Found a cool blog, System Folder, that highlights a technology called Mac ‘n’ Touch – a precursor to the finger-controlled iPhone. Author Rick Mori dug through an 1993 copy of MacUser and found this Mac ‘n’ Touch technology, developed by MicroTouch, was an add-on to monitors that allowed users to interact with software without a keyboard or mouse.
Unlike the Newton, Mac ‘n’ Touch used a “capacitive sensor” that worked only with touch, not a stylus, much like today’s iPhone.
As you can imagine, this kind of innovation was aimed at the education market. Kids love to touch, right?
Read the rest of Rick’s post for more details. Touch-screen Mac rumors have been around for a while now, especially since the iPhone came out. It’s nice to see that a touch-controlled Mac isn’t such a new idea after all.
Well, if you want to see a real Apple tablet do a google search for the Pen Lite. Basically it was a tablet computer (maybe “slate” would be a better word since you couldn’t use it as a laptop) based on the PowerBook Duo, developed in tandem with the Newton but cancelled so that it wouldn’t take away market share. There was also the Cadillac and a few other touch screen notebook projects. And if you want an idea that will seriously blow away even MultiTouch, check out the Knowledge Navigator concept, which contained technology so far ahead of its time some of it still isn’t around yet (the built in webcam finally showed up about 2 years ago, 20 years after the Knowledge Navigator was first conceived).
Posted by obi1kenobi1 on December 9th, 2008.
Thanks obi1 – I’ve referenced the Knowledge Navigator concept a few times. Watching that video is amazing, and it’s neat to see how many of those ideas have made it to today.
Posted by davelawrence8 on December 9th, 2008.