“Apple today was shown to have filed a US patent that may point towards the future of its desktop mice. Originally submitted in March 2006, the patent would use a variant of the multi-touch concept behind the iPhone and apply it to a hand controller. An optical sensor built inside the mouse would map the surface and recognize contact from the user’s hand based on changes in the image. Information would then be translated to a flat grid in software that the computer can use to recognize the user’s intent, the patent says,” Electronista reports.
“Apple does not give clues as to whether or not it will implement the technology in a shipping mouse but notes that the patent favors unibody mice such as the Apple Mouse and the Mighty Mouse, which include seamless surfaces on the inside and out that are well-suited to image sensors,” Electronista reports.
Full article, with patent illustrations, here.
Thanks MDN, a non-iPhone story. I think I’m suffering a bit of overload
ladies and gentleman, the new user interface of the 21st century…instead of clicking on your desktop, you’ll touch it.
Yeah! More buttons to map for my mouse!
MDN can you guys post anything that was not already posted on Macrumors.com or Appleinsider?
A trackpad on steroids. I like the idea of something similar to the Wacom Cintiq but less expensive.
Do you hear that scratching sound? It’s Ballmer adding this to his innovations list.
Jake,
I think of MDN as THE resource for all Mac-related news. That way, I don’t have to visit 50 MacRumor sites… I come to this one and know all the Mac info I need is right here…
MDN: Keep it up.
I’ll buy 10 of them
A multi-touch mouse….big whoop. I already have a mutli-touch joystick.
tell me that touching your mouse too much can lead to blndness.
The… uhh… multi-touch-masturbation references need to stop… aren’t we all above the age of 13?
…. maybe not ….
@ AshNazg’s
Take a stroll over to zunedailynews.com for all things Zune. You’ll Lots of innovative and interesting things going on with the Zune and there are a lot of enthusiastic yet fair and balanced blogs for the world’s greatest portable media platform.
Who has time to follow all the goings on with Zune when there’s such a convenient aggregator. Check it out!
Your potential. Our passion.™
P.S. Buster, you’re not funny.
Haha, Zune Tang, you’re still here?
Anyways, a multi-touch mouse sounds quite silly. I expected Apple to integrate that technology directly into the display, tablet style. Now that, would kick ass.
Bravo Zune Tang! Always a pleasure to hear from you
Zune Tang! Love you man! You keep the masses informed and enthusiastic about our pathetic excuse for an mp3 player. Thanks for being such a loyal employee.
Zune Tang gets Buster’s joke, but not many MDN posters get his.
P.S. Zune Tang….you never were…..
The famous zune tang IS steve ballmer. He would post more often but still has issues with vista freezing up now and then.
note: Upper case letters are reserved for the first word of a sentence, emphasis and proper nouns.
I had a multitouch joystick once.
TT
“The… uhh… multi-touch-masturbation references need to stop… aren’t we all above the age of 13?”
You stopped masturbating at 13?
Holy crap. How do you handle the pressure?
I personally think this sort of thing is better suited to a trackball like device than a mouse.
@TMF…. AshNazg’s suffers from LSB
(lethal sperm buildup)
By the way, Zune Tang is long gone. All the posts we see are merely impersonators. Sorry folks but anyone can see the difference in writing styles, unless of course the success of the iPod and iPhone was too much and his frontal lobes burst…..that would explain a lot….
> MDN can you guys post anything that was not already posted on Macrumors.com or Appleinsider?
I don’t mind. I don’t visit the “rumors” sights very much. I’d rather see it here, and be able to comment on it.