Macenstein is reporting a rumor of an “upcoming Apple TV update and the first Apple TV-specific accessory, a multi-touch Apple keyboard.”
A new keyboard. bluetooth. aluminum with design and keys just like existing wireless. but to the right a touch-sensitive area. it is aluminum and backlit. a thin groove defines the edge of its area. it is programmable. it can illuminate a numerical pad. a click wheel. a standard trackpad. a keyboard. whatever. create your own.
apple tv has a unused bluetooth capability. not for much longer. you will be able to pair this keyboard with the apple tv. why? an apple tv software update will include full .mac compatibility. check and write email, surf, organize photos, create and order a photo book or upload them to a .mac gallery, and ichat, even video ichat. plug in a USB webcam, or even a digital camcorder or just a digital still cam as long as it has video capture and USB.
More in the full article here.
Mr. Reeee:
I agree with you; however, it was YOU who found use for it, but frankly, it is unlikely that a single keyboard would make people realise there is a potential in the living room. For about seven decades, we have been conditioned to gather around this screen in the living room and watch (more or less quietly) the moving images. For about two-three decades, we have been also conditioned to sit at a desk in front of this (more or less) static screen and interact with it using a keyboard and a mouse. Cross-breeding two concepts will require major shift in thinking of most people. You and I can comfortably do it by ourselves; that’s why you have a bluetooth keyboard in your living room, and I have my MB. Mainstream America, however, will find this extremely alien and cumbersome, until Apple arrives on stage with an iPhone-like intuitiveness. I somehow doubt that this keyboard would be IT.
@Predag
I can see some would use this in the living room though… how much is it gonna cost? I’m sure not under $100 and if it was…. then it would be selling off the shelves. I’d personally use it for apps for shortcuts instead of pressing down 2 or three keys I just press a button on screen. I can even see it’s use for people who edit audio if you could add in audio controls for each sound track or people using turn tables… it’s a neat idea… just not sure if it will actually happen.
I had never heard before that the AppleTV had unutilized Bluetooth. Can anyone confirm this?
@ ron; I’m left handed, but I always use my right hand to move my mouse… just a thought, but good point. I don’t know if I would use my left or right hand to move with multitouch… But imagine it, you could use that like a track pad on a laptop, and you wouldn’t have to have a mouse laying around… (I had a computer hooked up to my plasma before, and it drove me crazy to have to use my mouse on my chair… lol)
It does have bluetooth… those who have hacked it and installed OSX it does work.
what’s the point of buying a mac when you can use an apple tv? i never knew the apple tv was capable of anything other than be a multimedia hub. but the trackpad idea is so cool. it better not be compatible only with the apple tv like the superdrive is for the air.