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Vizio's next market? Desktop and laptop PCs (Update: pictures!)
Just when it seems like everyone is running away from the PC business, well known HDTV company Vizio has apparently decided that after dabbling in lightbulbs, it's a great time to get in. Chief Technology Officer Matt McRae revealed in an interview with Bloomberg that it will introduce two desktop all-in-ones and three notebooks at CES next week, the former which probably explain that sleek display it flashed during its 2012 Rose Bowl advertisement. As usual, the focus is on value pricing, as he promised they would arrive by June (we're still waiting on the phone from last year, we'll chalk up the missing high end TVs to Google TV delays for now) at prices that "don't seem possible". The desktops are expected to be 24- and 27-inch models, while the laptops are a standard 15-incher, along with 14- and 15-inch ultralight models. We'll get our hands on the new PCs as quickly as possible to see if they match up to the ultrabook competition, and if Vizio can finally provide a PC AIO we're truly interested in. Update: Check the gallery below for actual pictures of all the models in the lineup (24-inch All-in-One PC, 27-inch All-in-One PC, 14-inch Thin + Light Notebook, 15.6-inch Thin + Light Notebook, 15.6-inch Notebook ), while we don't know how they'll run from here, they certainly have sleek -- and familiar -- designs. Also, if you think Vizio's forgotten its roots, think again (peep the wired subwoofer and remote idling by that 27-incher). Just like its Tablet featured universal IR control built-in, the tie-ins are getting deeper, according to comments in the Wall Street Journal there are plans to allow for second screen information on a laptop or PC on the same network as one of its smart TVs.
Insert Coin: Prototype peripherals incorporate no moving parts, multitouch functionality and freaking lasers
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. When in doubt, strip out the moving parts and see what you wind up with. This is the idea inventor Jason Giddings is following as he turns to Kickstarter to help fund the prototype creation for a glass keyboard and mouse, both sporting multitouch functionality. The design uses the same biometric systems that currently capture fingerprints on assorted trackpads and keyboards, and uses a technique known as Frustrated Total Internal Reflection -- which incorporates a series of LEDs on the bottom of a device -- to bounce infrared light beams around the inside of the glass. This process is interrupted when a finger touches the glass, wherein a simple embedded camera captures the event, processes where the keystroke, mouse click or gesture took place and relays the signal to the computer.
Synaptics shows conceptual trackpad interface with Windows 8, better make it a reality (video)
It's pretty obvious from Microsoft's outing of Windows 8 that touch is going to be a real focal point, but on machines that lack a touchscreen, it'll be the trackpad pulling weight. Synaptics, a famed touchpad maker, has just outed a new concept video demonstrating how its products will eventually -- in theory, anyway -- interact with Microsoft's forthcoming desktop OS. We've made no bones about the fact that most Windows-based laptops could use a serious lesson in trackpad awesomeness, and while there's no way to know for sure that the latest Series 7 ClearPad and ClickPad solutions will feel like they need to, the video hosted up after the break sure gives us reason to be optimistic.
Logitech Wireless Touchpad hits Windows PCs this month for $50
Windows 8 may be embracing touch in a big way, but Logitech now also has a little something for those looking to make their Windows 7 PC a bit more multitouch-friendly. The company's just introduced a standalone trackpad of its own, dubbed the Wireless Touchpad, which will let you use a variety of two, three of four-finger gestures to scroll, navigate and switch between applications -- or simply control a cursor, of course. To cut the cord, the device uses a Logitech Unifying USB receiver, which will also accommodate up to five other compatible devices. Look for this one to be available sometime this month for $50.
Magic Numpad turns your Magic Trackpad into a number pad
So you love your sleek, compact Apple wireless keyboard and Magic Trackpad, right? Who doesn't? There's not a wire or cable in sight and you're workspace couldn't be more clutter free, functional and oh so pleasing to the eye. Until, that is, that dreadful day comes when you need to do some serious number crunching. In that moment, it's safe to say, you wish you'd gone for Apple's wired keyboard with a numerical keypad built into the side. Well, thanks to the good folks at Mobee, now you don't have to compromise. For $29.90 you get the Magic Numpad -- a pack of three custom film layouts that you apply to your trackpad. Depending on how intensive the number crunching you're about to do is, you can apply either the classic numpad (that leaves you some tactile surface on your trackpad), the full numpad or the numpad with customizable keys. With the overlays and a free download of Mobee's free Snow Leopard or Lion compatible software, your Magic Trackpad will be transformed into a fully functioning Magic Numpad. The Magic Numpad is up for pre-order now on Mobee's website. Availability is set for October. Head on over to Mobee's website for all the details. [Via This is my next]
Cirque's GlidePoint NFC trackpad makes online shopping even lazier (video)
We've seen NFC technology pop up in everything from smartphones to windshields, but a company called Cirque has now expanded it to desktops, as well, with its GlidePoint trackpad. Cirque's system is relatively straightforward, consisting of its GlidePoint module (with an onboard NFC antenna) and a simple touch sensor. With these two elements working in harmony, users can scan a compatible card by hovering it over the module, while simultaneously using the trackpad to execute onscreen functions. The company has applied the same concept to its proprietary glass touch panel, as well, which could be integrated at payment terminals, or within tablets and touch-based smartphones. It remains unclear whether we'll see this kind of technology pop up on the commercial level, but for more details, check out the demo video after the break, followed by the full press release.
