I have slim and flexible fingers. Not given to needless physical activity like working out or climbing mountains, this author has made enough lifestyle choices that have allowed said fingers to remain slender and supple. And I'm hypermobile. These digits are perfect tools for fine artwork and penmanship, the manufacture, assembly and disassembly of electronic or mechanical devices – anything that requires a high degree of precision.

Having remained comfortable with these digits for so long, it was more than a little disconcerting to notice that the first two fingers of my right and left hands no longer looked like they belonged to the same person. Not horribly disfigured or anything, but quite obviously different in appearance and feel. The two digits in question on the right hand are more muscular and firm. Gone was the supple flex, replaced by a somewhat robust rigidity. Could it be the incessant tapping away on the keyboard? Unlikely, since I use both hands and more than just two fingers to type.

It's the two-finger scroll on my Macbook Pro. During the last 3 years, I've used the two-finger scroll for everything from web browsing to Illustrator and Photoshop – it's a marvelous and indispensable tool that, once experienced, one cannot do without.

Fans of Asterix and Obelisk will remember the comic book where the duo participates in the Olympics, only to compete against athletes honed for the express purpose of excelling at one sport [and one sport only]. My condition brings to mind the champion javelin thrower who had one scrawny arm, while the other ballooned with muscle – at this rate, that's where I will be very soon. Has anyone else noticed anything similar?

Reprinted with permission from Think More.

Is it a matter of preference and practice? Yes, but no.

Think about it. The distance it takes to move your hand from the QWERTY to the trackpad, usually below the spacebar, is much closer than the distance it takes to drop your hand on a mouse, reorientate your arm/wrist and fingers into place. And a trackpad's control scheme uses a finger, which has a lot more dexterity than an arm/wrist you use when handling a mouse. Also, the future is multitouch trackpads. No other control scheme can match the potential of pinching/scrolling with multiple fingers, zooming, etc.

The touchpad is also a really natural movement, practiced by everyone since childhood days of drawing in the sand on the beach, or fingerpainting. The only more natural movement is to trace movement on an actual screen, but any screen we use in a non mobile environment is too big and vertical to do this easily on, for extended periods of time. Besides, the touchpad itself would work great with a secondary LCD display under it, making it essentially, a touchpad.

So, here's to a future where the trackpad is everywhere. I look forward to it.

[SanwaNexus404, AdessoNexus404, Adesso2Nexus404, DinovoGiz, KeysonicKustomPC, SandbergTechhook, Adesso3Pcrush, MCEallproducts, McsaiteGeekalaert, TruFormProKeyboardco, ToshibaOverclockers, iKeyGadgetadvisor, iKey2Geekwithlaptop, FentexMiniGeekwithlaptop, EeeKeyboardDeviceDaily, LogitechHomeTheaterDialectical, special thanks to Quinton Ma for researching the models in this gallery.]

Just announced at the Computex show in Taiwan, the clicking action of the Clickpad happens by pressing downward on the trackpad, eliminating the need for buttons on the bottom of the pad. Swipes, pinchzooms, rotations and scrolling are all enabled on the ClickPad, providing the same functionality as their previous multitouch trackpads.

Synaptics doesn't mention how a the ClickPad would mimic the two button mouse on Windows-based machines, but all Synaptics drivers, for the ClickPad, and the rest of their trackpad line, will be fully compliant with Windows 7.

The OEM solution will be available in the third quarter of this year (basically now), so you'll probably start to see this popping up in new laptops in late 2009/early 2010.

Synaptics Demonstrates New TouchPad™ Products and Gesture Technology at COMPUTEX

Innovative ClickPad™ Solution Delivers Improved User Experience, Incorporates Clever Three-Finger Press Gesture

Taipei, Taiwan – June 2, 2009 – Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications, and entertainment devices, is demonstrating new products and technology enhancements at COMPUTEX 2009. Synaptics will unveil its new ClickPad™ solution, an innovative touchpad for consumer and business users that want larger multi-finger gesture enabled TouchPads in smaller notebook designs, particularly netbooks, which have been the fastest growing product segment in the portable computing market over the past year. ClickPad complements the rich minimalist design trend in the notebook space by eliminating the need for traditional physical buttons and enabling the entire ClickPad to act as the button that can be "clicked" to initiate a user action.

All Synaptics ClickPads and Touchpads incorporate the latest gestures previously announced in the Synaptics Gesture Suite™ (SGS) 9.1: two-finger scrolling, two-finger PinchZoom, two-finger pivot rotate, three-finger flick, and three-finger press. For example, users can start-up their PCs using the three-finger press gesture by placing three fingers on a TouchPad and then releasing them to automatically launch from one to six user-selected applications. Synaptics ClickPads are optimized for all laptops and ideal for space constrained netbooks where real estate is at a premium in the palmrest. ClickPad is available with an innovative mechanical assembly that will provide optimized performance for notebook PC designs, ranging from sleek netbooks to large desktop replacement portables.

Synaptics is also announcing that its entire SGS 9.1-enabled TouchPad family is Microsoft Windows 7 ready. This signifies that Synaptics' highly regarded software driver, which offers the best pointing performance and gesture functionality in the PC industry, has passed Microsoft's rigorous Win 7 Logo testing and will be available on time for the release of Windows 7 on leading OEM designs later in the year.

