Apple Magic Trackpad brings multi-touch to the desktop

The Magic Trackpad was finally introduced at the Apple Store Tuesday, enhancing the desktop with the multi-touch gestures used for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Instead of pointing and clicking, the Magic Trackpad lets you compute with gestures once you connect it via Bluetooth to your Mac. The Magic Trackpad is a window on the future of computer interfaces, some analysts say. Others believe the demise of the PC mouse at the hand of Apple industrial design is premature.

Magic Trackpad – the essence of Apple industrial design

The Magic Trackpad bears Apple’s distinctive industrial design. The angle and height of the sleek, glass-covered aluminum device matches the Mac keyboard it is intended to compliment. CNNMoney.com reports that Apple started selling the multi-touch Magic Trackpad in its Apple Stores and on it is website Tuesday morning. The online store went down for a while shortly before the Magic Trackpad went live, causing the usual intense blogging about what Apple industrial design would come up with next.

Multi-touch on steroids for the desktop

Multi-touch gestures enabled by the Magic Trackpad contain two-finger scrolling, pinching to zoom, rotating with your fingertips, three-finger swiping or switching between applications with four fingers . Apple says users can switch from typing to gesturing seamlessly, or do both simultaneously, also as swipe through pages online like flipping through a magazine. Plus, inertial scrolling makes moving up or down a page feel completely natural.

Does Apple see 3D within the Magic Trackpad’s future?

The multi-touch Magic Trackpad could signal the start of a long-term strategy by Apple to prepare users for a future 3D interface. Johnny Evans at Computerworld said that Apple owns patents for 3D user interfaces and also the Magic Trackpad is a key step in the company’s try to educate a population of customers into position for fully utilizing its advanced user interface. Evans imagines a 3D user interface in which you virtually reach into your computer screen using MultiTouch. He also imagines using head movement, arm movement or voice to compute via Apple’s motion-detecting iSight camera.

Is the Magic Trackpad a better mousetrap?

The Magic Trackpad may be the hottest new device within the Apple Store, but it won’t kill the mouse, as outlined by Jared Newman at PC World. Old habits are hard to break, he said. When he used the Magic Trackpad he complained the lack of traditional ergonomics made his fingers tired. Being able to lift and click whenever you run out of dragging room on the mousepad was also frustrating. And because of the necessity of a mouse for games, individuals will always want them around .

Discover more details on this subject

CNNMoney.com

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Computerworld

blogs.computerworld.com/16607/apples_magic_trackpad_is_more_than_you_think?source=rss_blogs”

PC World

pcworld.com/article/201978/4_reasons_apples_magic_trackpad_wont_kill_the_mouse.html?tk=hp_blg”