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Mar 14, 08 - 11:40 am Comment from: Wandering joe

Just used an MBA today. What a joy. Ttrackpad gesturing really is the way to go.

I really don´t care for peope posting just to say ; "First"

So immature...

From the friendly screen and "keyboard" of my iPhone, this makes perfect sense. I can easily see this as the future, and I like it.

-M

Omg. I thought I was first and tried to be funny...
Well, there you have it.


= )

Mar 14, 08 - 11:48 am Comment from: silverhawk

It's okay using my iPod touch; small screen and easy to clean. I don't want a 50" touch screen that gets finger prints all over it. You need a input device like the touch pad.

Mar 14, 08 - 11:49 am Comment from: 7over

I don't see keyboards going away. Unless the screen is flat on the table it's pretty hard to type on any screen whether it's 50 inches or the current 21 when the screen is perpendicular to the horizontal plane.

Most desk tops are less than 30 inches deep and if you think that putting a 50 inch screen flat on the desk will work... ...yeah right!

I foresee a new keyboard which is a touch screen pad and which allows you to change the key layout, add new functions, or have it change based on the application you're using at the time. That makes perfect sense, more than having to reach across your desk to touch your monitor all day long.

At least that would be the first step, until people are weaned off of keyboards and mice.

Mar 14, 08 - 11:52 am Comment from: alansky

The iPhone way ahead of its time? Definitely. Touch screens replacing the mouse? Not gonna happen or, if it does, physical therapists everywhere will find their services in great demand as legions of unsuspecting computer users start complaining of heretofore unknown repetitive stress injuries brought on by the unsupported hand and arm motions required to make use of this technolgy. I call it a spectacularly bad idea.

From an engineering standpoint, Apple products are real intelligent design.

Everything else is just junk.

Elgan should start his own hardware/software company and deliver all of his predictions...

Mar 14, 08 - 12:00 pm Comment from: Spark

I've seen better predictions within comments here.

Mar 14, 08 - 12:02 pm Comment from: HMCIV

When the floppy disk goes, what will our "Save Icons" look like? Will they be flash drives?

Mar 14, 08 - 12:05 pm Comment from: rahrens

7over, I don't either. There will always be tecnical reasons when a technician may need access to a machine before the monitor drivers kick in, then you'd need some other input device.

That said, I do see a future in which we will see a mix of verbal, touch and typed commands, depending upon the particular task and output required. I agree with the comment about placing 50 inch monitors flat on a desk - mine sure as heck isn't that big! But we could see other manners of using touch - perhaps secondary screens for specific tasks? Perhaps a computer that can "see" our gestures in front of the screen and respond appropriately, negating the need to touch the screen at all? There are systems in development that can see your eyes and where they are looking that are intended for use in vehicles. These could undoubtedly be adapted for use where a computer could project a "heads up" type display that could match your gestures with the location of items in the heads up display.

Lotsa ways to work it.

I cant wait to be using a 50in on screen keyboard. That will be a nice workout.

Mar 14, 08 - 12:17 pm Comment from: Not Bill

Ahead if its time? That is kind of a slight to Apple. Leading the way into the future of computing would be more respectful. Ahead of its time implies the iPhone is just an oddity, and perhaps not a successful one, until others are doing the same thing. It is as if the "time" cannot be defined Apple. The expression belies a prejudice.

As for touch screens. I could see a tablet, configured like a Wacom tablet is today, wireless, from which one controls the computer. It could also be a touch screen, showing the same thing that is shown on the big screen. In fact it could be an iPhone like product that you could take with you. Processors and memory in both locations. Processors and memory available on the web as well. Hell, lets put them in peoples heads too! That last one could take a bit longer and be less popular; depending on who has access to the password key chain.

I like the way that Apple has quickly evolved this process. When the iMac came out the famous line was, "Where's the computer?" Simplicity and functionality have marked Apple as the most influencial technology designer/implementer of our time. Perhaps by being an underdog for so many years, Apple has had to prove itself over and over and this has given them quite the advantage by realizing that in order to become relevant being that they were the weakest player in their markets, they had to think hard and leap frog the competition. They are an Amazing company and I hope they will continue to do well and make their offerings and their services as user friendly (pro and amateur) as possible.

More good news for Apple, can't have that, panic panic panic, doom doom doom, sell the stock sell the stock sell the stock...a user interface like the one in the Movie Minority Report will come true.

Mar 14, 08 - 12:28 pm Comment from: Jay-Z

This stuff could only work if we sat in front of these large screens as if they were drafting tables, and even then they might not work. But at least if we were sitting in front of a large screen, the ergonomics would be better than a standard desk/screen setup.

@alansky

RSI from using touchpads? Let me tell you something!!!!!!!
I right now am the owner of the original igesture touchpad from fingerworks which apple bought to own the multitouch technology. If anyone tried to take that away from me and tell me to use a regular mouse to avoid having pain I would procede to tell them that they have it in REVERSE....and that he is an imbecile. I M B E C I L E ! ! Then I would proceed to take a steak knife and stab him multiple times!