Crux Loaded case almost turns your iPad into a laptop for $250
Plenty of people are happy using the iPad as Apple intended -- as a tablet -- but some of you have been searching for a way to add a sleek keyboard and trackpad to the device since day one. The Crux Loaded clamshell case brings both input devices to the mix, and even packs an external battery within its base, adding 7.5 hours of juice. Sound good? Unfortunately, you'll need to wait until fall to shell out a whopping $249 for the case, assuming Apple opens the Bluetooth iGate to the Loaded's trackpad. You'll also need to hand over $30 for a remote desktop app if you plan to use the combo to control your computer (no, Crux hasn't found a way to run OS X natively on the iPad, as the image above might imply). With its netbook-like price, however, we'd rather keep our wallets Loaded than pay $249 for a case -- but if you've been dying for a way to make your tablet slightly more functional, you may be in luck later this year.
Omnio's WOWKeys keyboard now shipping, ready to dock your iPhone for $100 (video)
Remember that Omnio WOWKeys keyboard we mentioned back in November -- the one that brings full-sized QWERTY functionality to your iPhone or iPod Touch? Well, it's now available for your consumption. Once you lock your iDevice into the port on the right, it will automatically begin charging and syncing with iTunes. From there, you can start typing text directly into your handheld, or use the keyboard's twelve hotkeys to control music playback functions, turn off the display, or switch between PC and iPhone mode. You can even use your mobile's touchscreen as a trackpad for your Mac or PC, though you'll need an app like Mobile Mouse Pro to do so. Basically, it's an EeeKeyboard. All told, this kind of synergy will cost you around $100, so if you're interested, hit the source link for more details, or head past the break for a pretty cringe-inducing video.
Mobee's Magic Bar brings inductive charging to your Apple bluetooth keyboard and Magic Trackpad
The wise folks who brought us the inductive Magic Charger for the Magic Mouse are now back with a new trick up their sleeves. This time we have the Mobee Magic Bar, which can energise either an Apple Wireless Keyboard or a Magic Trackpad thanks to their identical dual AA battery compartment. To get some wireless charging action, simply install the supplied battery cylinder to either device (presumably extra cylinders will also be available for purchasing), and then slide the protruding part into the charging dock. Of course, the nature of this setup limits the number of compatible devices (unlike the flat Magic Charger), but this is still more convenient than unscrewing the lid every time you run out of juice. If this Magic Bar tickles your fancy, you can pick one up around end of June for $59.90 -- pre-order starts on May 15th.
Ask Engadget: best wireless keyboard with built-in trackpad?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Calvin, who's presumably looking for the ultimate HTPC keyboard for use in his increasingly swank living roon. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. I'm an analyst and a lot of what I do requires me to quickly switch back and forth between using my keyboard and mouse. I've learned a lot of keyboard shortcuts and have even built macros to alleviate the need for so much switching, but alas, it's not enough. I've started looking for a wireless keyboard that has a built-in touchpad -- that way, my fingers are just a few inches away being able to manipulate the on-screen pointer at any given moment. I need one that has a ten-key pad and and dedicated F-keys. Is there anyone out there that has some experience with something like this and that has found one that actually works well? Please help! Two in one. We get it. If you do as well, drop your suggestion(s) in comments below.
