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Apr 01, 08 - 12:03 pm Comment from: JadisOne

Looking forward to what Apple does with its multi-touch technology. I wonder if it will be as revolutionary as the mouse?

I'm not surprised. It seems like the next logical procession in the UI.

Both, please, in a tiny, lightweight, and not underpowered device.

Sounds like another April Fool

Apr 01, 08 - 12:20 pm Comment from: Tommy Boy

You know, I think I saw this movie.

Apr 01, 08 - 12:22 pm Comment from: Ampar

One of the prototypes resembles a black mock turtleneck sweater. It's controlled by something that looks like bottled water. Now you know.

Apr 01, 08 - 12:29 pm Comment from: Macromancer

Can't wait to try Adobe Fingerpaint.

Apr 01, 08 - 12:32 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

Give me an 8-10" slate version of the iPhone and I'll be happy.

Apr 01, 08 - 12:38 pm Comment from: silverhawk

Amp

It's not just bottled water, it bottled Spring Water! Perish the thought of drinking bottled Atlanta water.

it would be like a giant nintendo DS, I guess, but will it play Zelda?

Apr 01, 08 - 12:41 pm Comment from: iWill

A new platform, indeed.
I feel the Earth turning on its axis.
Next stop: holographic tablet.

Apr 01, 08 - 12:46 pm Comment from: Ampar

"Perish the thought of drinking bottled Atlanta water."

It's not that bad once you get used to the spots and rainbows.

Meanwhile, Ballmer has been experimenting with giant, multi-touch sensitive chocolate bars. There's no point. It just keeps him out of the boardroom while adults are talking.

Apr 01, 08 - 12:48 pm Comment from: Ampar

"Can't wait to try Adobe Fingerpaint."

Wouldn't Corel® Painter™ X make more sense? Just saying.

@iWill

Holographic tablet?? oooooooooo.......*slightly drools*

And as a bonus the multi-touch Mac will come with a hydrogen-fueled jet-pack. The bad news is that you have to let Tom Cruise in your house to operate it.

Fine. Yes, I do expect them to move their entire mac line into full multi-touch input. And that would include macbooks with multitouch only input.
But, I want THIS FREAKIN YEAR a smallish mobile internet device that is more powerful, larger, and more versatile than an iphone/ipod touch. But yet at the same time it should be smaller than their macbooks....including the air.
Please do this for me Steve.

Granted : the next-gen iMac to feature Multi-Touch U.I. thanks to its new touch-screen technology.
Also granted : the next-gen MacBook line-up to be based on all-multi-touch U.I., release date 2010, after the first "MacTablet" to be released in 2009.
MAYA principle, Folks : Most Advanced Yet Acceptable.
First step : get people used to multi-touch through the iPhone/iPodTouch line-up; then second step : increase multi-touch presence into existing product lines (e.g. MacBooks); then third step : go mainstream on the computer side thru the iMac; then fourth step : spread the word on the nomade side thru the MacTablet; last : invade the whole world with a full new portable line-up.

Apr 01, 08 - 01:05 pm Comment from: Reality Check

Oooh. Lots of greasy screens from sticky fingers. Guess that'll help the glossy problem.

Apr 01, 08 - 01:07 pm Comment from: Macromancer

@ Ampar,

yeah but my post wasn't really based in reality. Was just supposed to be a joke.

But yes, painter on a multitouch would kinda be cool except that most peoples fat fingers arent going to be real good at precise work. Still need a stylus. And since that's the case, Wacom makes the Cintiq which is available NOW.

@Marc Duchesne

Look, they can release some full sized mac tablet next year if they want to. But I want my mobile internet device (larger than iphone) THIS YEAR NOT NEXT.
Argh! *folds arms angrily*

Apr 01, 08 - 01:18 pm Comment from: Cubert

I can't wait for the Divinyls Special Edition iPod - I Multitouch Myself.

Apr 01, 08 - 01:26 pm Comment from: alansky

You heard it here first: A computer interface that requires the user to extend hands and arms in order to touch a vertical screen would be an ergonomic train wreck. Physical therapists rejoice!

Apr 01, 08 - 01:36 pm Comment from: Toasty

This is not an april fool. They are in fact developing full multi-touch Macs. And considering they did an initial run of 5000 units, i think they will possibly be here sooner than 2010.

iMac Touch is a scalable tablet.

But he keeps locking himself in the closet.

magic word: straight

Apr 01, 08 - 01:53 pm Comment from: NCIceman

Amazing that the computers of Star Trek: The Next Generation are going to occur within our lifetimes...

I sure hope the glossy screens are out of fad by then. My iPod touch makes me feel like a giant greaseball now.
:/

@rdbvideo
Glossy makes it much easier to clean

@rdbvideo

I dont think removing the glossy screen will fix that, but for your sake I hope it does

Apr 01, 08 - 02:32 pm Comment from: shen

"Give me an 8-10" slate version of the iPhone and I'll be happy."

