Apple has long implemented multi-touch scrolling on its notebooks via a two-finger scrolling gesture, however the new version of OS X 10.7 shows the direction that Apple may be headed in merging its full OS X operating system, found on notebooks and desktops, with the mobile iOS operating system, found on iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads. With OS X 10.7, codenamed Lion, Apple will be inverting its scrolling movement to more closely resemble the scrolling gestures on the tablet and phone.

With Lion, the default scrolling motion to scroll down a long page, like a Web page, is to use two fingers on the multi-touch trackpad and flick up. This gesture is akin to users actually pushing the page up to view the hidden contents below. The older scrolling gesture to scroll down a long page is to use two fingers and swipe downwards, a movement that aligns with the direction of scrolling.

If users prefer the older system, they can definitely revert back to the older gestures, but developers who got an early preview of OS X 10.7 Lion noticed the change in scrolling behavior.

While a tablet running the full Mac OS X operating system has been a dream to many who would prefer the desktop operating system’s power to produce content, recent changes in Lion may indicate that Apple may be moving the mobile and desktop OSes closer together.

Via: 9to5 Mac

OS X 10.7 Lion Brings Tablet Scrolling Gestures to Notebooks, Desktops is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Notebooks.com.

The Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse, a multi-touch version of Microsoft’s popular Arc mouse was uncovered by istartedsomething, this past weekend on several Microsoft and retail websites. If true, the $70 MSRP Arc Touch Mouse would be the first multi-touch mouse from Microsoft and would presumably give PC users an experience similar to the Apple Magic Mouse.

The discovery was made when istartedsomething found several product listings for the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse on European retailer websites under the product number RVF-0003 and found that arctouchmouse.com was registered to Microsoft. There are no images or further official information about the rumored multi-touch mouse from Microsoft, and the company told CrunchGear that they have,  nothing to announce at this time.”

If real it is possible that the Arc Touch Mouse from Microsoft could be the retail version of a multi-touch mouse that Microsoft showed off last year as part of their Mouse 2.0 research that looked into how the mouse could be adapted for better use. If this mouse makes it to market, and is only $70, it could bring the world of touch to more users through the built-in tools in most versions of Windows 7 that are currently only available to tablet and touchscreen users.

How a multi-touch Microsoft mouse might work:

Multi-touch Microsoft “Arc Touch Mouse” Could be the PC Version Apple’s Magic Mouse is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Acer just announced the Aspire AS5738PG, their first multi-touch notebook, that will ship with Windows 7 on October 22nd. Unlike many mobile PCs that sport a touchscreen the Aspire AS5738PG doesn’t fold flat like a tablet, opting for a conventional laptop configuration. This doesn’t take away from the ability to use the touchscreen; it just changes the focus of touch technology from that of a tablet.

According to Acer, the multi-touch experience on the Aspire AS5738PGwill focus on making, “entertainment and multimedia experiences more intuitive and interactive.”

With this focus on entertainment, the new Aspire will let users;

• touch anywhere on the screen using one or two fingertips to play movies
• Zoom in and out on websites
• Edit photos and video
• Handwrite notes
• Resize windows
• Launch entertainment applications
• Use gestures like pinch, flip and swirl to zoom, navigate and browse.

For more details on what you can do with touch in Windows 7 on the Aspire AS5738PG check out this collection of touch apps.

Laptop Magazine had early access to this notebook and posted their full review of the Aspire AS5738PG including impressions of the touchscreen and the Acer Touch Portal.

While reading new messages posted to Twitter, we very much liked how we could zoom in on text to make it bigger by spreading two fingers apart, zoom out by bringing two fingers together in a pinching gesture, or scroll up/down by flicking in those directions with our index finger. When viewing images in the Photos folder, we could page through all of the pictures in the folder by swiping left or right with a single finger, which felt completely natural. In fact, after a few minutes of interacting with the 5738PG in this fashion (and after some initial trepidation), we found it superior to the mouse for navigating photos.

….

Overall, touch worked like a charm, but with our fingers constantly pressing the screen, it reclined from a 90-degree angle to approximately 45 degrees over the course of a few minutes. You’ll clearly need to keep one hand behind the screen during longer touch computing sessions to keep the LCD front and center. We also found that the display picked up fingerprints quickly.

Overall the laptop earns good marks from Laptop Magazine for including touch at an affordable price but they wish the touch experience was a little bit more “robust”.

Another interesting part of the Aspire AS5738PG, that number crunchers are sure to love, is the dedicated numeric keypad for easy number entry.

The Aspire AS5738PG will be sold at select retailers later this month and according to the press release will be available at and MSRP of $799.

Acer Aspire AS5738PG Specifications

Acer Aspire AS5738PG is Acer’s Multitouch Notebook is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Lenovo’s now offering multi-touch displays on the ThinkPad T400s and X200t tablet. Multitouch displays allow users to manipulate maps, multiple items and 3D objects.

The X200t can recognize two fingers at a time and the T400s can recognize four fingers at a time.

The touch-enabled ThinkPads will ship with Simple Tap, an application that allows users to change screen brightness, volume and other settings with their fingers.

The ThinkPad T400s is a 14″ thin-and-light notebook. It’s highly unusually to find a touchscreen display on a clam shell style notebook, but I expect this feature to become common since Microsoft is supporting multitouch in Windows 7.

Here’s a quick look at the ThinkPad T400s and ThinkPad X200t with multitouch displays.

Here’s a quick video intro to Simple Tap:

Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and X200t Get Multitouch Displays is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

Rob Bushway’s put together a video demo of several multi-touch applications that will be part of Windows 7 Touch Pack. Some of the applications were first seen on the Microsoft Surface, an expensive table-sized computer.

Below is an excellent demonstration of applications and games. Rob shows off Surface Collage, Rebound, Blackboard, Garden Pond, Surface Globe, and the Surface Lagoon screen saver.

In the coming months, more notebooks and tablets will be released with multi-touch displays to allow for more ways to interact with applications.

via GottaBeMobile

Microsoft Surface Meets Mobile Computers (demo) is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.