Video: Sharp's Mebius LCD trackpad
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Apr 21st 2009 5:05AM
posted Apr 21st 2009 5:05AM
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i bet apple will copy this and they will sell it as a wonderfull original idea
(and apple fanboys will believe it, of course)
I do not know whether Apple would take this idea or not.
But I believe Apple Fans Boy will never believe Apple copies any ideas.
No, Apple already has a multitouch glass pad.
And that actually acts *functionality* and *usbility* to the computer, opposed to this, in my oppinion gimmicky nonsense, which doesn't help you at all in productivity. A stylus? Seriously? A stylus? :P
But, hey, there's some people who might need this. Good thing about the free market: there's a lot of niches there to fill.
Apple were already rumored to be developing something like this a couple months ago. These guys probably just got the idea into production faster, which is why "the icons and apps demonstrated are all a bit lame but the idea of repurposing that 4-inch space for a dual-purpose trackpad and secondary display / widget panel is killer."
Who cares who gets there first? Apple will most likely release the first good version of this because they have an excellent design team. Yeah?
TMM wrote: A stylus? Seriously? A stylus? :P
He was using a paint package. Do you paint with your fingers???? Did you not notice in the rest of the video he was using his fingers.
no, i think China will copy it first and make KIRFy versions
and if apple were to copy it. they'd probably remove the keyboard and make the whole bottom part a huge touchscreen with touch keyboard. like the iphone, they hate physical buttons.
@Mike
Google Asus Dual Touchscreen. I hope THAT comes out 0.o
>Apple were already rumored to be developing something like this a couple months ago.
And nVidia actually DID develop something like this several months ago.
//Lemmiwinks hears a commotion and looks up from his DS.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/olo-iphone-turned-netbook
All is already stolen before us. :D
micro control owns.
but..........it is so tiresome.
I'm surprised they put it on a Netbook-like product instead of a regular notebook. This would be a good alternative to the Lenovo W700 with the Wacom tablet if it had better processing/graphics power.
I am stunned that it has a higher resolution than my current netbook (first gen eeePC)
Don't need to be stunned by a 2 years newer nettop.
Most things do.
HTC Touch Pro2/Diamond2, anybody?
Nintendo DS meets Laptop have a love child
Wow, I'm not often impressed by new ideas like this, but it's a case of "why has no one thought of this before?!"
I love the idea... for some reason! I don't even know if it'll be THAT useful, but I still love it!
Oh, and I just love the use of p0rn music to go along with gadget p0rn... especially at the end of the video, classy ;-)
I actually agree. It's a strange sort of feeling, I'm really impressed and disappointed at the same time.
Maybe if it had a more attractive interface . . . or say, an APPLE LOGO!!!
I kid, I kid.
Meh - I thought this up two years ago!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leonardlow/428584640/in/set-72157594196518712/
I think we all did.
And dismissed it.
Who wants a stylus?
I kid, I kid. Don't flame.
:P
That's basically a nintendo ds in a laptop.
Indeed..
Touchscreens have definitely come up in the world, since the DS came out.
I wonder if we'd be in this same touchscreen wonderland if it hadn't?
I think I might have seen this on a Fujitsu before. Need to find some evidence though.
Very cool. Like having a mini Cintiq!
i thought the same.
like what i said on the previous thread. would be great for adobe photoshop/illustrator where the toolbar was on the trackpad and have a minipad to draw..
Hmm, i agree, i like this idea but not sure why. Maybe i just like writing Happy Birthday.
Like to see it ina Macbook - maybe in this fabled Apple Netbook
I emailed this idea to apple 2 years ago, though not stylus based. side icons would change dependent on what program you have open and what the cursor is currently over, ie if your in safari and it's over a picture you get icons that 'save picture' 'copy picture' 'print picture' etc.
Now apple can't say "First!"
Apple doesn't need the ideas of mere commoners like you. Pfft
good luck getting any recognition. i wrote steve a letter 5 years ago about an idea of a touch screen phone and ipod combination, and look what we get now. not even a letter of 'thanks'.
Mike, I'm sure you were the only one.
Congratualtions if Apple use your idea you get no recognition or payment and instead get to pay them to buy a copy of your idea.
Welcome to the iDiot farm you are too stupid to live in the outside world
@VidYour ownderful idea also sounds like the main contoller on my 3 year old Samsung phone.
Oh well thank you come again.
@Major4Play
Please proof-read your comments before adding them. no one knows what you the hell you are going on about. and there is no one by the name of @VidYour
I didn't want recognition, I just wanted to see the macbook pro with the screen for a trackpad.
