dolphin
what if the ibook and imac were combined into a single product? dolphin.
dolphin would be able to recognize handwriting or touch therefore getting getting rid of the need for a keyboard. the lost of a keyboard and the simplicity of using a computer with out it would be revolutionary for a consumer product.
dolphin
15" lcd touch/writable sensitive screen
g4 apollo 1 ghz processor
256 MB ram
40 gig hard drive
2 usb & 1 firewire port
combo drive (dvd-rom/cd-rw)
gigabit ethernet
56k internal modem
airport card included
mac ox 10.2
oh, wait probably thinking about mwsf 2004!
^_^
dolphin would be able to recognize handwriting or touch therefore getting getting rid of the need for a keyboard. the lost of a keyboard and the simplicity of using a computer with out it would be revolutionary for a consumer product.
dolphin
15" lcd touch/writable sensitive screen
g4 apollo 1 ghz processor
256 MB ram
40 gig hard drive
2 usb & 1 firewire port
combo drive (dvd-rom/cd-rw)
gigabit ethernet
56k internal modem
airport card included
mac ox 10.2
oh, wait probably thinking about mwsf 2004!
^_^
Comments
I love my Newton and everything, but I can type MUCH faster than I can write. That's why I have a Newton keyboard, too.
However, if ink is considered first class data, then this isn't really an issue...
if they do introduce dolphin/tablet/ipad/whatever it will be its own thing. maybe...
<strong>Can you write faster than you can type? Maybe this 'dolphin' has voice recognition for typing instead?
I love my Newton and everything, but I can type MUCH faster than I can write. That's why I have a Newton keyboard, too.</strong><hr></blockquote>
And this is the same reason while you'd buy a 'dolphin' keyboard.
I'm not 100% sure but I still think I like this idea better... Both have their pluses but some like (below) just seems so much sexier to me.
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I have been sitting on a bunch of info for over a year now, and as bits and pieces of it have come to light over the last few months, I think it is time to tell you a little of what I know.
I will firstly state that this must be considered only a rumor. I have no pictures. Most of the info I have is publicly available, it just isn't strung together in any coherent way that paints the big picture. No NDAs have been broken in getting this information.
Again, treat as rumor, take it with a pinch of salt. If you go buy Apple shares because I what I am about to say, you're a bl**dy idiot.
Rumor sites, if you use this, ATTRIBUTE THE STORY!!!
Apple is readying a new product that will fill the empty square, and in some way will replace the Newton MessagePad.
What I "know" about the device so far:
It is very similar to the iBook, and I even thought it may have been what I had been waiting for, but not quite. It does not have a keyboard attached, but uses a stylus for 'pen computing' like Newton. I have heard nothing of there being a keyboard for it, but it does have a USB port so you could easily attach one.
It has two USB, one FireWire. As far as I can tell it has no modem. I thought this odd, but it does have a Ethernet port. The screen is exactly the same size as the new iBook, screen resolution 1024x768, and all.
I have no idea of the weight, but it will be tremendously light. Think less than 3 pounds without doubt, maybe closer to 2 pounds. The screens sensitivity is very cool. You can gently glide the pen over the screens surface and your cursor will move with it, but you will not generate a click until you press down with the pen. The dock animation works really well in this regard.
Yes, it runs MacOS X. No, it does not run Classic.
One of the best features of this new device, is the built in ability to screen share to another MacOS X Server or Client. When used in this regard, even over the built in AirPort, you can not tell that you are running anything remotely. In other words, screen-share a 733MHz G4, and it will suddenly feel like your tablet has a 733MHz G4 in it.
You are able to screen-share over the internet too, and even then, it is still incredibly fast. How do you connect to the net without a modem? Who knows... I'm just telling you to the best of my knowledge.
An AirPort Card is not needed, it is built in.
Hand writing recognition is indeed built in, but it seem that in marketing the product Apple will be telling no one about this feature. Again, I have NO idea why!
Battery life was at 8 hours, but the goal is 10.
Processor, I don't know. I can only presume it is a G3. My best guess here would be a G3 500Mhz that steps down to a much lower speed to conserve power when full speed is not required. The fact that know one knows the processor though, leads me to ponder if it runs on a G3 or G4 at all. I don't see any other chip being feasible though.
I don't know the thickness, but one of the prototypes was VERY thick, too thick to have been the serious end product thickness. I will guess again that it will be much less than 1 inch thick.
It has no media bays. Initial prototypes did not have a removable battery, but this has been changed for some reason.
BlueTooth, well, I just plain don't know about that either. I doubt it, but it would be nice.
A PC card slot. This is what told me that this was not the new iBook. A PC card slot is an absolute necessity for this product for connecting to wireless net ISP.
I have no idea about RAM or HD size. I will guess again and say it will have 128MB soldered to the board and one slot free like the iBook, with a 10G Drive.
