Being the Mac nerd that I am, I do love a good bit of rumor and speculation.  That said, I prefer to keep it more grounded in reality than outrageous flights of fancy (think 50” wall-mountable iMac with TV tuner).  So, looking at what we have now sitting in front of us at our local Apple Store (and some of us at our homes/offices), and at Apple patent filings, I can’t help but think of some things that seem logical and (dare I say) inevitable.  I’ll start with a idea for hardware since we’ve seen several patent applications in recent months.  No, I am not thinking about netbooks, iPads, or touch screen iMacs. I am thinking of something much simpler, but still something that would be unique to the Mac and allow both desktop and notebook users to take advantage of all the UI features of OS X.  I envision a new user input device like an external USB or wireless trackpad that would replace the Mighty Mouse.  This would allow users on desktops to pinch, rotate, and swipe just like their brethren on portable Macs.  It is hard for me to imagine that Apple would tout this touch feature of the OS, but only relegate it to a portion of its user-base and not provide them a way to access it on their most expensive machines.  Any thoughts?