Perhaps we have some "Sharp Fanboys" out there, since this is not a Sharp original idea. ;)
It has been done before. Toshiba did it about 5 or six years ago ( at a lower resolution of course since it was so long ago) It had a signature capture app, a calculator, notes app, etc. I had one. I think it was the Satellite model 5250 or something like that. I have often wondered why it didn't catch on.
How do I love it? Let's see...
Sign your credit card sales
Sig recognition for access
Media player display
Touchups in Photoshop
Toolbars in your current app.
Company logo as a trackpad
Stylus over finger FTW
Watch porn, while having serious apps running on the main screen ;)
Love this! Any clues as to battery life?
My old Toshiba satellite Pentium 4 had an LCD touch pad, that was back in 2003.
Same here. Did yours have a blue gloss cover?
Anyone on the touchpad, I never used the darn thing. Stupid novelty imo.
i think it'll be rather useful for chinese/japanese/korean text input.
where the IME interface appears on the 2nd screen, leaving the main desktop free for other stuff.
Great idea. Why write directly onto the 10 inch display when you have a tiny 3 inch one. WTF?
cost?
writing on an upright screen for a prolonged period of time will give you the "gorilla arm" symdrome....
Now, now. I own a tablet PC, and you simply don't want to write on the screen unless it's in slate mode.
neat but they should show its use as a mouse. That is the purpose of a touchpad, after all.
Seem to be saying this alot lately but, WANT!
(xmas is gonna be tricky this year!)
It needs to be bigger to be truly useful. How about getting rid of that keyboard and replacing it with a touchscreen keyboard?
Oh, wait. That would just be a dual touchscreen laptop.
Also what we call "A total pain in the ass" to use.
Call me when Apple makes it, the cpu has 4 cores, 8gb ram, oled primary and secondary screens, and a 250+gb SSD.
Realistically this day can't be more than about 3 or 4 years away. :-)
Apple will make this when it's the industry standard, then charge 150% more for doing it prettily. .
Why don't a lot of these interesting additional functions and/or gadgets get applied to at least ONE higher-end convertible tablet PC? And by PC I also mean Apple products...are you listening, Apple? If you had a tablet more powerful but about the same size as the Air I'D BUY ONE (only if finger input and daylight viewability were included). I suspect a lot of us would. Dave S. Missouri, USA. Still apologizing to the world for the Bushes and Nixon....
My 6+ year old Toshiba laptop had a touchscreen trackpad. You could use it as a separate calculator, schedule/calendar, along with several other features. I'll go grab it out of my 'laptop graveyard' and write up a post about it, since people think this is an amazing new idea; it's not.
hmm, i have posted and recomended this under your articles regarding trackpads and such things several times in last 3 years at least. If i would have spare several thousands of dolars, i would do copyright for this :-( But i like that finaly someone did it, i hope is is not protected by some stupid copyrighter so that everyone can do it.
Why did Sharp stop making regular notebooks?
The only thing worst than some loser typing "first post!", is some loser using the first post to launch a petty anti-apple fanboy rant. Obsessed with apple?
I'd love to have a trackpad like this in a laptop.
I have played with the nj70a-w, it's very nice, the 10 inch screen is the best i've seen on any netbook/notebook equal to that of the macbook, the netbook allow you to listen to music and see photo's without opening the vista basic os (standard os for the nj70a/nj80a), the touch pad to operate the mouse function does lag, may be it hasn't been adjusted from the control panel.
it does come with a red stylus that goes in the side.
the touch pad run independently from the main screen, you can install chinese or english version of the os, but you will need to provide them yourself, as japanese version is the only version available for this unit, and the touch screen is only available in japanese only, what ever language os you install.
the unit is very thick, thicker that any netbook on the market, i think it's over 4cm think, lasty it has two advantages over any netbook on the market.
all netbook runs the video rate at 128mb max, this netbook goes upto 256mb and supports two ram slot, but come standard with 1gb ram.
kms
I have played with the nj70a-w, it's very nice, the 10 inch screen isthe best i've seen on any netbook/notebook equal to that of themacbook, the netbook allow you to listen to music and see photo'swithout opening the vista basic os (standard os for the nj70a/nj80a),the touch pad to operate the mouse function does lag, may be it hasn'tbeen adjusted from the control panel.
it does come with a red stylus that goes in the side. the touch pad run independently from the main screen, you can installchinese or english version of the os, but you will need to providethem yourself, as japanese version is the only version available forthis unit, and the touch screen is only available in japanese only,what ever language os you install.
the unit is very thick, thicker that any netbook on the market, ithink it's over 4cm think, lasty it has two advantages over anynetbook on the market. all netbook runs the video rate at 128mb max, this netbook goes upto256mb and supports two ram slot, but come standard with 1gb ram.
kms