way of multitasking. Rather than having to upgrade our computer the tablet is a way of adding another monitor.. or another control method or just more RAM for multitasking.
So you could attach the tablet to your computer and it works in conjunction with it communicating and controlling it or working in tandem with it. Imagine you want to use your primary PC for some big task like rendering something.. your tablet could work in conjunction with your PC to play music so as not to sap your main computers resources. But what makes it so great is that it is connected to your computer rather than just isolated.
My only questions are whether Jobs WOULD do this.. would he make a device that works with Windows machines? And could he do this.. is it logistically possible to make a device like this that could work seamlessly with both macs and PCs as a peripheral for all different kinds of apps. If Jobs isn't going this route that I envision is it possible the Mac touch tablet could later be modified and customized for this purpose contrary to Apple's plans or in addition to them?
What I am thinking a killer app for a larger iPhone/Tablet would be is as a peripheral device for your primary computer... thnk of it as a "keyboard" from the future, completely customizable and that has actual computing power in addition.... oh yeah.. and on top of that, while you aren't using it as a peripheral it would also be the ideal personal media player available.
What I am thinking is that if you just try to market this Mac Tablet as a pure media device it seems kind of redundant to a laptop or even your primary PC. BUT if you market it as primarily an interface device that you use with your current computer.. be it Mac or pc then you have a killer app for this device. And this is on top of all the things it can do that the iPhone and iPod can do as well.
So when I say use it as a peripheral let me flesh that out a bit. let's say you are a film student.. and in your spare time you make a lot of student films. You know how there are those machines editors use when making films that have all kinds of buttons and sliders to make editing more efficient and easily controlled? They have the same thing for audio editors too.. like a big panel with all kinds of sliders etc.
Well.. the iPhone touch interface in a tablet form would be the PERFECT interactive canvas for making all kinds of customizable interfaces for this purpose. Any application you could think of you could have a custom control panel designed to use in conjunction with your primary computer. And the great thing about this is that rather than having this tablet that is JUST a low tier laptop.. instead you have something that can be used with your primary computer to make it more powerful and easier to use.
Basically, I view this as being an attachment for your computer, be it apple or PC, that makes it better and more usable.. whether it is by making a custom control panel with all different kinds of controls.. or as an input device for drawing OR just as a way of multitasking. Rather than having to upgrade our computer the tablet is a way of adding another monitor.. or another control method or just more RAM for multitasking.
So you could attach the tablet to your computer and it works in conjunction with it communicating and controlling it or working in tandem with it. Imagine you want to use your primary PC for some big task like rendering something.. your tablet could work in conjunction with your PC to play music so as not to sap your main computers resources. But what makes it so great is that it is connected to your computer rather than just isolated.
My only questions are whether Jobs WOULD do this.. would he make a device that works with Windows machines? And could he do this.. is it logistically possible to make a device like this that could work seamlessly with both macs and PCs as a peripheral for all different kinds of apps. If Jobs isn't going this route that I envision is it possible the Mac touch tablet could later be modified and customized for this purpose contrary to Apple's plans or in addition to them?
Comments
I brought this idea up in the Tablet thread but I feel like it's lost in the shuffle there.. I was hoping to get more input by posting it here on the main board.
What I am thinking a killer app for a larger iPhone/Tablet would be is as a peripheral device for your primary computer... thnk of it as a "keyboard" from the future, completely customizable and that has actual computing power in addition.... oh yeah.. and on top of that, while you aren't using it as a peripheral it would also be the ideal personal media player available.
What I am thinking is that if you just try to market this Mac Tablet as a pure media device it seems kind of redundant to a laptop or even your primary PC. BUT if you market it as primarily an interface device that you use with your current computer.. be it Mac or pc then you have a killer app for this device. And this is on top of all the things it can do that the iPhone and iPod can do as well.
So when I say use it as a peripheral let me flesh that out a bit. let's say you are a film student.. and in your spare time you make a lot of student films. You know how there are those machines editors use when making films that have all kinds of buttons and sliders to make editing more efficient and easily controlled? They have the same thing for audio editors too.. like a big panel with all kinds of sliders etc.
Well.. the iPhone touch interface in a tablet form would be the PERFECT interactive canvas for making all kinds of customizable interfaces for this purpose. Any application you could think of you could have a custom control panel designed to use in conjunction with your primary computer. And the great thing about this is that rather than having this tablet that is JUST a low tier laptop.. instead you have something that can be used with your primary computer to make it more powerful and easier to use.
Basically, I view this as being an attachment for your computer, be it apple or PC, that makes it better and more usable.. whether it is by making a custom control panel with all different kinds of controls.. or as an input device for drawing OR just as a way of multitasking. Rather than having to upgrade our computer the tablet is a way of adding another monitor.. or another control method or just more RAM for multitasking.
So you could attach the tablet to your computer and it works in conjunction with it communicating and controlling it or working in tandem with it. Imagine you want to use your primary PC for some big task like rendering something.. your tablet could work in conjunction with your PC to play music so as not to sap your main computers resources. But what makes it so great is that it is connected to your computer rather than just isolated.