C1, i have to agree. having an iPhone has only made it MORE obvious how much i want that product...

Yes, and I predict that Microsoft's Big Ass Table will be slightly smaller but you won't see that until 2010 either.

Thank you, Ms. Obvious.

Apr 01, 08 - 02:38 pm Comment from: Kit-N

Yayyy! Lots of fingerprints on glossy screens!!! I can hardly wait!

8-10" would make a lot of people happy including Mr. Happy.

"NCIceman said"
"Amazing that the computers of Star Trek: The Next Generation are going to occur within our lifetimes..."

Which completely destroys the continuity of the original series. Unless all our new technology is lost in the nuclear war of 2050.

Seriously, in twenty years the computers in the next generation series are going to look just as outdated as the computers in the original series.

We won't be getting FTL propulsion, antimatter reactors, teleportation, or replicators any time soon. We'll probably have something very similar to a holodeck and virtual reality in the next three decades and a commercial fusion reactor by 2045 if ITER is successful.

Apr 01, 08 - 03:11 pm Comment from: Ampar

". . . except that most peoples fat fingers arent going to be real good at precise work."

Maybe static charged and sharpened Lee Press-On Nails? Yeah, um, that's why I'm wearing 'em. For the artwork.

Apr 01, 08 - 03:12 pm Comment from: Ampar

I wonder if they'll bring back Dalmation and Flower Power for a touch of nostalgia?

Apr 01, 08 - 03:14 pm Comment from: nekogami13

Multi- touch screens in laptops or tablets makes sense.
They make zero sense in a desktop.

Holding your arms up at shoulder height waving them around for long periods of time is very uncomfortable. Another company researched touch screens for desktops in the '90s-thats where the term "Gorilla Arm" came from.

Also, who in the hell sits close enough to a 24" monitor to touch it?

Apr 01, 08 - 03:19 pm Comment from: Ampar

"Holding your arms up at shoulder height waving them around for long periods of time is very uncomfortable."

Not for the current CEO of Microsoft, it isn't. You can bet something involving arm waving and knuckle dragging is on his "innovations" list.

Apr 01, 08 - 03:23 pm Comment from: Cubert

@alansky and nekogami13,
Not a touch screen. Apple will replace the keyboard with a touch area. You are right about the ergonomics of a touch screen (ie. monitor), which is why Apple won't do it that way.

Apr 01, 08 - 03:44 pm Comment from: eMax

duh... and they have lots of prototype crap we will never hear or see either... so what.

Apr 01, 08 - 04:16 pm Comment from: Rick

For everyone thinking that the fingerprints and greasy hands to touch are some negatives, . . you can get iKlear from the apple store, monster has a solution at best buy and I use one called iKlenz used just for the iPhone you can get online. I think there all mostly affordable and keeps everything new looking at least - especially for my greasy fingers.

I personally am excited about touch and really don't want to think I have to put a screen protector on everything. Sheeshh!

Apr 01, 08 - 06:15 pm Comment from: Cubert

@Rick,
Please read my post a few above yours.

Thanks.

@Rick:
Come on this is Apple we're talking about. You just throw the thing in your certified itouch Bosch dishwasher on light rinse. Problem solved.

Apr 01, 08 - 06:41 pm Comment from: effwerd

Relying exclusively on multitouch? I don't think so. On the other hand, I think I've figured out a way to drive my car with random arm waves and gestures.

Apr 02, 08 - 12:48 am Comment from: iDon't

I want to be touched.

Apr 02, 08 - 01:08 am Comment from: Reality Check

>For everyone thinking that the fingerprints and greasy hands to touch are some negatives, . . you can get iKlear from the apple store, monster has a solution at best buy and I use one called iKlenz used just for the iPhone you can get online. I think there all mostly affordable and keeps everything new looking at least - especially for my greasy fingers.

Are you serious? Sounds like true fanboy logic. How frequently are you recommending we clean the screen? Most people I know don't like *one* finger print on their "stunning glossy screen with millions of colors". If we're continually dragging, pushing and pinching on the screen it's going to be permanently smeary. Nice.

Apr 02, 08 - 01:08 am Comment from: Reality Check

>Relying exclusively on multitouch? I don't think so. On the other hand, I think I've figured out a way to drive my car with random arm waves and gestures.

The Italians have done this for years. What's new?

Apr 02, 08 - 01:17 am Comment from: Crabs

@everyone complaining about ergonomics

Why would they make it so you had to keep the screen vertical? For non-multitouch use, you have it up in its vertical position, then it tilts/slides down into a horizontal or angled surface for multitouch use.