The floppy drive has gone away?

I work at a company with over 1000 desktop and I just turned around and they all still have floppy drives and they have something on it called Windows.

Of course, there are 20 machines that don't and they are the one's in front of me running OSX. Funny, in my department we only use those machines behind us for "testing" and taking up space. Of course, I never see the IT folks unless they need help or don't understand something and it never fails, they still bring me stuff on floppy!? Poor bastards.

Elgan is a consummate Apple hater and asshat basher of the company. One of the most clueless journalists who writes about tech in the universe.

Meh...

you try staring at a 50" screen from 14" away for longer than 30 seconds...

Predictions.
yeah, I have a few to match Elgans idiotic set:

There will be no computers in the future, just giant carrots, which will tell us all what to do.
They will be the Carrot Masters and we will be the Carrot Serfs.

We wont have time for surfing the web because the Carrots will have destroyed it and we will be too busy caring for the baby Carrots.
Vitamin A will be in short supply as eating Carrots will be a capital offence.

The Carrots took ever after mistakes at a Nuclear Research facility caused by fingerprints on the screen. A scientist couldnt see the screen properly and accidentally touched the "Make Giant Carrots the Rulers of the Universe" icon.

Use a Desktop top touch screen to do graphics?
As in use my finger to smudge around on my screen while doing intensive work on an image in Photoshop?
I don´t think so.
Just holding one´s arm in that position, stabbing and swabbing at a desktop monitor just is not going to work.

The iPhone is really nice and I would like to see a 12" computer with a touch screen.

Took 'ever'? Should be over, but cant be helped because I am using a 50" giant touch-screen and I am drunk and my hands are covered in peanut butter.

As long as that touchscreen is on the desk, facing up , I see no problem. But if the screen is in front of you, like all screens are today, I see a bunch of shoulder, elbow, wrist, and finger repetitive stress injuries. I use a Wacom Intuos at home and wouldn't exchange it for anything. Once you get used to it, which takes a few days, it is much less physically stressful than using a mouse.

I predict that in 100 years computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the 5 richest kings of Europe will own them

Hmm. I think Apple is on time. Point is Apple's competitors are so F'ing behind the times. They've been shovelling sh!t for so long they don't know what hit them now that someone is actually designing and innovating, and disrupting their snug mediocre universe. Fact is, my 5 year old motorola cell phone really doesn't do much less than the new ones

Mar 14, 08 - 01:43 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

Elgan is a dork, but not as dorky as Enderle or Thurrott.

Anyhow, I would like to see a notebook, with a multitouch keyboard. That would allow custom mapping of keys to fit your actual hands. Actually, I can see something where you adapt the face detection tech in digital cameras and apply it to finger detection. This would allow you to have a keyboard that's always adjusting to where your fingers are resting on the multitouch keyboard. So, the keys follow the fingers, and not the fingers hunting for the keys. I think I'll patent that idea.

Mar 14, 08 - 01:48 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

@DReynolds, you do remember when you used to have a photo lab with an enlarger, right? Remember using your fingers to dodge and burn?

As for how this would be applied to a Photoshop user, I see multitouch, more like a tablet, but no more pens. You use your fingers. And, once you apply it to a tablet, you then can just built into a normal formfactor laptop as the multitouch keyboard.

Mar 14, 08 - 02:01 pm Comment from: ron

try this.

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-tactus/

Anybody who has learned to touch type and thus need not look at a keyboard would be inefficient using a device that requires eyeballing the input device. The exception would be a device too small to accommodate touch typing, at which point the touch screen has big advantages, because one needs must look at the device. From some of the comments above it would seem that many are not touch typists and for them a large touch screen might have merit. Touch typists are far more efficient with a full size keyboard. The discussion here ignores the efficiency factor. Why is that?

Mar 14, 08 - 03:38 pm Comment from: 7over

Rahrens,
I think the part of the overview I found most unlikely springs from the comment "...on-screen keyboards, enhanced by haptic feedback, will replace the real thing." Perhaps, "keyboards on a screen" would be a more accurate way to say it, and a strong potential provided there were real and accurate 'haptic feedback'.

Your concept of secondary "screens" that could be used in conjunction with either a regular or separate-from-the-monitor "keyboard on a screen" makes sense. I could see something like that replacing the mouse for many tasks.

Would I rather use my fingers for 'smudging' a photo in photoshop? Probably. I find that I have finer control over my fingers than my mouse can interpret.

As for monitors under the desktop...We had training rooms where the monitors were mounted under a glass desktop so that students could have a larger space to put books and note papers etc. for writing. They lasted about 2 years and the glass had to be replaced due to scratches and they realized that it was harder for a student to look down at the monitor and then up at the board because that required the entire head to move rather than just the eyes.