Durability is a major deal here. Dropping the tablet will not cause much harm to the device unless the screen itself is impacted.
Yes people have seen this new device, and working, and the response has been flat out disbelief when shown the screen sharing.
Well there you go. I truly hope this product becomes reality.
Please don't go emailing me asking if it has xyz feature. If I didn't say here, then I honestly don't know. Sorry.
If you know something I don't, let me know.
Regards,
Shane Anderson The Mac EvangeList List Dad
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Oh and lets have an informal survey...
Q: What system would you rather have? Stand Alone system (very top) or basestation+roaming tablet?
A: Basestation/Tablet for me first choice but I'd take the other as well I just don't see it as useful for a home based system.
Q: Would you buy either one? I
A: I'd buy either but I think I'd buy more than one access tablets if it were a Basestation type system. One for me one for the wife.
The reason I like the basestation idea so much is so you could do things like connect your Mac to video/audio devices TV Stereo etc and add more storage (at the base station end) and forget about it... Then use the tablet like a remote control on 'AppleSteriods(tm)'.
In the living room and want to hear some music use your tablet to cue up the songs. In the family room and wanna watch some quicktime home movie... use the tablet... Wanna surf the web in the kitchen or in the 'library' (aka Bathroom)
I could see Apple selling 'a few' tablets for each house that way instead of just one or MAYBE two full Macs. I know 'WE" all have more than one or two (well most of us) but we are not you're average buyers...
Bring the Mac outta the computer room and into the rest of the house and visitors to your home WILL not only be very impressed but also a tad green with envy.
Dave
Then they will find out what a hugh sucess the cube was!
<strong>I can't think of anything more useless than a tablet. If Apple thoght cube sales were bad all they need to do is introduce a tablet .
Then they will find out what a hugh sucess the cube was!</strong><hr></blockquote>
And this is because?!?! Or should we just take your word on it?
could have a really nice Apple display for the computer room (games, graphics, etc) and a lower image removible screen for around the house use and such....g
<strong>I can't think of anything more useless than a tablet. If Apple thoght cube sales were bad all they need to do is introduce a tablet .
Then they will find out what a hugh sucess the cube was!</strong><hr></blockquote>
Different people have different ways of grasping and abstracting data into ideas. I'm always grabbing pen and paper and sketching things out. It's how I get my mind around a problem.
The normal computer interface is crappy for such a way of working. But, the Newton GUI was great for allowing me to work digitally in such a fashion. Alas, its screen was too small. I've been waiting for something larger to take its place. I'd be first in line (ok, maybe second after Fran) to buy a tablet device from Apple.
I don't know, something about the "I want it!!!" factor of an affordable ( <$750) Apple tablet would make it take off pretty quick.
In my opinion.
-S
<strong>The thing about bringing out a tablet right now is that no mainstream consumer computer company has done one successfully and had it aimed at the average user. IF (and that's a big if) Apple could pull one off affordably - perhaps as an AirPort-enabled extension of your screen with a USB or FW port for good measure ...
I don't know, something about the "I want it!!!" factor of an affordable ( <$750) Apple tablet would make it take off pretty quick.
In my opinion.
-S</strong><hr></blockquote>
Hmm just thinking aloud but... Could this be the reason Apple hasn't come out with a pretty GUI to turn on the Airport Software Base Station in OS X?!?! After all, if you're comfortable in the command line (I am) then it's easy as pie... Just issue a few commands (or put the commands in a shell script) and you're done! I myself would never bother doing a frontend for it since this is one of those set-it-and-forget-it things.
Maybe this new mythical device will come with a pretty Airport Software Base Station interface (for use by the tablet as well as other roaming macs).
Seems to make sense....
Dave
Other Pen-Tablets:
<a href="http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/pentablet/index.shtml"; target="_blank">Sony</a>
<a href="http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_pentablets.shtml"; target="_blank">Fujitsu</a>
<a href="http://www.qbenet.com/productsVivo.htm"; target="_blank">Qbe</a>
Personally, I would buy one right away. The only thing that held me back from buying the aforementioned pen-tablets was price, stability, and performance.
I think Apple could do it.
[quote]
One of the best features of this new device, is the built in ability to screen share to another MacOS X Server or Client. When used in this regard, even over the built in AirPort, you can not tell that you are running anything remotely. In other words, screen-share a 733MHz G4, and it will suddenly feel like your tablet has a 733MHz G4 in it.
You are able to screen-share over the internet too, and even then, it is still incredibly fast.<hr></blockquote>
Firstly, let me state that you and you alone made this whole up. Bits have been floating around for about a year on rumor sites about a tablet with some kind of screen sharing. So, you are just ressurecting a dead rumor.
Forget about "incredibly fast screen sharing". With a screen with 1024x768 @ 24Bit-color, you arrive at 2.3MByte needed to hold the content. Yep, thats 1.2GB/s if the screen-refresh is at 72Hz, 1.08GB/s with 60Hz.
