Apple has touched on a new way to help you find your way around its products. The company has registered technology in the US that could see the iPod’s clickwheel or your MacBook Air’s touchpad light-up when you finger it.
The patent application, which was filed recently with the US Patent and Trademark Office, shows in block diagram form how the inclusion of a lighting mechanism would help guide users around a device by relating menu options to lighting changes. It's little like someone switching the hallway light on and off for every step you take up the stairs.
View: The full story @ The Reg
The patent application, which was filed recently with the US Patent and Trademark Office, shows in block diagram form how the inclusion of a lighting mechanism would help guide users around a device by relating menu options to lighting changes. It's little like someone switching the hallway light on and off for every step you take up the stairs.
View: The full story @ The Reg
OOER Missus.
OOER Missus.
LOL nice.
But I think this is a pretty stupid idea.
yea because iPods developed so bad everytime a new gen came out....
Glassed Silver:mac
Quote:
The LuxPad solution offers an array of colors to choose from, and designers can also opt to illuminate just a logo or design on the LuxPad. In addition, the LuxPad solution includes Synaptics' customizable device driver, which allows users to adjust their LuxPad settings. The result is a user-friendly interface solution that creates pride of ownership, appeals to the individuality of today's consumers, and is a unique differentiator for OEMs targeting the growing consumer notebook market.
So yeah, it's basically useless eyecandy.
This company makes touchpads for all kinds of laptops and music players.
Anyway, the lighted touchpads seem useless to me
Apple stopped using Snyaptics' touchpads and clickwheels a while back, actually, in favour of making their own.
The main difference between Synaptics' touchpads with light and Apple's is that Apple's touchpads can light up with specific patterns and in specific areas. Basically like a miniature touchscreen (except a lot more basic).
MacNN's article on the subject has a pretty thorough breakdown of it.
I think Apple will make this look REALLY nice.
Others could learn a thing or two.
The touchwheel implementation is pretty simplistic.
However, the touchpad implementation can prove quite significant. It could be used to not only give instruction but for anyof the following in a CRUDE, low-resolution way:
I could see it being used to have access to many more specialized functions for which finger gestures would become confusing or impossible to learn or for which you currently have to open a mini app to access them.
One way to do this would be to have one specific 'select function' gesture which would cause the pad to display either a 3x3 or 4x4 grid. Tapping one would shift the display to presenting the crude "finger" panel for the function selected. (More functions could be accessed via multi-tap or a hierarchical arrangement, but done in a way to avoid complexity.) A specific "close function" gesture or tap at a specific and consistent place (extreme lower-right) would close the selected function and return the pad to normal use.
Think of how gaming, art, music manipulation (drum pad anyone?) would be enhanced with gestures that have positional significance.
This will prove to be very innovative and well beyond the imaginations of may posters.
Look for this to evolve into a full-color hi-res small-factor touch-screen within the next two years and become a much desired feature.
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