Apple Multi-Touch Data Fusion Adds Camera, Voice, Force Sensors

Apple has been working in new multi-touch technology that combines touch interfaces with input from the camera and the microphone. For example: this will allow you to select text in the iPhone, say "copy," go to another application and say "paste" to make this task really easy. The most intriguing part, however, is the use of a camera in laptops and desktops.

This will require two cameras, one for video chat and the other for the "hand reading," but it opens a lot of possibilities. To start with, the entire keyboard can become a gesture control pad without even having to touch the surface. In addition to that, it can be combined with actual touch technology to identify single fingers on the surface, with the possibility of assigning specific functions to them.

The system even contemplates combining all this with accelerometers and force sensors, so the touch action can generate secondary data. One example of this may be applying a deformation effect to an image or a sound effect to a music track, giving it more or less strength depending on the force you use in your action

Source: Gizmodo.com

iTunes 8: What's New?

A new source comes forward w/this info:  (this is consistent w/everything I've heard)

What's new in iTunes 8

iTunes 8 includes Genius, which makes playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don't already have.

With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.

Source: KevinRose.com

Five Enterprise Apps for the iPhone

Since the launch of Apple's App Store, a steady stream of business-oriented applications has flooded in for iPhone users. Most of the developers are independent third-party start-ups, but big-name software vendors are now clamoring for a piece of the pie.

Names such as Oracle, SAP, and Sybase have released iPhone versions of applications that allow users to tap some of the functionality afforded with the traditional desktop versions.

Most of the applications can be found on the App Store, Apple's online market--which opened in July--where iPhone users can browse and download applications built for their devices.

Fresh off a second wave of global launches, the iPhone 3G has been deemed ready for enterprise workers by Gartner analysts--albeit with some caveats.

According to the research firm, the iPhone 3G "does not deliver sufficient security for custom applications," so businesses wanting to deploy such applications will likely have to bear with a lower level of security.

Nonetheless, the overall iPhone software market has been coined a success by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who said the online collection drummed up some $30 million in sales a month after it launched. It could prove to be a lucrative market, too, with iPhone sales expected to hit 25 million in 2009, as Apple said it will ramp production up to 40 million units a year.

ZDNet Asia looks at five enterprise apps that the big software houses are hoping will catch the attention of the growing iPhone user base, though none has yet to make it to the top downloads list on App Store.

Oracle Business Indicators
Oracle released its native iPhone application in July, becoming one of the first to release an enterprise application when the App Store opened its doors.

The business intelligence tool is available as a free download, but customers must have licensed copies of Oracle's BI software running on their company's servers because the mobile app draws reports and analytics from the on-premise software.

According to reports, Oracle last month said the software clocked 23,055 downloads since it became available.

Sybase iAnywhere Mobile Office
The database giant's iAnywhere software connects users to company e-mail server, based on Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange platforms.

According to Sybase's Web site, the software is touted to help secure a company's messaging platform by providing access to e-mail and contacts "without requiring changes to an enterprise's (main) messaging infrastructure."

Offline e-mail access is also supported. The company also said it plans to upgrade the app based on version 2 of the iPhone SDK (software development kit).

SAP
The business management software maker released its iPhone version of a sales force automation suite, ahead of other platforms such as the BlackBerry.

SAP said in a statement that the software will load business contacts, information on sales prospects, and account data onto the device.

Salesforce.com Mobile
One of the earlier vendors to release an iPhone app, Salesforce.com in March showed off a preliminary version of its CRM product based on the beta version of the iPhone SDK.

The software connects users to their CRM records. The free version allows users to search and view contacts and accounts, but users need to sign up for the paid version to edit their data, according to Salesforce.com's Web site.

Web-based apps: Netsuite, SugarCRM, Zoho
These apps are not native iPhone apps but meant to be launched via the phone's Web browser. Some of the big names offering non-native apps include CRM vendors NetSuite and SugarCRM, which have released Web-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) versions of their product offerings.

The apps are available in both hosted and on-premise versions.

Online office suite Zoho, has also launched a mobile version of its productivity suite for the iPhone. This includes word editor, spreadsheet, and e-mail programs. Users can view existing documents but not edit them or create new ones.

Source: CNet.com

Newly unearthed Apple patent raises hopes for fabled iTablet

In April, Apple filed an updated 52-page application for a patent on an extensive multi-touch interface for a full Mac OS X-based system. The illustrations that accompany the application look like the long-heralded but non-existent "iTablet."

The filing includes descriptions of various interfaces, including a full-size onscreen keyboard that can use modifier keys, like shift or control. "Although only two keys are described, it should be noted that two keys is not a limitation and that more than two keys may be actuated simultaneously to produce one or more control signals," reads to the application.

So multiple modifiers can be used, such as shift-opt-ctrl-3, used to capture the screen to the pasteboard. Another interface element is a virtual iPod scroll wheel that can be accessed on demand. Like the iPod's scroll wheel, it can be used as a virtual jog dial and be tied to a number of possible adjustments. Other multi-touch gestures we have seen in the iPhone UI and carried over to the MacBook Air trackpad, such as scrolling, zooming, and rotation, are also described in the patent application.

Perhaps most importantly, however, the application details methods to interact with multiple windows, instead of the single window method used for the iPhone. There are gestures that enable windows to be shuffled around and resized. Also included in the description is a method to interact with interface widgets that may be too small, by temporarily enlarging them for accurate touch control.

The latest patent filing details methods for interacting
with multiple windows using multitouch input

The recent application follows on numerous patent applications from Apple recently, giving further evidence that Apple has some plans to integrate multi-touch interfaces in future Macs. Whether or not this means we will be seeing a Mac tablet from Apple anytime soon, though, is still a mystery. There is a small, but vocal, contingency hoping for such a product. But based on comments from Axiotron CEO Andreas Haas, a former Apple product manager, it likely won't come from Apple until it sees a much larger market opportunity. "The iTablet is not gonna come," Haas told Ars in January. "We are shipping [ModBooks] in the hundreds of thousands, and Apple ships in the millions." Until Apple thinks it can move that many tablets, it still remains a pipe dream.

Source: ArsTechnica.com