Appletell

There has been tons of rumors lately about what the new iPhone is going to look like and and what features it will have.  Sure, the iPhone is bound to be updated (or announced to be updated) in June at WWDC, but what about that little thing we call the iPod?  Can’t we give them a little loving?  What is the next iPod going to be like?  Unfortunately, it seems like this device has gotten lost in all the iPhone shuffle.  Well, let’s bring it back into the limelight, even if only for a little bit!  Keep in mind, I have no idea when they will be updated, but it’s always interesting to speculate on what they may look like and contain.

So, what do you think?  Is that old scroll wheel out of fashion?  Will they eventually all have wifi and Safari?  Are they all going to contain some sort of touch screen?  These are all good questions to ask, and with the way Apple keeps its secrets, any of those could be just as possible as the next.  I strongly believe they will all have some sort of advanced touch system, whether it be the actual screen or just adding multi-touch to the scroll wheel.  Apple has learned a lot from both the iPhone and iPod Touch about multi-touch displays, and the consumers seem to love them.  Furthermore, I think they will all be capable of wireless connectivity.  Even if it’s not Safari, Apple could possibly even add a more simplified iTunes Store to normal iPods.  This would be a great way for Apple to sell more songs and users to find even more music.

Now let’s talk more hardware.  With flash memory get cheaper everyday, will the new iPods move to flash?  I hope not.  Well, at least not now.  The Classic and its 160GB are great for people who have a ton of music as well as some movies, and I don’t believe hard drives are dead just yet.  Going along with my multi-touch theory, I also believe the new iPods will get larger screens to make them more able to support that feature.

What are your thoughts? Let them fly in the comments!

Graphic via [Gadget Reviews]

If you remember a while back, I wrote about a third party app that allows for handwriting recognition on the iPhone called HWPen. Now, according to recent reports, build number 5A258f of the iPhone 2.0 beta software supports a handwriting recognition interface that currently allows only Chinese character input.  A translated page of the website of the man who is reporting about this, Kenneth, goes into detail about the interface and contains tons of screenshots.

This app works by suggesting four character possibilities on the right hand side of the screen as the user begins to write the symbol.  AppleInsider also points out that a recent patent filing by Apple suggested a next generation multi-touch surface that would allow for this and many more touch operations.  All this handwriting news brings back the good old days of the Newton.  Let’s hope it gets a little better of a reputation if it does appear on the iPhone.  Would you like to see this on the next iPhone software update?

Finally, after weeks of intense rumoring, the new updated MacBook Pros are here. Featuring new Penryn chips with bumped clock speeds, and the latest Nvidia Graphics with up to 512MB of VRAM, the new MacBook Pros are beasts. They continue to widen the gap between the consumer MacBooks and the MacBook Pros with new multi-touch capability that was first seen in the MacBook Air. The new MBPs also come with larger and faster hard drives with 200GB and 250GB of storage, and a new option for a 200GB 7200rpm HD for pro users.

Click for the full MBP specs after the break.

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Another rumor airing on the side of speculation come from Apple Jobs today. An Apple Job listing reveals that Apple is working on multi-touch user interfaces for Macs. That’s right, an iPhone-like UI on a full-fledged Macintosh. The ad shows they are specifically looking for someone who is a reliability engineer, and has experience supporting multi-touch panels. This almost confirms that Apple is working on some sort of touch-screen Mac, known by the rumor mills as the Mac Touch. Will we see the Mac Touch at Macworld 2008? 9to5mac and Macrumors believe that we will.

Via [Macrumors]

It seems like Apple’s trying to protect the “Multi-Touch” trademark worldwide; according to AppleInsider, the electronics giant discreetly applied for the trademark at an intellectual property office in the Far East. Should the application be approved, this will give Apple control over where and when the trademark could be used by other parties.

The restriction applies not only to mobile phones, but other products like televisions and video game consoles. This fuels the speculation that Apple will be bringing Multi-Touch to the Mac and other products. A recent patent application revealed that the company has plans to produce a Multi-Touch Mouse, allowing users to do some nifty things on the mouse’s surface.

The trademark application is still under review.

Via [AppleInsider]

Apple continues to invoke speculation by filing another patent for multi-touch capabilities. This time it’s in a mouse. Apple has filed a patent for a multi-touch mouse that Apple describes as a “mouse with [an] optical sensing surface”.

The idea is that the button-less mouse will be able to sense finger gestures and the position of your fingers on the body of the mouse. Furthermore, you will be able to interact with different objects on the screen using the gestures and positions of your fingers. Quite an interesting concept. With Apple making a bold declaration in January for having 200+ patents for the iPhone, could this be a sign of another revolutionary Apple product coming from Cupertino?

Read [Apple Gazette]

You didn’t once think that Apple would keep their multi-touch technology stuck in a cell phone forever, did you? Of course not, and as Crunchgear is reporting, Apple will be putting their 200+ patents to work this fall when they release new MacBooks with multi-touch enabled touchpads. The idea is that the touchpads will evolve from their current capacities as scrolling mice and right-clickers, to add similar capabilities as the iPhone, such as the finger spreading or double tapping gestures, for new functionality. Could this be the first step to a full sized tablet mac later down the line?

Read [Crunchgear]