elantech
Latest
Elan turns the tables on Apple, sues for multitouch patent infringement
Remember all the fun everyone had watching Palm and Apple's legal wordplay regarding multitouch patents? If you missed it, Apple delivered a very thinly veiled threat to Palm, flouting how it had touch-sensitive intellectual rights up the wazoo to protect itself from the competition. Apple, though, may be due for a heaping helping of humble pie, as it's now on the receiving end of a lawsuit from Elan Microelectronics claiming infringement on two patents -- both involving multitouch. Elan, best known for its keypads found in Eee PCs everywhere (along with some other diversions), won a court injunction against Synaptics for infringement on one of those patents, and seems like it may actually have a shot of shaking down the house of Jobs. It's also seeking an injunction against Apple to prevent it from selling the MacBook, iPhone, and iPod Touch until everything gets legally sorted. That seems like a long-shot, but anything could happen. Oh, and Palm corporate officers, try not to look too giddy today, yeah? Read -- Apple sued over touch-screen rightsRead -- Injunction quote [Warning: requires subscription]
Elan demonstrates Smart Remote Controller, the touchpad pair desperately seeking a home
If you have an Eee PC you're probably familiar with the name Elantech and how making multi-touch gestures on the company's tiny touchpads is easier said than done. Looking for a little more room to be creative, Elan has created a prototype it calls the Smart Remote Controller. It's basically two touchpads on a wireless device with a pair of buttons in the middle, able to act as a gamepad, mouse replacement, virtual keyboard, and even a remote control that looks even less intuitive than Logitech's 1100. No word on when or if this will ever see the light of day at retail, but after watching the video below you may or may not be too heartbroken if it never does.
Video: Demoing the multitouch trackpad
There's a lot of noise about MacBooks with multitouch trackpads coming out at Macworld, but we're wondering why there's no similar frenzy over Taiwanese ODM Elantech, which is tucked away in the International Pavilion at CES demoing a multitouch trackpad technology called "Multi-fingers Smartpad." The prototype is actually in an older Asus laptop, but it's got all the pinching and spinning action you'd expect -- check it out after the break!
