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Zaprudering the invite: Obsessive fun with TUAW

by Erica Sadun Jan 18th 2010 at 1:15PM

As you can see in the image at the top of this post, several features stood out to our TUAW team. Mike Rose was first to notice that the art used spray paint rather than finger paint, as you might expect for a tablet event invite. "Could this be a hint of MacPaint Pro?" asked Steve Sande. "That would harken back to the original Mac (MacPaint) and be very cool."

Dave Caolo noticed that the Apple logo front-and-center, along with the thin (tablet-shaped?) border pointed to a Macbook-like presentation. It would be awesome if the tablet really could mimic and/or replace many laptop features, although all early Humint rumors point to an iPhoneOS-only system.

So what does the art-styled presentation hint at? To most of the team, this seemed a vote for augmented reality interaction a la Excelitech's Virtual Graffiti app [iTunes link]. Maybe we'll be able to interact in new ways with maps and images through a touch-based interface.

Will the target audience differ from the anticipated Kindle crowd? Maybe this touch-based creation will be aimed more at tangible creative media than at simple video and book display? Maybe the rumors about gestures gone wild with a high-powered CPU we've been reading about give a better sense of who Apple is aiming their "latest creation" at.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Update: Commenters point out that the colors used almost perfectly match the current nano line.

Update: TUAW's Megan Lavey adds "I think Apple is announcing the release of its interactive paintball set. It uses the built-in iSight camera. You mad at someone? Click a button on iChat and the paint color of your choice blasts that person in the eye." *hee*

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As you can see in the image at the top of this post, several features stood out to our TUAW team. Mike Rose was first to notice that the...
 

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george klooney

Know the Truth...

To understand the Apple you must understand the Steve. It is all about liberation. Just as the painterbot could not paint within the lines so WALL-E escaped bondage for Love. Creativity is Salvation!

January 24 2010 at 10:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
emike

It's clear massage...come See our LATEst creation.

January 19 2010 at 9:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Peter_T

How about the fact that the curved border runs off the bottom of the page? The tablet form-factor doesn't do that... that looks like a macbook-shaped border to me.

January 19 2010 at 8:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
GregA

So, something I haven't seen mentioned....

Sure it's spray paint, but it's also running down the screen.

It'd be typical Apple to demonstrate an iPaint application where if you spray too much paint it actually gets thicker and starts running downwards (whichever way that is on your tablet). You have to lay your tablet flat until it dries. Or turn it on its side so the paint runs a different way.

Of course, they could use iPaint to introduce a simulated "brush" and how that works, and then move across to showing a simple "pencil" (not needed to do anything functional other than draw or write)

January 18 2010 at 11:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bungles

unless they are selling this thing for under 400...It is no competitor for the kindle. The kindle is for reading books and that's about it.

January 18 2010 at 10:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
John Pailing

Given that have patents for a 3D Gesture System, and also for a front facing camera embedded behind an LCD, and the fingerworks patents around hand based recognition based on what you are pretending to hold .... I am wondering whether this new revolutionary input system is something that monitors your hand in a Wii like manner. So you could literally throw paint onto the tablet by moving your hand as if throwing onto the LCD surface, or maybe paint as if holding a brush, or turn a page on a book by wafting you hand over the table etc Imagine how "fun" that would be, something everyone would want to try because ut was unique and perhaps mainstream enough to attract quite a following like the Wii did. That would explain the splatter invite ... bet this is the first thing Steve demonstrates!

January 18 2010 at 6:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cjay

I think they are just proud of their latest "creation" and are therefore referring to themselves as artists and the product as the art (In technological form of course!)

The digital sketchbook idea is very interesting though. Computers have always been designed to take pen away from paper and I'm surprised that no company has yet concocted a viable solution. Apple are just the company to deliver, They would simply have to get around the palm rest issue (ie... ignoring hand movement on screen whilst drawing)

But hey, speculation just breeds disappointment....lets be good critics and wait for the delivery huh!

January 18 2010 at 6:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Galley

The tablet will be called "Canvas". I know it's true, because I read it on Twitter.

January 18 2010 at 6:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
macwatcher

Maybe it's a hint at the new name - welcome to the Apple Canvas (sounds better than iSlate)

January 18 2010 at 5:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zoomwire

See our LATEest creation :) - Slate ;)

January 18 2010 at 5:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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