Apple interface all fingers and thumbs
Touching the void
THE FUTURE of the touch screen Mac is being paved as you read – and this is no ordinary touch screen.
New company filings show that future tablet screen devices will be controlled using not only more than one finger – as seen in current Apple kit – but also with more than one hand. This will allow the user to enlarge, shrink, move and cycle interface windows rather than having them merely locked or set in place as with the Iphone and its ilk.
Apple earnestly explains that some tweaks need to be made for the benefit of sausage-fingered users, as some interface buttons may be too small or too close together causing undesired presses. To combat this problem a portion of each window or interface element may be enlarged.
Unfortunately it sounds like some advanced fingering skills will be needed if the new interface ever makes it onto a real world Mac tablet, as there seems to be several complex movements to learn in order to use it properly.
When using the onscreen keyboard however, it seems that it should work with the same ease as a traditional one – Apple assures us that it can keep up with more than one key being touched simultaneously.
"Although only two keys are described, it should be noted that two keys is not a limitation and that more than two keys may be actuated simultaneously to produce one or more control signals. For example, control-alt-delete functionality may be implemented or larger groups of characters can be typed at the same time."
There will be many more features of this new tablet Mac, such as a scroll wheel, cycling through pages by vertical and horizontal finger swipes, and simultaneous zoom-and-rotate maneuvers.
L'Inq
Apple
Insider
Comments
That's the last thing I need
It's hard enough to keep people from putting their greasy mitts all over my screen when they want to point out a word in a paragraph or some stupid image. Why would people even want to touch their screens? People are lazy; they don't want to lift their arm to poke at some screen on their desktop. Then again, those Mac users are strange.Oh lordy.....
.... they saw it in a film a thought it might be pretty cool to implement it on a shiny plastic thing.Step away from the 'smear grease and grit all over my soft plastic screen' ideas.
And, judging by the images in the link... you can only use this emerging technology if you happen to be Lobster-boy.
Though if [cr]Apple released the iClaw for people who wanted body-augmentation to use it, they'd fly off the shelves too.
Shonky.
Microsoft Users
Presumably we use the Standard International Two-finger gesture?iClaw
I'm making my appointment now for surgery and throwing out my mouse and keyboard.Back to reality, I bet it will be pretty cool but the greasy screen is something I wonder about. I admit my fingers are rarely in a bag of chips all the time but keeping the screen clean would bother me.
Why don't they just make a dual-touch mousepad?
Dual-touch mousepads would be much better, in my opinion. They're not screens, so smears aren't as noticeable.Just remember to wash your hands so you don't end up getting sick. (Always true, but thought I'd mention it anyway)