Motorola Atrix 4G Laptop Dock demo units have multitouch trackpads -- but yours doesn't
We were crestfallen to discover that our review unit of the Laptop Dock for Moto's Atrix 4G didn't have multitouch capability, making scrolling a rather old-fashioned affair -- and considering that a desktop build of Firefox figures prominently into Webtop's capabilities, scrolling is something you'll be doing quite a bit of. Well, this is where it gets weird: a number of people on xda-developers are discussing the fact that in-store demo units of the Laptop Dock seem to mysteriously have multitouch added in, and at least one poster notes that a Motorola rep that visited his local store a while back had multitouch working as well. That means one of three things: either these units are physically different hardware, they're running a prerelease firmware upgrade, or they've got a feature that was pulled at the last minute, possibly because it didn't work very well. Unfortunately, the latter seems plausible because Motorola has indicated to us that the Laptop Dock's hardware doesn't support multitouch and it's not something we can expect to be added in down the road -- but we can hope. [Thanks, Caleb]
Customizing a Magic Trackpad using BetterTouchTool
We took a look at BetterTouchTool last year and covered its usage with a Magic Mouse and a MacBook trackpad. As you would expect, this versatile utility can also be used to customize the functionality of the Magic Trackpad. The app features over 50 multi-touch gestures including taps, clicks and swipes for one to five fingers. Each gesture can be customized to perform a wide range of predefined actions or assigned to a custom desktop shortcut. You can even create your own gestures and add button commands (fn, ctrl, command, option) to each one. Besides quadrupling the number of available gestures, these buttons can also be used to prevent accidental activation of a gesture by requiring you to deliberately press a button prior to clicking, tapping or swiping. Gestures and actions are the focus of this application, but it has a few neat tricks up its sleeve that let you snap and resize a window like Windows 7 as well as control the trackpad speed and sensitivity. Combine this tool with a Magic Trackpad and you can supercharge the input methods for your iMac, Mac Pro or Mac mini. If you have a Magic Mouse and a Magic Trackpad, you may want to check out BetterTouchTool. The unique ability of this application to assign actions to tappable hotspots around the perimeter of the trackpad lets you duplicate the functionality of the Magic Mouse and keep all the multi-touch gesture goodness that comes with the Magic Trackpad. BetterTouchTool is available for free from boastr.net. [Via Macworld]
Become a creative multitasker with IOGraph
Ever feel like spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations weren't your true calling? Do you yearn to have a more creative side but can't find the time with all your office commitments? I've got just the thing for you. IOGraph is a fun little app for Mac OS X and Windows that turns all the starts, slides and stops of your mouse into modern art. Simply launch the app and go about your boring day-to-day office work. IOGraph works in the background by recording all the moves of your mouse in pencil-thin lines on a white digital canvas. When you stop your mouse a dot forms. The longer the mouse is static, the larger the dot will be. By the time you leave the office you'll have created a canvas that Pollock would be proud of. Besides being cool for making you a savant, IOGraph is an interesting app that allows you to track just how much cursor love your screen gets, and at the end of the day, you'll even have a new piece of art to set as your desktop wallpaper. The image for this post is the result of IOGraph creator Anatoly Zenkov's 3 hours of work in Photoshop. It'd be interesting to see what someone ends up with after playing Left 4 Dead 2 for a few hours. IOGraph is a free download.
LaCie Float concept combines external HDD with trackpad, ingenuity with fantasy
How do you freshen up the typically unexciting external storage unit? You slap a multitouch trackpad on the top of it, of course. And since you're dreaming up wild concepts, make that top out of carbon fiber, provide a base made out of glass and insert some LEDs next to it to provide ambient illumination -- with an integrated light sensor adjusting their brightness on the fly, obviously. Yes, André Silva's LaCie Float is indeed out of touch with things like "feasibility" and "economics," but don't tell us you wouldn't love that slice of converged awesomeness sidling up next to your laptop. USB 3.0 comes standard and an SSD option is also available, if you wish for it hard enough.
Mac 101: Adjusting your mouse and trackpad speed
More Mac 101, our series of tips and tricks for novice Mac users. If you've ever used the trackpad on a PC laptop connected to an external monitor and noticed how many times you have to swipe your finger across the pad to get the mouse cursor from one screen to the other, the end result can be quite frustrating and tiresome. Of course, the same thing can easily happen if you hook up an external display to your MacBook or iMac, although it usually is not as obvious thanks to the larger surface area that Apple has designed into recent trackpads. Luckily, this can be easily corrected on any Mac in just a few simple clicks. Before we dive into the settings, though, let's talk about what is causing this to happen in the first place. Although we often take it for granted, one of the most astonishing aspects of using a mouse with a computer is the fact that you only have to move your hand by a couple of inches, while the pointer on the screen moves from one end of the screen to the other -- even if the screen is over 20" wide. This feat is accomplished by a simple mathematical conversion being done in the background that measures the distance the mouse (or your finger, if using a trackpad) moves and multiplies that by a specific factor to determine how far -- and in what direction -- to move the cursor on the screen. Read on to find out how to give your mouse (or trackpad) a speed boost.