Will there be a more diverse collection of apparatuses for inputing data to computers in the future? I sure hope so!

Mar 14, 08 - 04:10 pm Comment from: Ampar

Elaine: "Well, to tell you the truth, Dr. Feffa, I , I was surprised to hear you use a word like breathtaking to describe a baby, I mean, because you also used it referring to me."
Ben: "Well, you know Elaine, sometimes you say things just to be nice."

"And, finally, the boxy CPU will disappear and PC boards and other electronics will vanish into the back of the monitor, much like the Apple iMac."

And so the iMac is also way ahead of its time.

they tried touch contolled through the monitor computers in the '90s, users hated them and the term gorilla arm was born.
who the hell is going to sit close enough to a 50" display to touch it?

a touchpad or some similar device that changes function when needed based on program used seems much more likely

Why does a 50" touch screen -even done by Apple - still sound like a "big ass table"? Fugly!

MW= press

As in "Apple, don't press your luck!"

I can appreciate the sentiment here, but Computerworld is itself behind its time. How long has the trackpad been around? A decade? Who needs a mouse already? Gestures on my screen? No. Gestures on my trackpad.

As for GIANT SCREENS: No regular single human user is going to want or bother with a 50" screen. A professional who wants to layout a newspaper or magazine in 1:1 WYSIWYG or movie editors might find it useful. A committee room of people could easily put to use a black board sized screen. Otherwise it's far more visual real estate than mere mortals could stand.

As for shoving my fingers all over my computer screen: Not gonna happen. No way, no how. I am a visual person. It ticks me off already when smudgy stuff gets on my screen. This is why I always have my soft cotton cloth and my Pledge Multi Surface cleaner within arm's reach. What I use, what I WILL use, is the track pad OR my Wacom tablet. I love the tablets with their own picture of my screen. I'd be happy to smudge and mess up that thing. Who cares! But I will NEVER mess up my beautiful monitor. Give me Apple gestures technology right now! But not on my screen, thank you. On a little iPhone or iPod Touch I could live with it. I'm not using PDAs to create visual works of art. On my Macs, I gotta have perfect visual quality.

:-Derek

I'm gonna invest in hand sanitizers.

Computer monitors will change in the near future. Instead of being on your desktop, they will be imbedded in glasses that you wear. They will be "bluetooth" enabled so that as you sit down at your station the glasses become active. A simple keystroke to turn off if needed, or flip them up to do something else.
A 50" keyboard makes no sense at all (I have a 30 inch Cinema Display and it really is too big for most of my daily use.) Newer and more efficient data entry methods need to be implemented, however it may go.

Mar 15, 08 - 02:28 am Comment from: ken1w

Nonsense. The iPhone interface will certainly make a big impact on handheld devices, including devices with screens the size of current laptops.

However, people who do actual work all day are not going to have their arms held straight out in front while gesturing on a large vertical display. That's stupid. Furthermore, people who need to input a large amount of data efficiently are not going to use a vertical touch screen or an on-screen keyboard.

It's possible that the current keyboard and mouse will be replaced at some point, but it's not going to be replaced by a huge version of the current iPhone screen. Whatever it is, I'm sure Apple will invent it too.

Mar 17, 08 - 09:09 am Comment from: Ampar

". . . they will be imbedded in glasses that you wear."

I don't want or need glasses.

Mar 17, 08 - 09:42 am Comment from: derekcurrie

pablo sez: "Computer monitors will change in the near future. Instead of being on your desktop, they will be imbedded in glasses that you wear."

Sorry, but this is one of those 'Looks totally kewl in the movies!' but doesn't work well IRT. We still have some extremely drastic pixel crushing to do before glasses are anything but a cheesy novelty.

As for what will happen when this technology might be available, that is uncertain. We already have laws against walking and driving in public with iPods in our ears. There have been fairie tales about being able to walk the street with translucent game glasses on your head but: Ain't gonna happen, legally anyway. So if you're at home watching or playing, do you really want an expensive pair of glasses over a much cheaper super high-rez big screen? You decide.

50" screen?! Maybe when humans start growing 5 foot long arms! Any distance shorter than that will be unbearable to look at unless you're talking about much higher resolution and vector-based graphics.

As others have pointed out, going with vertically mounted touchscreens with no keyboards equates to permanent job security for occupational therapists and workman's comp lawyers.

I just don't see full-sized keyboards going away. If you're talking about entering information as efficiently as possible, any kind of on-screen device will be slower. You already have carpal tunnel issues with flat keyboards, but I can't imagine on-screen keyboards making this any better.

I can see keyboard-sized flat touchscreens with haptic feedback being used as a detached input device that controls what you see on a 50" screen. Having a touchscreen in the size of a keyboard on your desk or lap gives you the versatility of switching between a tactile keyboard and entering gestures over a large touchscreen space. Having the full 50" screen size as a touch is not necessary, and most people won't want something that massive within arm's reach anyway.