4 out of 5 stars

Before reviewing the MacBook Air, I hated trackpads. It’s just a technology that I feel never really cemented itself with us, as human beings, because it requires touch, and every touch is different. A very dry finger glides well, but a moist one may not. Mushy fingertips don’t work particularly well, and stubby ones don’t always read on the surface. Touch interfaces are quickly becoming the preferred method of digital communication through smartphones and tablets, but the trackpad remains mostly unchanged. They come in many shapes and sizes and textures, with nearly all the same highlights and limitations. Frankly, I’m far more partial to what IBM dubbed Trackpoint.

That said, it’s hard to use a laptop these days without using a trackpad, so like everyone I adjusted. There are good and bad trackpads, and frankly too many reasons not to use them. Logitech’s Wireless Touchpad is, with exception to Apple products, the first trackpad I actually enjoy using.

Like Apple’s own Magic Trackpad, the Touchpad is a wireless trackpad built specifically with touch-features in mind. That means two-finger scrolling, three- and four-finger gestures, and the simplicity of a long-lasting wireless user interface device. In this respect Logitech has hit the metaphorical nail on the head. The Wireless Touchpad is large and comfortable to use, all of its features and functions work exactly as expected. The Touchpad is a good, solid product, through and through.

That being said, Windows 7 isn’t suited for good trackpad use. OS X is. The difference between them is monumental. There is no smooth scrolling, few gestures, and minimal support for multitouch devices. This, coming from a company who three years ago revealed the Surface touch-only table computer. Yet there are still around ten touch gestures for the OS. It’s disheartening, to say the least.

Which is why it’s surprising Logitech has made the Touchpad for Windows 7 only. $20 cheaper than Apple’s Magic Trackpad, the Wireless Touchpad could easily compete on OS X based solely on features, let alone price. Even without Bluetooth compliance, lord knows how many Mac users have available USB slots that they are willing to spare, and it’s not hard to imagine a Bluetooth version selling for $5-$10 more. Limiting the Wireless Touchpad to Windows 7, and undoubtedly Windows 8 when it releases, is a significant limitation.

Logitech’s use of the USB radio – part of their “Unifying receiver” dongle, which works with about two dozen Logitech keyboards and mice – will simplify your current or future wireless Logitech products by sending data through a single dongle, though I myself am still stuck with the G700 and G930 on separate dongles because gaming hardware requires more bandwidth and faster rates. Still, the dongle is tiny and is more than adequate for any desktop or laptop.

The only real problem I’ve faced with the Wireless Touchpad has been the area of the touch-sensitive surface. The 5″ area is large, but the edges aren’t pronounced and impossible to feel. Especially when using multi-touch gestures, it’s far too easy to have one finger out of bounds and accidentally do a three-finger ‘back’ command instead of a four-finger ‘screen left’ command. It’s an easy fix as we’ve seen on plenty of laptops: make the physical area for the actual trackpad lower than the rest of the surface. That way, users have a tactile feeling for the edges.

Logitech’s Wireless Touchpad is a fine piece of hardware. The trackpad is sensitive and accurate, the two mouse buttons large and tactile, though the pad itself is easy to slip out of. The Touchpad is comfortable at a distance or up close, and especially from the couch where plenty are expected to use it. Windows, however, has little love for touch-sensitive devices and frankly that severely limits what you can do with the Touchpad. It is the new de-facto mouse when not at a table or flat surface, but besides that, a mouse is a mouse is a mouse. I like it and recommend it, but it’s not magic.

You can buy the Logitech Wireless Touchpad from Amazon for $50.

Pros:

• Solid design, tactile buttons, comfortable to use for long periods on the couch or at a table
• It works just right! Wireless signal is strong at a distance of 20′

Cons:

• Windows 7 isn’t suited for touch-sensitive gestures; no OS X support
• Trackpad square has no tactile bounds, its too easy to slide a finger off the sensitive portion

This news is kinda crazy. A Japanese University has created a new touch interface that combines 3D computer generated objects with a special robotic “glove” that allows users to feel as if they’re touching digital objects. The aim here is teach workers special skills with the technology, or let them control robots with increased sensitivity. But you just know that Americans are going to use it for games or dirty acts. That’s how we roll. Check out the video to see it in action.

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News has arrived about the first commercially available 3-D Blu-Ray players from Sony.  The BDP-S470 will oddly require a firmware update to be 3-D ready but the BDP-S570 will be 3-D live out of the box.  Using Sony’s Active Shutter technology, the only thing you’ll have to do is connect the player to a 3-D TV and you’re good to go.

Each player will feature the new Bravia Internet Video service, which will enable catch up TV, streaming YouTube, BBC iPlayer, and the ability to rent movies through LOVEFiLM.  Sounds like a whole new slew of services for you to keep track of.

The BDP-S570 will have active Wi-Fi out of the box with the BDP-S470 having an ethernet port that can be upgraded through a Sony USB Wi-Fi dongle.  Both players will be controllable from an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Both of these 3-D Blu-Ray players will hit the streets towards the end of the month but a price has yet to be set.  Any guesses?  $400-$500?

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By now you’ve already heard about the rumored Apple event set to arrive on January 27th, and today Apple confirmed it by sending invites to select press (we continue to be not one of them).

The invite is adorned with a multicolored spray paint finish that reads “Come see our latest creation”.  Everybody and their grandmother is pontificating that it will be the announcement we’ve all impatiently been waiting for, the Apple  Touch Tablet computer, aka iSlate or iTouch. The event will be held at 10am PST at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Fran.

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We stopped by the Elan and Sandio booth and they gave us a quick rundown of a new touchpad mouse they’re working on.  The “Mouse 2.0″ is touchpad enabled that helps prevent arm and wrist fatigue while giving you access to a myriad of control schemes.

