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Jan 25, 08 - 11:46 am Comment from: ken1w

> Apple’s current patent would strongly suggest that the iPod classic could likely take another leap forward in the future

I doubt that the iPod "classic" will be leaping anywhere other than retirement. Apple will keep making them while there is demand, and maybe even increase capacity one more time. But the iPod with a hard drive is on the way out. However, a new Flash-based iPod with "illuminated touchpad" is certainly possible.

Jan 25, 08 - 11:47 am Comment from: Ampar

I wonder where the inspirations for this came from?

Any wild guesses?

Jan 25, 08 - 11:47 am Comment from: Cubert

Neo. He escaped the matrix and never looked back!

I'm betting that they will be changing out the touchpads in the laptops to provide visual feedback or even be able to display graphics on them for selection of items/buttons/sliders/etc.

This patent application was discovered by Apple Insider about 6 months ago, reported on, and even posted here on MDN. Why do we have a rehash of old news?

If you offer an ipod that is uber thin, all flash based, has an illuminated touchpad, and the long reported chameleon outer shell you have the makings of another iteration of iPod that will be a practical, and fun device that is also a fashion statement

Jan 25, 08 - 12:09 pm Comment from: TanZing

I'm sure Apple can easily implement this. They already have a green light showing through the casing on the Macbook and Macbook Pro to indicate if the built-in iSight is on.

There shouldn't be too much trouble extending the concept to other parts.

Jan 25, 08 - 12:42 pm Comment from: Grigori

"This patent application was discovered by Apple Insider about 6 months ago, reported on, and even posted here on MDN. Why do we have a rehash of old news?"

Because the new news is so grim?

I'm still waiting for an external multi-touch trackpad to replace my trackball; if it's got built-in light sensors, so much the better... just release it already.

LOL! Ampar, you roll me!

MW:involved

Jan 25, 08 - 01:37 pm Comment from: Ampar

Mary Jane: ::blush::

(I'm just glad Apple nipped this one before any competitors could.)

Illuminated touchpads... So what???

Jan 25, 08 - 01:51 pm Comment from: blucaso

Ampar - You clearly are trying to milk this for all it's worth. We need to wean you from this retrograde humor. Any boob can make these jokes, you're better than that.

Jan 25, 08 - 02:04 pm Comment from: Lurker_PC

Ampar -

Thanks for keeping us abreast of the inspirations for this story.

Ditto.

Peace.

Jan 25, 08 - 02:13 pm Comment from: Ampar

It's all just tit for tat, guys. Apple's patent cup runneth over.

Ahh...the time to replace my 3rd gen is coming. Feel sorry for my kid who just bought the 160 gigger. Give me a light show [the MW] any day. Or night.

The iphone enlarged and spread out into keyboard size, makes sense. My dream machine... Two Macbook Air monitors wedged together, one of them, the complete surface has the iphone multi touch capabilities. The beauty of having a keyboard that could double as a second monitor is you could flip the laptop sideways when reading pdfs or whatever. And swipe through the pages. It would be great for those in the desktop publishing game being able to preview their work as it would look in book/magazine form.