Everyone's got MacBook fever this week, so here I am on Reuters TV, talking about Steve Jobs' shiney new boxes. Check out our full coverage of the new MacBooks, starting with this overview analysis of what it all means to consumers.
Apple's $999 laptop Oct 14 - (01:22) Report Apple's new aluminum machines will use new Nvidia graphics and Intel processors. The company also introduced a $999 updated model of its white body notebooks. Bobbi Rebell reports.
Tuesday's announcement of new and updated MacBook laptops from Apple could never have lived up to the hype of the past several weeks.
After endless predictions about tablets, touch screens, and cheaper (some would say recession-friendly) products, from an $800 MacBook to an Apple Netbook, the end result was instead a solid list of upgrades and improvements, with a few noteworthy innovations and a few interesting developments that may get lost in the "Where are the $800 MacBooks?" shuffle. Here's our take on what the new developments mean for you.
The most obvious of these is the so-called brick manufacturing process, whereby instead of building a frame and overlaying the chassis, Apple is taking the process used in the making the MacBook Air and expanding it to other MacBooks. The brick comes from a 2.5-pound piece of aluminum (in the case of the Air), which is literally whittled down to 0.5 pounds, meaning the internal frame is part of the same piece of metal as the chassis.
We were impressed with the build quality of the MacBook Air, and hearing that it's made of few individual pieces than other laptops makes sense. But the 13- and 15-inch systems always seemed plenty sturdy to us, so we're not sure if this will be a big selling point for casual consumers.
While switching to Intel CPUs a couple of years ago was a huge breakthrough in terms of mainstream appeal for Macs, Apple is moving away from Intel motherboard chipsets in favor of a new one from Nvidia.
The GeForce 9400 M combines a chipset and GPU, which will hopefully be a big improvement over the Intel integrated graphics found in most MacBooks today. It certainly won't match dedicated gaming laptops (and Mac gaming is still in a sorry state), but we've long decried the sad state of integrated graphics, and in fact, have long given up on finding a decent 3D gaming test to run on systems with integrated graphics. (Note that a dedicated 9600M GT graphics card--with either 256MB or 512MB of graphics memory--will be available in the MacBook Pro.)
Multitouch gestures aren't exactly new--we've seen them on the MacBook Air, and they were added to the last round of MacBook Pro upgrades. But one of the biggest physical changes to the new Apple laptops is the inclusion of what is being called a "multitouch glass trackpad."
We got quite used to using gestures on the Air (as well as the iPhone and iPod Touch), and the idea of a bigger (reportedly 39 percent) touchpad is always a good idea--too many PC makers include tiny touchpads that require several swipes to get your cursor across the screen. The big questions are: Will software makers take advantage of it? And will users get used to not having a physical button to click? … Read more
Multitouch technology really does seem to be the next big thing as far as computer interfaces go. The iPhone has it implemented, Microsoft is embedding the tech into Windows 7, and Finnish company MultiTouch recently announced multitouch LCDs.
On Friday, the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, or HIIT (not be confused with high-intensity interval training), launched a new 3D version of its multitouch display called CityWall.
When I say "3D" I mean it's 3D as far as the graphics on the screen go, but not in the way seen in Minority Report. We're still a ways … Read more
Apple may be thinking about adding new ways to improve the multitouch interface work that is central to the company's plan for the future.
Unwired View unearthed a patent application filed by Apple (thanks, Gizmodo) containing ideas for a user interface system that builds on the multitouch input used on the iPhone by adding technology for voice recognition and even facial recognition.
Wayne Westerman and John Elias, the brains behind a multitouch interface company called Fingerworks, acquired by Apple in 2005, are listed as inventors on the patent application, as they have been for several other multitouch patents coming … Read more
MultiTouch announced on Tuesday that the Philip K. Dick future seen in Minority Report is here. Actually, that's not true at all, but the style of computer interaction in that movie was the first thing I thought of when watching the demo of the MultiTouch Cell.
This is a large LCD touch-screen display which, according to MultiTouch, is the world's first modular multitouch LCD screen. The screen is available in 32-inch and 46-inch versions in 1080p, and an "HD ready" (1366x768) version at 32 inches. Two or more screens (according MultiTouch, the amount is only limited … Read more
On the kitchen appliance and gadget blog network, we talk about devices that keep track of grocery lists, high-tech food scales, and steamers, but rarely do we find a kitchen that includes all of these in one package. Meet the concept kitchen from Miele designed by Fiona McAndrew & Conor Fallon, which uses a technology called multitouch to stay ahead of the culinary game and make kitchen prep a whole lot easier.
The multitouch cooktop displays recipes and nutritional information and can transmit a grocery list via Bluetooth to a mobile phone. It includes an integrated scale, so you can … Read more
Obscura Digital produces interactive video and online installations. I got a tour of the company's studio recently from its CEO, Patrick Connolly.
In addition to the demo of updated multitouch video wall (see video), I sat inside the 30-foot-diameter dome that Obscura can project anything on to. It's been used to sell as yet unbuilt real estate, to wow VIPs during events at Google, and to pitch products for AOL and Pioneer at trade shows. Think of it as a new-tech planetarium, but one that projects primarily marketing imagery.
The company also makes much smaller domes, sized for … Read more
Forget multi-touch technology and face recognition. At its Computex booth in Taiwan, Asus displayed concept designs that take the user interface to new frontiers.
Termed "Reality-to-Virtual," what looks like a clamshell laptop with dual LCDs is actually a showcase of how motion sensing can be combined with context-based displays. With a sweep of your hand, for example, the Webcam will detect the motion and switch the upper LCD to the requested application. The lower portion is really a touch-sensitive LCD that can be used as a keyboard, media control, and photo-editing panel. As this is only a concept … Read more
SAN FRANCISCO--Google demonstrated some new tricks of its Android mobile phone software, including an elaborate use of Google Maps Street View and a touch-screen interface with abilities known for their presence on Apple's iPhone.
Steve Horowitz, Android's engineering director, used flicking gestures to sweep from the phone's home screen to another during a speech here Wednesday at the Google I/O conference. More unusual, though was a demonstration of how the phone's internal compass and accelerometer can enliven Street View.
After calling up a view of San Francisco using a Web browser, Horowitz turned around, and … Read more
$20 Million Dollar Experiment to See if You’ll Rent a Song for 10 Cents http://michaelrobertson.com/archive.php?minute_id=265… Read more
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