Even if the image is compressed 5:1 you'd need to have Gigabit-Ethernet to feed the imagestream. There is absolutely no chance to do this over Airport or Modem.
[quote]I will guess again that it will be much less than 1 inch thick.<hr></blockquote>
What a bold guess, considering the fact that thats about the thickness Webpads usually have.
[quote]BlueTooth, well, I just plain don't know about that either. I doubt it, but it would be nice.<hr></blockquote>
Airport and Bluetooth do not mix. Effectively Bluetooth is a kind of jamming device for any other wireless service in that frequency range.
All in all this is just stale rumors.
Edit: corrected a typo in the numbers
[ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Smircle ]</p>
how about something like this... I doubt it could happen for price reasons... but is it actually technically possible? I don't know too much about computer set up..
What i was thinking is that you could have some of the components in the cube... and some in the monitor
cube:
CD/RW, firewire, usb, ethernet, modem, sound in and out, speakers
monitor:
processor, battery, ram, motherboard, harddrive, (maybe one usb port), graphics card...
this way it wouldn't make the monitor so bulky and would make it easier to fit everything in there... and when ever the monitor was on it's base... the battery would be recharging....
(I just moved this from the G5 thread... seeing as it was quite a bit off topic... this one seems a bit better)
I like the idea of having a tablet that I can pull off my computer and carry around with me, but that would mean that I could never use my desktop machine, becuae I would always misplace my computer screen. Think cordless phone. We would need a "page screen" option as well.
Handwriting recog is very important, but yes, most people can type faster these days.
Voice recog is fun, but it is very difficult to use without a headset because of background noise. you couldn't do voice recog on the train, nor could you do it with the tv or radio on. Speech recog on Mac OS 7-9 made several major improvments in this area (I could do speech recog as long as the Background noise was constant- it would use the dB levels as a baseline. But my roomate would always poke his head into the room and shout- computer, quit application!" I got pretty good at shoulting profanities so that the computer woun't understand him. ("computer quit appl-%$@@$*(@!-tion"...."?I'm sorry, I didn't understand the last request"
<strong>
how about something like this... I doubt it could happen for price reasons... but is it actually technically possible? I don't know too much about computer set up..
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Copying my reply from the other thread:
That product (above) looks awesome, but the iMac is and will continue to be all-in-one (unless this is supposed to be some in-between product and not an iMac). But I could see the screen legs straddling the base, attached at the top...so if the screen came off it would just act like an easel to place it on when not mobile.
However, I still say that any tablet Apple develops will be a product independent of a CPU. It will not be part of an iMac or anything else - besides, 15" is kinda big to carry around...in a tablet I'd look for iBook screen size. And it will supplement and drive other hardware sales in times like now where people aren't looking to purchase new systems, but maybe add a few cool toys.
The aspect of your design that I really like is the "short stack" cube.
-S
If you can't tell by now I really would like Apple to make a pen-tablet.
Spiffy: Why independant of a CPU? That makes no sense to me. (Please see earlier posts for technical reasons).
[ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Composer ]</p>
<strong>
Spiffy: Why independant of a CPU? That makes no sense to me. (Please see earlier posts for technical reasons).
[ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Composer ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well, you saw my financial reasons - if it's an add-on, then people will buy a computer AND buy a tablet, which seems in-line with Apple's sales needs and philosophy right now.
As far as technology, the rumors on Dolphin are that it can display your screen and you can control your mac via AirPort with no noticeable delay. So why not sell it to those who already have perfectly good desktop Macs as a way to take your computer around the house, or into several different rooms? No need to limit the market like that. The screen specs wouldn't necessarily change from the above, just wouldn't have the added expense of a CPU. In addition, I want as big a screen as possible for my desktop and I want something relatively small for my remote monitor, so I can set it comfortably on my lap while I'm watching TV or something. So that's another reason it makes sense not to bundle it exclusively with a CPU.
Another thing is that in many homes you might not want to only have one screen - it would be in addition...like a terminal to access your computer on a different level of the home or something - if I'm doing something downstairs and I want to look something up on the internet, having to run upstairs to get my tablet and bring it back down defeats some of the purpose of having it in the first place.
The coolest feature I think a tablet could have would be to allow simultaneous OS X logins to the same CPU/HD - so the screen could not only mirror, but also act as a separate machine. Family members wouldn't fight for *the* computer - you get one computer (a hub with all your peripherals plugged in) 2 of these tablets... Dad manages his finances on the Tower, Son logs in with his username on a Tablet and chats online downstairs, etc...
Just my immagination going - I don't believe a tablet would have all of this in its first generation, but if that's where it went and it was affordable, I think it would be a great extension of a desktop hub - not the hub itself. That's the difference I'm getting at - sorry if I seem to be rambling...
-S