Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Apple?s First ?Magic? Trackpad from 1997

It turns out that the Magic Trackpad, released yesterday, isn?t the first external trackpad from Apple. Way back in 1997 the $7,500 Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh came with a detachable trackpad in its keyboard. It wasn?t a Bluetooth pad, of course, but instead popped out and remained tethered by a wire. And once it was removed, according to Wikipedia, a classy patch of leather was left underneath lest you have to look at an extra square of desk instead.
What are the other differences? Well, apart from not using the fancy new capacitive touch of all Apple?s glass-paneled trackpads and touch-screens, there are surprisingly few changes: The size and the color, and that?s about it. But what about the buttons, you ask? Well, the new Magic pad actually has buttons. With typical Apple style, these are secreted in the little rubber feet under the pad?s front edge. Press down on the whole pad, just as you would with those on the MacBooks, and they?ll click.
So there you have it. Nothing is ever really new, if you look hard enough. And Apple doesn?t really hate buttons. It just hates the ones you can see.
New Magic Trackpad: not so new [Simon OS via ?]
Apple Magic Trackpad [Macworld]
See Also:
Apple's Magic Trackpad Brings Multi-Touch to the Desktop
Apple Files for 'Magic Trackpad' Trademark
Rumor: Apple Multi-Touch Tablet Photos Leaked
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ZENITH ZINOX TECHNOLOGIES ABBCORE TECHNOLOGIES

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