10-04-2010, 11:37 PM

Do you have any ideas for future Apple products?
I thought it would be nice to have a place on the forums where we can discuss ideas that Apple could potentially use in their future products. I'm not talking about all the Apple patents out there. I'm more talking about our own ideas.

And it does not matter how silly the ideas seem. Cause even the bad ideas might have a little hint of brilliance amongst all the bad ideas. And that little hint might just make all the difference. So everyone feel free to share your ideas. And to get the ball rolling I will share some ideas I've had rolling around in my head for some time now.

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My first idea I posted a while back but I'll post it again. I call it Air Touch. And I'll just copy paste my older posts on this as I they really said it well.

My idea. I said it ages ago somewhere on the forums. I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of it. But I thought of it on my own too. Air Touch is basically facial/body recognition. It would work the same way as the ichat thing I said above. Well sort of. You get away from the screen and the computer's camera remembers the room then you get in screen and it recognises you and where your hands and face are. And it puts invisible markers where your hands are. And these markers are like a mouse. So you can move your hand in the air and these movements would be translated to on screen actions. A good comparison would be the NCIS:LA main computer screen there. They just wave their hands in the air infront of the screen and grab the folders and things as if they were in the air and not on the screen. But on screen they are moved too. All done without any mouse or keyboard input. I am pretty sure it's just CGI (computer generated imagery) and other SFX to make it look that way for the show. But I think in a few years this technology will be there to make this a reality. And sitting down infront of your screen or standing up for a presentation you could use Air Touch to move things around on screen instead on a mouse, keyboard or remote pointer/control.

And this also more Air Touch Ideas was in reply to a post made by idrinorbarsaku.

I think your idea combined with my idea would work really well. You're idea could be like screen hot corners but in the air. And when you move your hand over the shape you drew in the air (best done with 4 in each corner of the invisible air screen infront of you) there could be a user defined action happen at each corner when you wave your hand over it.

You could also have predefined air hot corners set so you don't have to draw the shapes in the air each time. That would be nice. That with voice activation start up (booting) and shutdown of the computer and then you truly have a computer that you can use for 100% of your tasks and not physically touch it once. No touching a mouse, no touching a keyboard. Ad they would not exist. Need to type something in? use your voice and speak to the computer. Need to draw something in? use a combination of your and my Air Touch. Need to use internet browser like safari? Then Air Touch would work just like Safari for ipad, just not on a screen, but in the air instead. Heck even the same ipad hand/finger gestures could work for Air Touch.

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A 2nd idea I have in an ipad/tablet idea. One I recently come up with.

I realised there is 3 main places we want to use electronic equipment like iOS devices and Macs. That is in front of a desk on your chair, on the couch in front of your TV and lastly out and about somewhere in the world. And this got me thinking, who do we need many different devices to do all these things? Sure you will still need your imac and your Apple TV. But my idea is an new way to think about the UI of such devices.

At the moment we have an ipad, a Magic Trackpad and an Apple TV remote. 3 devices allowing access to different things. But what if you could have one device that did the things these 3 did. That is my idea. The device would be an ipad but with special features.

At the desk: Press a button on the ipad and it would enter tablet mode. And the tablet would mirror what's on your Mac's screen. Like a little 2ndary screen (which is a mini clone of the big one). And you could use this screen just like the Magic tablet. Complete with multitouch. And for full screen apps where the little ipad 2ndary screen is no good, the screen would just go black. But you'd still be able to use the ipad just like a magic tablet. And I'm sure most devs would work to have their apps work on the 2ndary screen.

In time people would be able to use this without even looking at it. As we do today. No one looks at their mouse when they use it. And same for this ipad (in trackpad mode) in the future.

But you ask why have a little clone of the main Mac screen if you never look at it? Well some people would. You would be able to pinch to zoom on the mini screen. Great for those who are hard of seeing and need the bigger test or something. And also good for those image editors who need pixel perfect precision. The new retina display (when improved to fit the ipad) would make this possible. And I'm sure Apple would allow stylus support for this too.

In front of the TV: Press a button on the ipad and you enter Apple TV mode. It'd be a touch screen remote for the Apple TV. And from the couch you could access every part of your Apple TV, put movies on, use air tunes and even App control. I believe Apps will come to the Apple TV soon.

Why this is good is, as much as we love our huge TV screens, trying to read massive walls of text on your TV is never a easy thing to do. So for that instance, the ipad could mirror the TV screen so you can read the text up close then at the press of a button g back into TV remote mode. Sure you will not be able to use this like a one handed time TV remote. But you'd get much more functionality out of your Apple TV this way.

Out and about in the world: When out somewhere the ipad would function just as the ipad does now. I see no real changes there. The ipad is great on the move. My ideas just make the ipad more attractive when in the home too.

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When I have more time I'll share some of my other ideas with the MF community too .

10-04-2010, 11:51 PM

I'm still waiting for a device I can use to "shock" mobile phone users in cars near me to punish them for being on their phones while driving.

"You just drifted into my lane because you're texting while driving?" *ZAPP!!!*

10-05-2010, 12:09 AM

Since they are making head end units for cars with Windows CE why not one with OSX
or IOS.

10-05-2010, 12:42 AM

I want to be able to sync my apple iMac with my home appliances...

