Kitz Forum
Computers & Hardware => Apple Related => Topic started by: Ronski on November 02, 2016, 10:26:37 AM
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I was reading about Apples new Mac Book Pro with a programmable touch screen integrated into the keyboard, which I thought was a great idea.
Was chatting to my brother last night and mentioned it to him, turns out the Apricot computer he had in the late eighties had exactly the same sort of thing, albeit a key associated with a programmable LCD panel.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apricot_Computers
a keyboard with eight "normal" function keys and six flat programmable ones, associated with a built-in LCD screen (40 characters / 2 lines)
I've always said apple are good at resurrecting old ideas, and then patenting them as their own.
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Always the Luddite, I was initially sceptic of the 'magic toolbar' concept. But I'm coming around to the idea it could work quite well. :)
Not that I have any desire for a laptop, but I do use a genuine Apple keyboard for my Mac Mini. I wonder if that product will also gain a magic toolbar?
Not sure how much of it will be patentable, especially if there's been prior use. But I'd imagine they will want to patent as much as they can, otherwise some other scumbag can either file for their own patent, or buy up some legally debatable existing patents with peripheral relevance, and try to extort licence fees. :(
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May be an argument for programmable keys but moving the GUI onto the bar made no sense to me, looked like a solution in search of a problem. Top comments on reddit seemed fairly dismissive as well.