TouchSmarter: Touch Screen Gadgets

Magic Trackpad

Apple has today released the Magic Trackpad, a multi-touch glass trackpad for desktop computers. The Magic Trackpad gives desktop users the same intuitive multi-touch gestures that Mac notebook customers have come to love and is available separately for $69 (£59).

With its glass surface, the wireless Magic Trackpad enables users to scroll smoothly up and down a page with inertial scrolling, pinch to zoom in and out, rotate an image with their fingertips and swipe three fingers to flip through a collection of web pages or photos. The Magic Trackpad can be configured to support single button or two button commands and supports tap-to-click as well as a physical click.

The Magic Trackpad makes use of Bluetooth for wireless connectivity and is powered by two AA batteries. Apple now also sells a $29 (£25) Battery Charger, designed to charge two AA batteries.

Apple has today quietly released a minor update to iTunes. The 102MB download is available from Software Update or Apple.com.

iTunes 9.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Disables older versions of some incompatible third-party plug-ins
• Addresses minor issues with dragging and dropping items
• Addresses a performance issue when first syncing to some devices with iTunes 9.2
• Addresses an issue upgrading to iOS 4 on an iPhone or iPod touch with encrypted back-ups
• Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance

Apple this afternoon released the first beta of iOS 4.1 iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd and 3rd generation.

The build is numbered 8B5080c, but Apple have provided no details of any changes or fixes in the iOS software.

Apple this afternoon released the first beta of iOS 4.1 iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd and 3rd generation.

The build is numbered 8B5080c, but Apple have provided no details of any changes or fixes in the iOS software.

Apple is preparing to unleash a beta of MobileMe Calendar and has kick started the process in a similar fashion to the beta it ran of MobileMe Mail which was then included in the major revamp of MobileMe last month.

The new MobileMe Calendar beta holds plenty of promise and offers a new look very similar to the Calendar app available on the iPad. Apple describes the update as including “some of the following features”:

Beautiful new web application
The Calendar beta includes a new web application at me.com with great-looking calendar views. You’ll find redesigned day, week, and month views, as well as a new list view to make scanning your events easier. Your calendars will also load faster, thanks to improved performance. The new web application works best with Safari 5, Firefox 3.6, and Internet Explorer 8.

Share calendars with family and friends
You can easily share your calendars with one or more MobileMe members to keep everyone on the same page. For example, create a shared calendar called “Kids” for school and weekend activities. You can allow the person you’re sharing a calendar with to edit events, and set up email notifications to tell you when they make a change.

Publish a calendar for a group or team
The Calendar beta lets you share a read-only public calendar that can be viewed by anyone, perfect for publishing an events calendar such as a soccer team schedule. After setting it up you can send the team members a link to view the calendar on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.

Event invitations with RSVPs
Inviting any guest to an event is easy from the MobileMe Calendar beta. Just add their email address to the event (they don’t have to be a MobileMe member) and your guests will get an invitation email they can respond to directly by clicking a link. Your event then automatically updates, making it easy to track RSVPs right in your calendar.

Works on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac
The MobileMe Calendar beta uses the CalDAV standard so you can view and edit your calendars using the built-in calendar applications on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac. Please note that support for PCs with Microsoft Outlook is coming soon.

To use the MobileMe Calendar beta, you need to be running iOS 4 on iPhone or iPod touch, iOS 3.2 on iPad, Mac OS X Snow Leopard version 10.6.4. For more details on system requirements and answers to other questions, please read this FAQ.