So be able to remotely tell my coffee machine to start a brew

10-05-2010, 08:52 AM

Apple should move towards dominating the mobile and handheld gaming and entertainment. With the headway they're making with iPhone/iPad game apps - like Plants vs Zombies .. they should take that cue and eat into the PSP, PS3 and wii pie. Apple will totally dominate this. Given the short attention span of the mtv generation, micro entertainment games like that are going to rock the future.

10-05-2010, 09:12 AM

I think wireless charging should be the next step. That would be incredible.

10-05-2010, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by Beleg Cuthalion

I think wireless charging should be the next step. That would be incredible.

they have that out, however theres a problem with electricity traveling through people...

10-05-2010, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by Beleg Cuthalion

I think wireless charging should be the next step. That would be incredible.

If you could do wireless charging...then you could simply do wireless electricity...which would be pretty neat! Nicola Tesla tried this sort of thing back in the early 1900's:

Nikola Tesla - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

He tried to "broadcast" AC (alternating current) electricity via very large broadcasting towers (no wires)...but it was found to be very inefficient & costly since you needed a very large & expensive broadcasting tower every couple miles.

I'm not saying it can't be done...just that it has been tried.

- Nick

10-05-2010, 11:32 AM

Yes, but someday perhaps. I was thinking something more like those charging mats they have for phones though. Not really sure how they work, never seen one, but that would be cool for a macbook.

10-05-2010, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Beleg Cuthalion

Yes, but someday perhaps. I was thinking something more like those charging mats they have for phones though. Not really sure how they work, never seen one, but that would be cool for a macbook.

I agree getting rid of cords would be neat. The only downside to the charging mat would be...when you remove the device from the mat it would always be running on battery power. If this is done 100% of the time...I can see batteries (as they are made today)...wearing out a lot faster...so battery technology would have to improve as well. Otherwise we would be buying a lot more batteries (at least when it comes laptop computers).

- Nick

10-05-2010, 12:04 PM

I hope apples next iphone will be smart enough to tell when a woman is using it while driving and explode in their face! It literally seems like everyone woman I see driving, is swerving and doing other stupid stuff, like waiting to turn right on a GREEN light, then I notice they were on a phone after passing them. They say that woman are the best multi-taskers...yeah right, my rear!!!

Women + car + cellphones = disaster waiting to happen!
Apple, fix it!

10-05-2010, 12:14 PM

Originally Posted by idrinorbarsaku

I hope apples next iphone will be smart enough to tell when a woman is using it while driving and explode in their face! It literally seems like everyone woman I see driving, is swerving and doing other stupid stuff, like waiting to turn right on a GREEN light, then I notice they were on a phone after passing them. They say that woman are the best multi-taskers...yeah right, my rear!!!

Women + car + cellphones = disaster waiting to happen!
Apple, fix it!

I hate to say it...but I see a lot of men doing the same thing!

- Nick

10-05-2010, 02:20 PM

I hate to say it...but I see a lot of men doing the same thing!

Got to agree with Nick. I see many men doing the same thing and likewise swerving and driving erratically. I worry more about the younger drivers who think they can text and drive at the same time!

10-05-2010, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

Got to agree with Nick. I see many men doing the same thing and likewise swerving and driving erratically. I worry more about the younger drivers who think they can text and drive at the same time!

I'll explain a little bit further (off topic).

I'm a marathon runner (as well as a Mac fanatic). I run lots & lots of miles every week. The safest place for a runner to run on the roads is on the left side (against traffic)...so you can see what a driver is doing...and if they are not paying attention...you can JUMP out of the way.

Since I (and other runners) run against traffic...you practically look EVERY driver right in the eyes...just to see what they are doing & are looking at...just in case. Obviously when doing this you see EXACTLY what the driver is doing...and this includes being on a phone or iPhone...and not paying full attention to driving!

Coincidentally...I've been running for 33 years. Last Monday (8 days ago) for the first time...I was hit by a car!!! No kidding...hit by a car! It was by a person making a right on red...I was just starting to run thru the intersection...and they hit me. What do folks do wrong when they make a right turn at a red light or Stop Sign???...they only look left & almost never look right. Add to this a driver on a phone...and it's that much worse. If a pedestrian is to the right...they never see them & hit them.

- Nick

10-05-2010, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

I'll explain a little bit further (off topic).

I'm a marathon runner (as well as a Mac fanatic). I run lots & lots of miles every week. The safest place for a runner to run on the roads is on the left side (against traffic)...so you can see what a driver is doing...and if they are not paying attention...you can JUMP out of the way.

Since I (and other runners) run against traffic...you practically look EVERY driver right in the eyes...just to see what they are doing & are looking at...just in case. Obviously when doing this you see EXACTLY what the driver is doing...and this includes being on a phone or iPhone...and not paying full attention to driving!

Coincidentally...I've been running for 33 years. Last Monday (8 days ago) for the first time...I was hit by a car!!! No kidding...hit by a car! It was by a person making a right on red...I was just starting to run thru the intersection...and they hit me. What do folks do wrong when they make a right turn at a red light or Stop Sign???...they only look left & almost never look right. Add to this a driver on a phone...and it's that much worse. If a pedestrian is to the right...they never see them & hit them.

- Nick

Something like that happened to me last summer. I was making a right turn at a stop sign, at night. There was a man/woman wearing a black hoodie who started crossing as I was turning. I didn't see *it* because of the dark night with no street lights, their dark clothing, and the fact that my A pillar was blocking them just at the perfect/wrong time. I didn't hit them, but ever since then, I've always made sure there was no person crossing the street, but every now and then, there are stupid people who believe they have the right to cross the street when ever they want.