The mouse gives you 6DOF (6 degrees of functionality) control over 2D, 2.5D, and 3D applications such as Google Earth and Microsoft Bing 3D that use X,Y,Z transition and rotation.  The mouse is ready for application developers and the demo we saw performed with ease and accuracy.

Seems cool to us, but no word on production or expected cost.

If you’ve ever had a Genius Bar appointment at the Apple Store, than you’ve surely noticed that an employee has checked you in using an iPod touch.  If you’ve also ever bought something like an iPhone you’ve noticed they use Windows CE-based handhelds to complete your transaction.  Not for much longer.

Soon enough all Apple Store Employees will be able to deal with all purchases, returns, iPhone activations, through debit/credit cards and cash while using an iPod touch.

A new case and proprietary software is on its way that fits the Touch and is capable of being a magnetic stripe reader, barcode scanner, and can accept signatures using a stylus.  All sounding pretty cool, will it have a positive effect on the customer service experience?

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It’s long been known that Apple would add cameras to their line of iPods.  After all, it is the next evolutionary step for the portable media player, and we got wind of these rumors (here and here) sometime ago.  Now, dozens of new iPod Nano and iPod Touch cases have emerged from the manufacturing plants in China lending more than enough credence to the long standing rumor to pretty much make them fact.  Although some will be shocked by this news, I’m more in aw of the fact that Apple would let such new slip beyond their veil of secrecy.

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H2Audio has been making some heavy duty underwater iPod cases for some years now and the iDive300 is their first foray into deeper waters.  Designed to hit depths of up to 300 feet deep, the iDive300 is priced at $350 and is an extremely niche product that only seriously bored divers would need.  Sporting watertight controls and over the ear speakers I can’t imagine a large production batch for this item.  Beyond that, the iDive300 has a warranty for your iStuff in case something goes awry once submerged.   What do we think?  Cool or worthless?

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Tucked away in the dark corners of E3, and apparently my mind since I’m posting this the following week, was a little strategy game called “R.U.S.E” from Ubisoft.  What makes it of particular interest is that it is played on Microsoft’s Surface and as  you can see in the below video, creates a unique level of interaction and engagement thanks to the Surface’s touchscreen multigesture interface.  I’ve long been a skeptic of the Surface, largely due to cost, but games like this surely are fitting and make for a compelling argument in favor of the hardware.

HTC didn’t stop with the refresh of the Touch Pro.  Nope, they updated the Touch Diamond today, reaching new heights in naming convention with the Touch Diamond2!  So what’ve they done to improve the Touch Diamond?  For starters, they’ve added a larger screen, now 3.2-inch with a WVGA resolution and thrown in the same Zoom bar found on the Touch Pro2.  Battery life has been improved by a whopping 50% (Apple are you listening) and tossed in a 5 megapixel camera with light sensors, which is complimented by a second, front facing VGA camera.  Of course you’ll also get the usual and expected features such as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, media player, FM radio, microSD card slot and more.

The Touch Diamond 2 will hit ‘major’ EU markets and Asia sometime in Q2 of 2009.  No word on price, carrier or US release info.

Update: The Touch Diamond 2 will be available for a Windows Mobile 6.5 update when it launches.

[HTC]

Technology and warfare go hand in hand these days, but I would’ve never expected the beloved iPod Touch to be responsible for calculated sniper attacks.  What you’re looking at is a M110 semi-automatic sniper system with a Knights Armaments mounting system.  The Touch is strapped into an Otterbox case and is running BulletFlight, which is available in the app store for $12.  Just dial in the weather, wind speed and distance, and it will spit out the necessary scope adjustments for you to acquire your target.

BulletFlight app here

[Engadget]

Sprint got all official on release date and pricing for the HTC Pro and Touch, today. The HTC Touch will hit Sprint stores sometime this September (some are saying 9/14) and cost $250 after a 100 mail-in-rebate and 2 year contract. The HTC Pro, essentially the same phone as the Touch with the addition of a slide out QWERTY keyboard, will be available for purchase October 19th and cost $300 after a $100 mail-in-rebate and 2 year contract.

I’m interested to see how well the HTC Pro’s ‘biz card’ software works to add contact info to the address book via the 3.2MP camera. Healthy dose of skepticism, anyone?

Touch and Pro’s quick specs after the ‘leap’

• 2.8-inch VGA display + gravity-sensor technology (aka accelerometer)
• TouchFLO(TM) 3D
• Opera browser
• 3.2 MP camera/camcorder
• Stereo Bluetooth technology
• Windows Mobile 6.1 and provides easy access to Sprint-exclusive multimedia content, including Sprint Music Store’s quick over-the-air song downloads
• Sprint TV with its extensive collection of live and on-demand channels.
• Micro SD slot (Pro)
• Biz card scanner (Pro0

Official press release here

Did you miss the event? If so, here’s a quick recap scrapped from sources around the Net.

• HD TV shows
• iTunes ‘Genius’ function – it can make smart playlists that are tailored to your taste plus recommend music from iTunes
• New iPod Nano (as leaked here) that’s curved, more environmentally friendly and includes an accelerometer. It’s got the Touch/iPhone cover flow UI, voice notes (you need to add a mic), 24 hour battery life for music and 4 for video, and a butt load of shiny colors. The 8GB 3G ipod Nano is $149 and the 16GB is $199. The 8GB will start shipping this week (maybe) and the 16GB in the next few weeks.
• New Apple ear buds that are $80 (moot).
• New Nike+ interface (as rumored here) and the receiver is now built into the iPod Touch.
• A thinner iPod Touch. 8GB, 16GB and 32GB which is $229, $299, and $399 respectively
• Looks like they added new Shuffle colors too

The Apple Store is up and running with the new products!

Rock on Apple, rock on.