“I predict Steve Jobs will introduce a multitouch mousepad at WWDC… and that finger input will be one of the ‘top secret’ features of Leopard,” Leander Kahney blogs for Wired.
“The multitouch pad will look like a standard mousepad, but it’ll be finger sensitive, like the touchpads on most notebooks. But instead of one finger, it’ll be sensitive to multi-finger gestures and commands, like the iPhone,” Kahney predicts.
“The pad will completely replace the mouse, allowing users to control the Mac with their fingers — moving the cursor, selecting files and double clicking with a quick double tap of the index finger,” Kahney explains.
“The pad will also respond to a whole new vocabulary of gestures, like Mouse Gestures in Firefox, which execute common commands (backwards, forwards, reload) with a sweep of the mouse. Using your fingers, you’ll open files by twisting to the left, as though turning an imaginary dial. Twist your fingers to the right to close the file,” Kahney writes.
More in the full article here.
I wish I had a track-pad on my desk like the one on my MacBook Pro It is so easy..
Using my Macbook I am a freakin’ pro at using the multi touch.
Both fingers and a downward swip to scroll. Left or right scroll. Two finger double tap to “right click”
If I had a the pad from my macbook on my keyboard the mouse would get lonley.
Also I hate editing video on PC because I miss my left and right scroll.
Might Mouse rocks.
MickyMouse,
1. Press on the left side, primary button, press to the right of the mouse, secondary button. Easy.
2. 360° scroll ball works if you go to the System Preferences > Keyboard and Mouse, select Mouse, select 360° in the Scrolling Options. As for clogging, some rubbing alcohol on a rag or paper towel and rub it over the ball, moving the ball as you clean.
3. In the same preferences, select off for the side buttons. Problem solved.
4. Newbies will soon become experienced and can deal with the preferences to solve their problems.
I love my Mighty Mouse. I have been using mice on Macs and PCs since the mid-1980’s. So far, seems to be the best to me.
The mousepad is already multi-touch. Two-finger scrolling is delightful. He’s merely suggesting additional gestures — perhaps they’d be helpful but only if they keep them very simple and intuitive; that is, twisting fingers to the right to close a file sounds ridiculously counterintuitive.
What I’d like to see is full touchscreen technology, starting with new iMacs. That way objects on the screen could be directly manipulated, and the touch input would be complementary to what is done with the keyboard and touchpad.
But the existing mousepad /isn’t/ multi-touch in the proper, iphone sense of the word. Two finger scrolling does indeed sense two different digits and interprets accordingly, but only if the two fingers are moving in the same direction – try it moving two fingers in different directions, like the pinch on the iphone, and the input will either jam or go in some crazy direction.
This mousepad will let you interact with Leopard and iLife/iWork just like the iPhone lets you interact with its apps.
Rather than a big trackpad, I see it having a screen displaying buttons and representations of of what’s on your main screen. You’re finger positions over the “mousepad” will appear on your main display just like those little dots in the iPhone demo on Apple’s site. Apple has a patent on an LCD that can see, sort of like a combined iSight sensor and monitor display.
Coverflow, squeeze, expand, flip-like scrolling will be incorporated into the whole system. Tap to zoom, double-tap to zoom out.
It’s impractical to use multi-touch on your main screen. The “mousepad” would replace my trackball, which I’ve been nursing along ever since the iPhone MacWorld. OS X now supports multi-touch on the iPhone, so why not on a desktop system.
Gotta go splitter on the whole MIghty Mouse thing. Can’t stand it myself. I’ve used a (gasp!) Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer from the time they were introduced, and I have yet to find a better mouse. I have not forgiven Intellipoint developers, however, for removing the Wheel Button feature that let you set Click+Roll to another action. I used to use this for PageUp/Down, but a few versions ago they removed it, and the old driver does not work on the Intel Macs. I’m looking for a better solution, but the Mighty Mouse does not cut it for me.
It should be a conductor’s baton.
Imagine the feeling of power from conducting items on your desktop.
Worth remembering that Apple bought Fingerworks a few years ago. http://www.fingerworks.com/
Not sure if this is going to feature only on the iPhone, but I’d like to see it.
I waited forever for the BT Mighty Mouse and I actually have no issues with it. Mush more versatile than my old BT mouse.
It’s a lot better than the MS Intellimouse I have at work hooked up to my PeeCee.
Finger burn?
yes, Fingerworks gesture products were/are awesome…ahead of their time…so sad they are no longer.
This could explain why the Macbook trackpad area is quite a bit larger than its predecessor on the iBook. Did Macbook Pro trackpads get larger when they replace the Powerbooks?
of course there’s a multi-touch mouse in the works. the whole gui is about to go multi-touch.
minority report here we come.
I love the MightyMouse, but this would definitely be cool. Would be nice if it is flexible so it cal roll up.
I don’t know about you guys, but when i use my touchpad on my laptop for extended periods, my hand cramps up a little. I can use a mouse or tablet all day…
Mousepad sounds good to me.
Can we also add wireless connectivity to it so that I can lean back in my chair with the Mousepad in my lap?
And while you’re at it, include some screen magic whereby I can download text and graphics to the Mousepad for viewing on the go.
Walking up to another Mac with my Mousepad would allow me to transfer my Finder preferences and reconfigure the computer to mirror the one I was using moments ago.
ANSWER: No.
Back to your regular old mice.
-c
Apple did not invent this product. They purchased the idea and rights from a company called FingerWorks, whose founders (or at least one of them) now work for Apple. The original product was called iGesture, and it has been around for years, and it works. Apple wanted the technology for themselves, so they snatched it up, and thus away from PC users, in order to control the market.