In addition, Synaptics DualMode™ TouchPad is now available to support "under plastic" designs and provides OEMs with excellent consumer appeal and differentiation, enabling OEMs to add custom 0D buttons and 1D scrolling support directly on the TouchPad surface, thereby enhancing TouchPad functionality to enable new features like multimedia controls. Synaptics DualMode TouchPad transforms a traditional Synaptics TouchPad from a navigation device to a launch and control center with the touch of a button. When users tap on the mode switch button in the top right corner of the TouchPad, LEDs illuminate icons on the surface of the TouchPad. Now available under a plastic coating for the most vibrant image, DualMode allows OEMs to customize the feature functionality of the icons to highlight key notebook features.
"
Since first introducing the revolutionary TouchPad in a notebook computer 14 years ago, Synaptics has continued to enhance its innovative technology to expand its solution portfolio and bring a more engaging, productive, and entertaining user experience to notebook PC designs," said Mark Vena, vice president of Synaptics' PC Business Unit. "With more than 350 million TouchPads shipped since 1995, Synaptics has demonstrated that it knows the notebook PC space like no other technology provider. ClickPad, DualMode and Synaptics' growing gesture portfolio underscore our on-going commitment to providing easier and more meaningful ways for people to interact with their notebooks."

These solutions will available to OEMs for integration into notebook PC platforms beginning in 3Q09. Synaptics will be showing these new products during COMPUTEX at the Grand Hyatt Taipei, Suite #1010, by appointment only. To arrange for a demonstration, contact Niamh Conlon at nconlon@synaptics.com.

The battery boost arrives courtesy of a higher capacity 6-cell battery, capable of nearly nine and a half hours of runtime, Samsung says. Other additions to the NC10 line include a user-requested larger trackpad and what is perhaps the bane of laptops and netbooks these days: a glossy screen.

The special edition NC10 is $50 more than the original, checking in at $500. Pre-order only for now, and no new pics of the trackpad update or the smudge-loving screen. [Amazon via Portable Monkey - Thanks, Peter!]

The Pogo Sketch looks pretty similar to previously-released Pogo Stylus for the iPhone (and probably uses the same type of tip), except that it's a little bit bigger. And there's no special tech at play here, except a foam-type tip, so it won't add any professional-level tablet features to your trackpad. It merely provides a way to use a capacitive surface without your finger.

But if you don't want to kick down for a real Wacom tablet, need to draw a couple of quick things, and don't want to look like you have Alzheimer's, this might do the trick. I mean, it's only 15 bucks. [One Ten via Gizmag]

ChiralRotate is similar to the previously released ChiralMotion, but where ChiralMotion just controlled scroll functions inside a window, applications can take advantage of ChiralRotate in more specific ways, like a full screen photo viewer app where the ability to scroll is not present. These gestures must be supported by applications specifically (and not just Windows in general), but there are currently 100 applications that will work with the older gestures and Synaptics expects many more apps will work with the new ones in the near future.

Tons of computers now feature compatible Synaptics trackpads, including the Voodoo Envy 133. These gestures are available now and can be enabled with a quick update to the OEM-included software. [Synaptics]

Synaptics Adds Two Innovative Advanced Gestures to its Growing Library of TouchPad™ Gesture Recognition
Synaptics TouchPads Enabled With ChiralRotate™ and Two-Finger Flick Make Notebooks and Peripheral Keyboards More Intuitive and Easier to Use

TOKYO, Japan –Sept. 30, 2008 – Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications and entertainment devices, today announced the availability of two new advanced gestures— ChiralRotate and Two-Finger Flick. These gestures join the company’s expanding portfolio of gesture recognition capabilities for Synaptics TouchPads used in popular notebooks and peripheral keyboards.

• ChiralRotate lets users move one finger in a circular motion to rotate images and graphics within applications, quickly and easily.

• Two-Finger Flick enables users, depending on the application, to either use two fingers to flick horizontally to navigate back-and-forth through images, documents and objects, or to flick vertically to minimize and maximize an application.

Consistent with previous Synaptics gestures (ChiralMotion™, Pinch and Momentum) announced earlier this year, ChiralRotate and Two-Finger Flick are compatible with hundreds of Microsoft Windows applications and offer tremendous value and productivity to any notebook or peripheral keyboard that integrates Synaptics’ industry-leading TouchPad™ touch-sensitive interfaces. The ChiralMotion gesture has gone through multiple usability tests, which have consistently demonstrated that continuous circular movement of the finger on the TouchPad is the most desirable, natural gesture for users to perform.

“The addition of ChiralRotate and Two-Finger Flick are the most recent examples of Synaptics’ ongoing commitment to driving innovation and improved usability to all types of PC applications,” said Mark Vena, vice president of Synaptics’ PC Business Unit. “Consumer and business users alike are always looking for ways to do things faster and more intuitively on their notebook systems and PC peripherals, and these new Synaptics gestures are aimed at delivering just that.”

Working with photos and graphics becomes much more efficient when using a TouchPad enhanced with ChiralRotate or Two-Finger Flick. Users can review images quickly with Two-Finger Flick and rotate them within popular Windows applications with ChiralRotate, all without taking their fingers off the TouchPad. These gestures join other gesture options, such as Synaptics ChiralMotion™ technology - an advanced gesture that provides an innovative alternative to conventional scrolling. As an added convenience, all Synaptics TouchPad settings, including gesture functionality, can be turned on or off with the highly intuitive Synaptics Control Panel that is incorporated into most OEM notebook systems.

Availability: These new enhanced gesture options are available now on Synaptics TouchPads for PC notebook and keyboard devices. For more information on Synaptics’ ChiralRotate and Two-Finger Flick, visit www.synaptics.com/technology/chiral.cfm.