CW: Future MacBooks Could Dispense with Mouse Button

· by · News

A new kind of trackpad for the next generation MacBooks, if speculation is correct, could lead to the elimination of the classic mouse button, replaced by multi-touch gestures, according to Seth Weintraub at Computerworld on Wednesday.

Referring to speculation about a new kind of trackpad for the next generation of MacBooks, Mr. Weintraub wondered about the "death of the mouse button." The author pointed to a YouTube video (below) that shows how Mac OS X Leopard can be controlled by classic iPhone gestures.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/skZCBvWVu8A&hl=en&fs=1"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/skZCBvWVu8A&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

"This actually isnit such a far flung idea if you think about it? Current MacBooks can use gestures to control the machine," Mr. Weintraub noted. "Also, a setting can be activated that allows clicking by just tapping the trackpad. In fact, many PCs have been doing this for years. The loss of a mouse button wonit be as drastic as you might initially think."

No matter what Apple does next with the trackpad, one thing is sure, Mr. Weintraub posited. It will be elegant.

John Martellaro

John Martellaro

John Martellaro was born at an early age and began writing about computers soon after that. He is a former U.S. Air Force officer and has worked for NASA, White Sands Missile Range, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Apple. At Apple he worked as a Senior Marketing Manager, a Federal Account Executive and a High Performance Computing manager. His interests include skiing, chess, science fiction and astronomy. You can follow John on Twitter at twitter.com/jmartellaro.

Sign Up for the Newsletter

Enter a valid email address

Join the TMO Express Daily Newsletter to get the latest Mac headlines in your e-mail every weekday.

Adding to list…

No Comments

Add your comment

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.