My only questions are whether Jobs WOULD do this.. would he make a device that works with Windows machines? And could he do this.. is it logistically possible to make a device like this that could work seamlessly with both macs and PCs as a peripheral for all different kinds of apps. If Jobs isn't going this route that I envision is it possible the Mac touch tablet could later be modified and customized for this purpose contrary to Apple's plans or in addition to them?
It's too bad you screwed up the title to the thread. The Apple "Table"?
Anyways, if there is any sharing of tasks between the tablet and a desktop I just hope the feature would available for PCs as well as Macs.
Though the whole thing is pretty ironic. One of the reasons I want a touch/pen interface so bad is because I am such an atrocious typer. I never adopted touch typing.. hence.. lots of freakin typos.
Edit: I just realized you can edit the title in the "advanced" link.. my life sucks.
Think of it like a parasite that comes along and takes control of a larger creature and controls it. So you have the power of the larger Windows computer but you TAME it with Macs brains -- Macs brilliant user interface, that is even more enhanced by the new iPhone touch/sketch interface.
Wouldn't all Windows users be willing to pay for this? And it would be a way for Apple to tap into the Windows market without them having to switch over completely.
Think of it this way.. who WOULDN'T want one of these if it worked this way? Every windows and Mac user would want one of these things.
In any event I've become convinced that what is coming is a Video iPod. IPod because feature wise it will derive from the current Touch OS and will be light weght hardware wise. This isn't to suggest poor performance but rather that the device will have limited I/O. Instead it will have an SD slot, lots of built in Flash, suitable RAM and little else. The interesting flier here is RAM, supply lots of it and the platform will see rapid adoption/ development outside of mainstream apps. In other words advance games and more indepth business and technical apps.
Dave.
The problems as I see it is demand for such an input device is near zero today.
Hi Wizard. I agree there is little to no demand here right now. But I believe this is because people don't realize the capabilities. If they did I think they would go nuts over this idea.
A good way to think of this is as a SUPER customizable keyboard... I have seen a lot of hype for a keyboard that had customizeable OLED buttons. This touch interface would kick that things butt so bad it's not even funny.
BUT.. on top of that great feature.. you can also use it for tons of other things... AND it allows you to use that extra power it provides on the go as a modular computer to make your home system more powerful by adding multitasking. It takes something that is completely redundant and a luxury on it''s own.. and then by allowing it to work with your computer makes it extremely valuable and useful.
On top of that I don't see a general way to use a tablet with desktop apps.
I have a lot of questions about the logistics of it. How efficient would it be? Would it slow your computer and user interface down?
But if that wasn't an issue I can see COUNTLESS uses for this. Think of it this way... the ONLY use for your normal keyboard would be for text editing. But for EVERYTHING else I could see this tablet interface as being incredibly efficient. Think of when you are using photoshop.. you could use your main monitor for all kinds of reference images or for storing color palettes but do all your image manipulating on your touch screen. Or if you are editing video you would have your playback image all on your main monitor and then use your touch interfacer for all the manipulating and control.
I do think it would take a lot of time to really understand how to use a system like this efficiently and intuitively.. lots and lots of R&D.. but the reason for that is all the capabilities and new possibilities this kind of interface would provide. The possibilities are limitless IMO.
Also.. imagine using MULTIPLE of these Mac tablets in this fashion. You could have all kinds of interactive control mechanism or display mechanism for different element of your computer. The possibilities are truly incredible.. but it requires actually playing with them to explore those possibilities fully I think.
This actually makes me wonder if we will see Apple move away from the iMac design and move to a central appliance like system. So you would have your central brain computer and then multiple modular visual/touch pads people use for monitoring and controlling their computer.. all working together and interacting.. like parts of one large brain.
If you want more capabilities or control you buy another tablet and it grows organically.
When I posted this idea of the tablet doubling as a keyboard.. or vice versa.. I had NO idea that Apple had bought FingerWorks and I did not know about the FingerWorks keyboard and touch pad and all the gestures they had to control their keyboard. In light of that info I will be shocked and incredibly disappointed if Apple doesn't use the tablet for this application.
Also, there is a lot of skepticism about this photo really being the actual tablet bezel.. but I think it is plausible.. and I wonder if the person is giving us a huge hint about the tablets use. Look how the screen is almost the exact size of he keyboard. And because of the great ability of a touchscreen to change keys you don't need all the additional keys outside of your home keys either. So the size would be ideal for a keyboard..
My hope is that this is the beginning of a revolution of how we interact with our computers. Think of the tablet as a FingerWorks keyboard and drawing pad that no one could ever afford if it also didn't double as a portable computer.
I also like to think of the tablet/keyboard and your primary PC as the future version of a book and paper. Your primary PC is the book and your tablet/keyboard is your drawing/writing paper/keyboard and each can interact with the other.
You could also customize your work space and use several of these tablet control surfaces depending on what kind of work you do.
Also, check this article out. These patents support this application as well. I just hope it's not something we have to wait 5 years for.
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patentl...rophecies.html
Also, notice the size of the display. That looks like it could be close to the exact same size as the tablet.
It even looks like it has a "home" button!