Multi-touch Future?

oxygon

((Sorry if this has been posted before, I did a small search and found nothing directly related))



With apples new multi-touch tech...



Will the next iMacs come board-less as an option?



thoughts?



Would you buy a 24" Multi-touch iMac?



I think I would/might...



A mouse is nice!



But it would be nice to have the ability... if only for coolness or perhaps convenience...



depending on situation



thoughts?



Ya or Na?

slewis

Not until the next big leap in Computers. If that happens to Leopard (which it won't be) it will happen sooner then I think.



Right now everything is made for a Keyboard and Mouse combo. Some applications can use a Graphire Tablet, but only some.



When Apple redesigns the UI in Mac OS X in such a way that a Panel or Touch Screen actually makes sense, that is when we will see it.



Sebastian

ebaydan777

i think thats awesome, a keyboard that u can only press on a virtual keyboard...awesome

daffy_duck

ebaydan,



Virtual touch keyboards are not a new idea. You can find them on many ATM's for instance. For a computer though, a touch screen keyboard is a lousy idea because tactile feedback is very important for writing anything longer than an instant message. The spring in the keys also serve to soften the impact of your fingers while you type which makes it more possible to type for long periods of time without finger pain. So, my guess is that mechanical keyboards are here to stay until we have direct brain-computer input.



The point is, what you are suggesting is already possible without infringing on Apple's multi-touch patent yet it is not being done for important reasons.



To chime into this thread in general, Apple will only use this multi-touch idea where it is needed. I believe it's needed mostly in portable devices. For non-portable devices, a mouse is still superior to touching your monitor and getting fingerprints all over it. I can quickly wipe my ipod on my pants leg to remove the fingerprints but I can't do that with my monitor. Look at how multi-touch is mostly used in the iPhone. Pinch to zoom into an image. With a mouse, I can just as easily spin the scroll wheel to accomplish the same task.



However! Apple might integrate the pinch concept into the trackpad instead of the display. That would make much more sense to me. They have already done it for scrolling, why not expand it to other multi-finger actions?

slewis

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daffy_Duck


ebaydan,



Virtual touch keyboards are not a new idea. You can find them on many ATM's for instance. For a computer though, a touch screen keyboard is a lousy idea because tactile feedback is very important for writing anything longer than an instant message. The spring in the keys also serve to soften the impact of your fingers while you type which makes it more possible to type for long periods of time without finger pain. So, my guess is that mechanical keyboards are here to stay until we have direct brain-computer input.



The point is, what you are suggesting is already possible without infringing on Apple's multi-touch patent yet it is not being done for important reasons.



To chime into this thread in general, Apple will only use this multi-touch idea where it is needed. I believe it's needed mostly in portable devices. For non-portable devices, a mouse is still superior to touching your monitor and getting fingerprints all over it. I can quickly wipe my ipod on my pants leg to remove the fingerprints but I can't do that with my monitor. Look at how multi-touch is mostly used in the iPhone. Pinch to zoom into an image. With a mouse, I can just as easily spin the scroll wheel to accomplish the same task.



However! Apple might integrate the pinch concept into the trackpad instead of the display. That would make much more sense to me. They have already done it for scrolling, why not expand it to other multi-finger actions?

You said it better



As for the Trackpad, well in Google Earth (or any other application that supports Zooming) I just use 2 Fingers Pushing Forward to Zoom in and Pushing Back to Zoom out. I can't see Pinching working as well on a Trackpad because naturally the Trackpad is much smaller then the Screen and on the iPhone, the Screen is the controls.



Sebastian



Sebastian

jbl

Here is a sort of interesting demo of what you can do with a multi-touch screen:



Talk by Jeff Han in TED lecture series