Introducing the Apple Gamepad, an intuitive wireless gaming accessory that works seamlessly with your Mac or iOS devices. The Core of the gamepad contains all the sophisticated orientation and velocity sensors found on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, a three-axis gyro and accelerometer, as well as a FaceTime HD compatible front-facing camera; this gaming accessory will truely immerse gamers in a new level of interaction and game play experience.
This device puts forth the notion of placing users remote from the computer, without reducing the Multi-Touch user/interface interaction. In fact it initiates the subtraction of the traditional keyboard and mouse, but not in the sense of restricting the user to be at close proximity of the display.
Bring together the large silky glass trackpad on the MacBook Pro, with the low-profile design of the Apple Remote, and you have a versatile Multi-Touch device the size of an iPod nano. But we’re just getting started, because when you flip the device over, you’ll discover a QWERTY keyboard like the one in the iPhone OS, but with the crisp, responsive keys of the Apple Keyboard. There’s an accelerometer built-in too, so the trackpad is turned off when you’re typing on it.
There’s absolutely no learning curve. All your familiar Multi-Touch gestures are there; the way you type on the keyboard feels the same as it is on the iPhone, the way it’s held feels like the iPod nano. In fact it feels so much more convenient because you just bring the Magic Remote anywhere; with Bluetooth there’s no pointing too, it doesn’t even require a surface. Place the Magic Remote in the dock at the end of the day and it’ll be charged ready to go the next time you need it.
This is a feedback to Mozilla Lab’s default new tab page for the upcoming Firefox. The header should not only introduce the browser’s branding, but should also show tidbits about the browsing session, such as the time, date, important announcements and update notifications. The rest of the two columns serve as a unified source, the internet portal, composed of bookmarks and RSS feeds like an internet start-menu. It should not only replace the home page but the bookmarks toolbar, where users can immediately get on with their intended browsing. The user can progress to search by the in-line search box, through Google or any other search provider, or read RSS feeds directly on the page, cached and refreshed in the background on every page load. It should not be a page feeding usage statistics and browsing history like others tends to do, but be a personal platform to initiate the browsing experience, by bookmarks.
This page should not intervene with the experience of the linked content, so there are no direct actions for features to say, post on Twitter. Instead are notifications that indicate if there are relevant attention-cues to take care of, such as unread emails on Gmail, or notifications on Facebook, where then the user progress through onto the link. This should furthermore reduce page clutter and performance overheads. In order to change the structure of the modules the preference icon should be easily accessible, but subtle enough, in the space just below the header. Preferences for adding and subtracting bookmarks, dragging and re-locating these bookmarks, and individual settings for each bookmark module, are accessed through this icon. In the space below the bookmarks are for browser features, say in-line searching of browsing history, recently closed tabs, recovering previous sessions, or even for upcoming location-aware features.
1. Firefox new tab, Much ado about pixels.
The next-generation Apple Mouse, the world’s most advance mouse, and here’s why. Our Apple engineers were able to bring Multi-Touch technology right onto the large Apple Mouse surface. That’s right, you can now seamlessly scroll, pan, pinch, rotate and zoom, just like on our gorgeous Multi-Touch trackpads, right on the Apple Mouse. It is now a true multi-button mouse too, physically, thanks to its flexible top-shell. You can’t see it, but you can certainly feel every left, right and middle-click. But that’s not all. Activate Mac OS X Dashboard, Exposé or a whole host of other, customizable features instantly using the physical buttons on either side of the Apple Mouse, 4 in total. Form and function. And although this mouse is wireless, worry no more about replacing batteries either. The next-generation Apple Mouse connects through MagSafe at the front, so while it charges, you can keep using your Mac. With its secure, reliable Bluetooth technology, simply break the magnetic connector away, and you’re wireless. Not to mention its precision laser tracking technology. Talk about innovating.
This is not an official product of Apple Inc..
1. More Apple concepts available on Flickr.
I am certainly not the only one to think so. There should no longer be a need to restrict ourselves to only one item in the clipboard, and though there are a number of third-party applications out there, or even Microsoft Office, that enables a clipboard that is more useful, it would no doubt be best if it was native. It is interesting how even upcoming operating systems neglect the efficiency this easy feature could bring. Here is my take on how it should work.
The traditional method of copy through the keyboard shortcut is by Ctrl+C, this does not change. In order to access the clipboard overlay the user holds Ctrl, and tapping C would cycle through the items, just like using Alt+Tab in cycling through applications. The user selects a clipping slot, overriding previous clippings or into a new clipping, and releasing Ctrl initiates the action. The most recent clipping is moved to the top of the list, so intuitively Ctrl+C will feel and function no different than before. Pasting or cutting performs no different than what is described; holding Ctrl access the clipboard, tapping cycles, and releasing Ctrl initiates.
The clipboard overlay displays the clipped content in an orderly list. The application icon indicates the origin of the clipping, and the content of the clipping is previewed, including images whenever applicable. It may look minimal and feel very intuitive, but no operating system has bothered to improve the clipboard. It is a powerful and productive tool, it should not be neglected.
What’s the next big thing in the technology industry. I glance down at my electronic devices and wonder; do I really need to spend money on another product? Why can’t one device just do everything I need, for a long period of time?
The catalogue of electronic products is expanding every single day, and every part of the technology industry is trying so hard to find the next phenomenon, the next industry benchmark, the next source of revenue. There’s no question that the role of technology is consistently changing, and our social behaviors with it, but as they expand diversity, potential scatters, and progress loses pace.
