# The SBHonline Community Daily > Digerati Discussions! >  >  Pick one up for your iMac!

## JEK

Theres Magic on Your Desktop
By NICK BILTON

Apples Magic Trackpad.
In the years Ive been using computers, monitors have grown thinner and more vivid in their picture displays, and the technology that runs them has grown faster and less expensive. But two things have remained relatively constant: my keyboard and mouse.

Yet thats about to change. Im pretty certain I will never own a traditional mouse again, at least when I use an Apple computer. Instead I will own a trackpad  a Magic Trackpad.

The new gadget, which was announced by Apple last week, and works only with the companys computers, looks more like a large silver kitchen tile than a mouse. But when its properly connected, it affords a  traditional desktop computer a multitouch mouse, just like those available in most Apple laptops today.

The trackpad works like an ordinary laptop trackpad, where you slide your fingers to control the cursor on the screen. Once I was comfortable with it, I began taking full advantage of its features, which include two-finger scroll on Web pages, pinch and zoom on images in Apples Preview application and a number of other multitouch features.

After a few days of use, the trackpad started to feel like a natural transition for computers as they enter a new era of multitouch, but it did take some getting used to. Several times I unconsciously tried to grab the Trackpad and move it around my desk, which  obviously didnt work out.

The technology behind the trackpad originates from a company Apple purchased in the late 1990s, which had designed a similar device for people who suffered from repetitive stress injuries. The idea is that a touch surface would be less taxing on a users hands than a traditional mouse.

The trackpad, which costs $70, easily connects to a computer wirelessly though a Bluetooth connection, but requires the latest version of Apples operating system, Mac OSX 10.6.4. There is also an optional battery charging kit for $30, available through the Apple store.

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## MIke R

yeah I am going to be all over this for sure....thanks for the heads up

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## Petri

It's been in order for a week already   :Big Grin: 

I had to pool with a friend as I couldn't find anything else to shop in the store to get free shipping.

But this is a must for every genuine Apple-fan:

http://www.apple.com/battery-charger/

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## JEK

I got a couple of those too. Leave it to Apple to make a AA battery charger elegant.

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## Petri

I just got one of these in January, with a stack of Eneloops..

 

Eneloops have the same LSD technology as Apple's batteries, perhaps Apple even OEM's them from Sanyo.

.. so I skipped the beautiful Apple charger.  My Apple belief is fainting, I don't have an iPhone, I didn't buy the charger..  :Big Grin:

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## Petri

I've been using the Tragic Macpad for a while now.

The movements & co work just perfectly, especially as I've got this Jean Nouvel's design table from Unifor that's metal -- not very mouse friendly (and heavy as hell, I had to hire piano movers to carry the matching cabinet upstairs   :Big Grin:  )

One problem though; clicking the crackpad requires a bit too much force.  The "tap to click" option is too sensitive so it's not an option.

I might move this to the living room and go back to the tragicmouse..

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## CREGGERS

JEK, is it true you have an Apple logo tattooed on your butt ?  :) 





> I got a couple of those too. Leave it to Apple to make a AA battery charger elegant.

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## JEK

Not exactly . . .

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## CREGGERS

haha.... close enough

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## amyb

The rear of my car sports a SBH sticker-the one with the plane coming in for a landing. Discreet. I turn it in in August and my next car will get the St Batrths lime decal if I can remember where I put it for safe keeping.

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## Petri

BTW, the guys in Czech republic opened the charger and batteries.

The batteries are most likely from Sanyo (Eneloop's) while the charger is Apple's own design.

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## Earl

> 



I bought the Track Pad and the recharger...schweetness!!!

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