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iPod as Mac remote wireless touchscreen control?
An iPod as a optimus-mini-like remote control?
A Bluetooth touchsensitive iPod would make the perfect trackpad? (something like this).
Mmmh, i like the idea. An iPod as a Mouse killer- perfect when you look at Portal Players recent improvements. The iPod becomes the rumored remote control (and mouse)… If you look at the image of the iPod as the trackpad of a powerbook it is not hard to think of it as a wireless touchsensitive pad with visual feedback- perhaps even capable of playing streamed video but certainly able to give feedback on volume (similar to what Apple human interface people have been working on in previous jobs (Ads beamed to phone from TV) ).
Helping the iPod halo effect
Tighter integration of the iPod with Macs would a great bonus for the ‘halo effect’ sales of Macs. So, my prediction is this: April 1st- release of MacMini as the DVR centre of the iHome- this will interact with a new Bluetooth touchscreen video iPod which will act as a remote control (which will also be able to stream to and work with a new Airport Express)… I think it seems possible. The drawbacks may be: bluetooth doesn’t have the bandwidth for streaming, scratches on touchscreen iPod and Apple may not release a media centre Mac Mini! The pros are that an bluetooth iPod should not cost much more to produce and that it is ‘extra’ functionality which will not hobble the iPod and not make it less desirable to its core users and may drive the iPod halo effect to new levels.
Wireless clickwheels aren’t also outside the realm of possibility- Apple has patent applications showing the a wireless clickwheel remote. Adapting the iPod to be the remote instead shouldn’t be too hard!
Another aspect of this patent is the inclusion of an iPod dock as part of the computer- in one version of this the iPod replaces the trackpad of the iPod. This is an interesting idea (especially considering the rumours suggesting docks were initially intended to be included in the Mac Mini). Making an iPod a central part of the Mac would perhaps extend the so called ‘iPod Halo’ effect. it could also enable the home-on-the-iPod (a feature that was almost part of Panther and is rumoured to be perhaps going to make an appearance in a future 10.4 update).
Home away from home
Ever thought you could carry your home in the palm of your hands or in your pocket? You can. Panther’s Home on iPod feature lets you store your home directory — files, folders, apps — on your iPod (or any FireWire hard drive) and take it with you wherever you go. When you find yourself near a Panther-equipped Mac, just plug in the iPod, log in, and you’re “home,†no matter where you happen to be. And when you return to your home computer, you can synchronize any changes you’ve made to your files by using File Sync, which automatically updates offline changes to your home directory.
In some cases, the user interface may be the primary user interface of the notebook computer 350. For example, the touch pad of the media player shown in FIG. 1 may be used to perform actions on the notebook computer 350.
In this model the iPod becomes central to the mac- an appealing transportable desktop but perhaps there is not that great a market for it- how many people have multiple computers they can plug their iPods into? Consider: instead of plugging into a Mac the iPod becomes pluggable into other pieces of your digital life- Apple has a few examples: a photoframe to show your photos, a stereo to play your music and a wireless receiver/transmitter to make the iPod’s communication with other devices easier. Third party peripherals have already done most of these. The rumours of a new Mac Mini suggest that it and a new Frontrow may become the hub of this music-video-photos nexus.
An interesting glimpse at Apple’s thinking in 2004- and perhaps a glimpse of the future?
[...] What does this mean? Either, Apple has too much time on its hands or there is some touchpad in the works (whether in a tablet, MacBook or external device). Details of the Patent Applications System and method for processing raw data of track pad device Filed: September 21, 2005 An input device and system are described that acquires (measures) raw track pad sensor data and transmits this data to a host computer where it is analyzed by an application executing on one or more host computer CPUs. The resulting input processing architecture provides a track pad input device that is both lower in cost to manufacture and more flexible than prior art track pad input devices. Also details of gestures for a touchpad. Raw data track pad device and system Filed: September 24, 2004 Similar to above but without gesture information. Low EMI capacitive trackpad Filed: September 24, 2004 A trackpad with resistance to electromagnetic interference – advantagous because it lessons the requirements for shielding and increases the signal:noise. [...]