There are fortunately a few companies that give us a glimpse of the future; these are the industry’s roadmap, and Google and Apple are arguably the leading candidates. Google is continuing to expand internet services, increasing user convenience, and Apple is pushing innovation on interaction and distribution. There are other research being commenced throughout the sector, but frankly not a great deal is offered to the public.
The next big thing however, is the shift towards what is cloud computing; processing and storage being no longer local, but personal files and applications located solely on the internet, the cloud. This means that the users and their data will no longer be restricted to a single device, or a single area of access, the same information would be remotely accessible even on portable devices and home appliances, directly and remotely from the cloud.
This is not just having our mail on Gmail, our contacts on Facebook, or our photos on Flickr. The role of the computer completely dissolves into internet applications. The restrictions of hardware should no longer apply, nor are there compatibility issues, or upgrades. Resources are always readily available too, shared in fact, meaning significantly less time and resources wasted even from the get-go. The internet browser more-or-less becomes the operating system; think Google Chrome or Safari.
The problem is privacy. No one is openly willing to offer private information on a remote domain, and this is why some form of private storage is here to stay. In fact there will always be a need for a local workstation, because the internet is simply not reliable, nor is the connection to it. There hence is need for a local workstation, but in fact just one; the hub of a local network cloud.
The physical representation of the computer is merely a thin-client, because there is no need for intensive processing or storage, all is rather, remote on the local hub. Local clients feed off the hub for all that is necessary, applications, data and media, but in a relation no different than a wired display we know and understand today. The hub itself is of course connected to the cloud.
But what happens when you lose connection? Google Gears offer the foundations of a potential solution. What Gears does is off-load the internet application onto local storage, meaning being able to use Google Docs or Gmail seamlessly through the browser even offline. Expand this philosophy for every internet application, suites like MobileMe or iWork/Acrobat, and you have a thorough structure for cloud computing.
The departure is that because the core of the computer is remote, even locally, the physical client is no longer constrained. Interface can be designed for natural human intuition, being managed through voice, touch and gestures rather than typing and the traditional GUI. The device is free of technical restrictions too, such as having to sacrifice power for portability, meaning a resolution-independent device having access to the same applications and capability.
There is surely only need for 3 displays; a small on-the-go for portability, a workstation for tedious tasks, and a large television-equivalent as the media-center, but of course the fewer the better. The mobile device is what smart-phones are today, but more. There are no technical restrictions, well except for battery-life, but endless potential. Mobile device with the power of a workstation, being able to collaborate live throughout the cloud.
Internet applications are sold and broadcasted from the cloud, no different than Gmail or content distribution models like App/iTunes Store or Steam, and updates are made available immediately, pushed directly to clients. The same device open to applications that replace TiVo or Netflix, but forget about proprietary hardware. A single adaptable device being able to handle everything I need, for a long period of time. This is the future of computing.
“The Amazon Kindle is a revolutionary product for publishing; the breakthrough device in bringing published content straight to your hands. It is an ultra-portable device capable of handling thousands of published content at just 0.35 inches thin, thanks to its incredibly sharp and beautiful color electronic-paper display with multi-touch. It snuggles perfectly in your hand just like a typical paperback, so you can read and turn pages with either hand using the page controls on both sides of the device. Whether it is newspapers, magazines, novels, textbooks, or RSS feeds, it delivers, quite literally.
When you wake up in the morning, the day’s papers are delivered wirelessly to the device even before making the newsstands. Glimpse along the titles and flag whichever article interests you, then have the Kindle read them back to you using its text-to-speech feature during your commute. As you flip along the pages using intuitive gestures on the multi-touch display, the Kindle remembers exactly where you are, so if you happen to switch tasks, it can effortlessly bring you back where you left off.
Location-aware services are becoming prevalent components of day-to-day technology, technology delivering information based on one’s physical location. Though its use may already be common in feeding general search results, delivering multi-media contents, local directory listings and advertising, Apple’s iPhone has undoubtedly placed the potential of location-based services for the mobile platform in absolute prominence. Not only can it be used to pin-point one’s physical location using GPS, Wi-Fi or cellular triangulation, the real potential is how devices can make use of this information. Here is a glance of the potential applications that could very well change our ever-sophisticated urban lifestyle.
The apparent uses of this technology has already been made readily-available (albeit lacking permeation and maturity), delivering user-generated critiques of restaurants, clubs, lounges and other aspects of entertainment immediately nearby. Photographs are being geo-tagged; no longer necessary to recall where they had that thick, juicy cut of steak, or the ever-so-hard-to-find antique store, just return to the photographs. The users of social networks can discover the physical location of nearby friends, or reveal places or people of interests in near proximity. Join friends for a cup of coffee, or let-in on the others know where the get-together is being held, it’s hard not to contemplate about the convenience and potential of this technology.
The interesting aspect of this however, depends on how creative and innovative the developer community can be in its potential uses. Tired of the age-old recurring question “Where should we eat?”? Urbanspoon is the solution for you. Shake the device and the application can decide the restaurant of choice, by cuisine, price, proximity, or by mere fate. If you just happened to be dead-tired amongst a long commute, use iNap to prepare an alert just as you are nearing your destination. Let the informed device locate economical filling stations nearby, discover nearby events and venues, be a personal sight-seeing guide, even find your parked car.
