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Apple patent app describes force-sensitive touchpads
It's no secret that Apple loves its touchscreens, and a freshly published patent application provides a little reinforcement to that belief. The documentation explores a method for tossing in pressure-sensitivity to touchpads in order to add functionality, or as Cupertino puts it, "a new element of control." Furthermore, it's noted that "force information may be used as another input dimension for purposes of providing command and control signals to an associated electronic device," and it goes on to explain how spring membranes could be placed under the surface to detect force. Notably, the verbiage tends to "describe a touchpad like those used for the company's MacBook lines," but it does leave open the possibility for the newfangled pads to be used in mobile / portable devices such as the outfit's own iPhone.
"Slim" MacBook rumors resurface
Sure, you've had the space of a few minutes without Apple rumors, but be honest with us: it felt lonely, didn't it? Well don't worry, because the rumors are back... with a vengeance. According to 9to5mac (who recently nailed news on the iPod nano), Apple is readying a new line of black and silver aluminum laptops, which might be the slimmer MacBook Pros mentioned previously. Details are, of course, totally speculative and entirely unconfirmed, but it sounds like the systems will be considerably thinner and lighter than current models, will have screens that reach further to the edges (which apparently suggests a smaller footprint), have keyboards in the vein of the new Apple Bluetooth models, and are set to be priced "extremely aggressively." In addition, the report says that there is "something strange about the touchpad," which could mean we'll be seeing some sort of multi-touch functionality, or it could mean nothing at all. We'll keep you posted on what the mill has to say.
Revenge of Apple patent attack: giant laptop touchpad
Apple is up to its old tricks again: filing crazy patent requests for wild devices like the process is going out of style. This time, the boys and girls in Cupertino have really delivered a doozy: a wide touchpad for a portable computer. Okay, honestly, it does seem to be just a very large trackpad with some "multi-touch" capabilities. The pad would take up some of the space where you typically rest your hands when typing, though according to the patent documents, the system would be smart enough to distinguish between desired input and accidental movement. Clearly, this kind of technology puts Apple one step closer to its ultimate goal of really, really huge touchpads.Update - While this is a continuation of an older Apple patent, this is a new application filing, just in case there was any confusion.[Via PC Joint]
Avago Technologies develops hybrid, touch-sensitive controller
A Korean company called Avago Technologies has just announced a new control unit for remotes, video games, phones, and media players called the AMRS-2325. The small, touch-sensitive pad is a multi-faceted input device which allows control to vacillate between an iPod-like scroll-wheel, a game joystick, or a four-way navigational pad. The company also produces an electronic controller for the pads, called the AMRI-1000, which is an IC chip used to switch functionality between the various modes. Together, the two technologies make for a supposedly low-power solution which Avago, judging from their artist renderings, seems to think would be equally suited to an Xbox 360 controller, Logitech remote, or Zune / iPhone hybrid -- an idea which should scare the living daylights out of Apple and Microsoft fanatics alike.[Via Remote Shoppe]
Apple's patent attack: light-up touchpads, iPod booters
Apple, a funky little start-up based in Cupertino, has recently filed a couple of patents which will have hairs standing on end and eyebrows rising incredulously across the globe. Patent one describes a technology the company is working on called the "illuminated touchpad" -- a kind of input device which could track your movements and provide visual feedback via a lighted surface. The application suggests that the optic effects will be linked to input on the device's facade, and that the display might be capable of glowing, ambiguous color effects, as well as direct and specific reaction to motion. Patent two is something of a historical filing. With the launch of Panther (10.3, for you youngsters), Apple had plans to turn your iPod into a take-anywhere home folder, one which you could simply boot into using whatever OS X box you happened to have around. Clearly it never happened, but the company has re-filed for a variant of that system, so don't be surprised if you see this technology rearing its head again -- of course, who really knows what The Wizard is doing behind the silicon curtain?[Via AppleInsider]Read - Illuminated touchpadRead - Method and apparatus rendering user accounts portable
Inventor crafts inexpensive gesture-based 3D touchpad
While there's been boasting galore about gesture-based keyboards, scanners, phones, and more keyboards, it looks like an elusive inventor has crafted yet another "3D touchpad" which can be moved around and placed on (or under) nearly any keyboard that you'd like to implement gesture-based technology on. As with similar renditions, the pad can detect movements of your hand floating above it, and can create inputs not always possible on a typical keyboard. Interestingly, this flavor can purportedly work on standard boards, underneath laptop boards, and even under the "screen of a PDA or cellphone." While our skeptic gear is still zipped on tight, it's said that a few working examples are already out of the lab, and that the special antennas capable of picking up hand movements wouldn't cost much more than it did to insert "scroll wheels into mice." We'll let the peculiar analogy slide if this thing hits the market for a competitive price, deal?[Thanks, Kerunt]