New Apple patents for iPhone, wide trackpad, Final Cut Pro, and Apple Mail
Patently Apple's got a whole slew of new patent applications from Cupertino today. First up are the actual product designs of the original iPhone and the second-gen iPod shuffle. Apple's moved on from both of these designs to newer and better things, but they're putting the patents in anyway, just in case anyone wants to rip off the rounded iPhone edges or the little shuffle's clip design. There are also two MacBook patents: one for the latch holding the battery in, and another one for an extremely wide trackpad that creates a touchable surface all the way across the bottom of the notebook. I like that idea -- I guess Apple hasn't yet figured out a way to put a touchpad in there without getting in the way of the hard drive, the battery, or whatever else is already in that space, but that's an innovation we could see in a future revision. Finally, Final Cut Pro's scripting engine has gotten a patent application, and there are also two Apple Mail-related patents, for filtering and processing certain email messages. Nothing super groundbreaking, but Apple continues to leave its mark on as many types of computer innovation as it can.
EFO's iPazzPort grows a touchpad and laser pointer, tickles our fancy
What exactly is a fancy, anyway? As we ponder that, and other far-fetched meanings of life, we're forced to take a look a yet another mystery of our planet: EFO. Who are these guys? Where do they spend quality time? Did they ever consider that the iPazzPort would become a worldwide phenomenon? Merely months after rolling out a minuscule Bluetooth keyboard for controlling HTPCs and other doodads, the company is now outing a slightly larger version -- one with a multitouch trackpad on top of the keys. Oddly enough, it also saw fit to throw a laser pointer into the mix, though this version will rely on those tried-and-true RF frequencies for wireless communication. Check out a downright exhilarating video of it in action past the break, and tap that source link if you're eager to drop $55 (including shipping) on one.
11.6-inch MacBook Air detailed
So, we've just been discussing the rumored, and long overdue, MacBook Air refresh with a trusted source. This person recently had a working model in their possession for a few minutes and managed to glean quite a bit of detail that would seemingly confirm Apple's plan to announce an 11-inch MacBook Air at the "Back to the Mac" event later today. Here's what we've been told to expect: Smaller 11.6-inch display. 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (with a 2.33GHz option possible). 2GB of memory in the base configuration. No optical drive, naturally. Mini DisplayPort, USB, and SD card reader along the left-hand side and USB and power on the right (that's 2x USB). The trackpad has been updated to match that of the new MacBook Pros. Although smaller due to the 11.6-inch display, it's still about the same thickness as the current MacBook Air. A black power key now sits immediately to the right of a smaller eject key on the MBA's keyboard -- the round aluminum power button is gone. A design decision that might support the MBA's rumored instant-on capabilities though our source didn't see this functionality exhibited (possibly because it was running OS X 10.6.4). Unfortunately, our source couldn't identify the graphics or the storage related to the rumored "SSD Card." So where does that leave us? Well, it looks like a smaller (and presumably, cheaper) MacBook Air originally rumored by AppleInsider is in the bag for a Steve Jobs announcement later today as is a refresh to the 13.3-inch model we broke last week (pictured nekkid above). So check back in a few hours and watch the reveal live, won't you? Update: Reader Lucas F. submitted a mockup of the new power and eject keys which you can see after the break. [Thanks, Anonymous]
How would you change Apple's Magic Trackpad?
Magical? Maybe. But there's no doubt that Apple's Magic Trackpad was a shot out of left field when it debuted earlier this summer. Offering loads of multitouch gestures to desktop users who are sick and tired of using the same 'ole mouse for the past score, the pad received little attention from Apple itself. Rather than launching the new hardware at a press event, the company simply slid it into its webstore, just hoping and praying that you'd put your optical bias aside for a moment and try it out. We've already given you our take, and now we're interested in hearing your own thoughts. Has the Magic Trackpad revolutionized the way you control your cursor? Caused more frustration than it's worth? Did you forget you even owned this thing? How would you tweak it if allowed into Cupertino's design labs? Tell all in comments below.
oStylus capacitive pen review
Like it or not, the capacitive touchscreen just isn't cut out for use with a stylus. We've seen foam-tipped pens and meat-injected tubes have a go at it, but we've yet to really find an option that we were truly satisfied with. It's not hard to imagine why having a legitimate capacitive stylus would be beneficial for creative types; doodling on a tablet, a Magic Trackpad or a mobile device (just to name a few) would be killer if we had a reliable tool to doodle with. Enter the oStylus, a limited run (for now) product that aims to shift the paradigm and make drawing on capacitive touchpanels just as easy as drawing on resistive ones. Creator Andrew Goss was kind enough to send us what appears to be the sixth finalized unit from the production line, and we were able to test it on the iPad, Apple's Magic Trackpad and an iPhone. Read on if you're interested in our two pennies. %Gallery-103981%
