Apple's black tech: How to make the touch pad feel like a tap

I thought everyone already knew that one of the features of Apple's new MacBook was the installation of a touch pad with pressure sensing. But I did a little research and found a lot of friends do not know, so I have this article from the first.

First of all, in physics, the new touchpad is not moving.

If you try to tap, it will give you a click of feedback-it will make a "click" Sound, there is a feeling of press down, but in fact it is not moving at all, all is illusion.

The truth is, Apple's engineers have installed a vibrating motor underneath the trackpad to achieve "force feedback" or force-tactile effects. The motor through the vibration played a trick effect, so you think you really pressed down. This phenomenon is known in scientific research as the Side force field (Lateral force field), that is, by vibrating the human to form a sense of touch. With force Touch's judgment on the intensity of the press, the vibrating motor can create a feeling of being able to press down and have a degree of pressure. Don't know if it's black technology enough to qualify.

If you're worried about the damage to the touchpad due to the hard press, I don't think this is a big concern. Force Touch and the previous touch pad feel almost no difference, and the degree of compression is adjustable, if the user's fingers have muscle atrophy or joint pain and other symptoms, after adjustment only a little bit to achieve the past of the tap operation.

"The new touchpad is a boon for users who are prone to fatigue on their wrists," Catherine Shu said. "I've had a mouse hand (carpal tunnel syndrome), and the thumb pushing the touchpad will cause a tingling sensation throughout the palm. ”

With regard to the application of the Side force field, Margarett Minsky (Margaret Minsky) had studied in 1995, and was discussed in detail in his thesis, "Computable tactile". In the paper, Minsky uses a side force field on the plane to achieve the tactile feel of different textures, and perhaps Apple will do so in their products in the future.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Apple had planned to apply force Touch technology to the future IPhone, when tapping, tapping, deep tapping, and even hovering could be a dimension of the phone's input. Although the report does not say whether the machine feedback has such a rich amount of value, but at least the hardware is ready, we can expect. If this technology can make a piece of a fixed dead tablet on a laptop feel like a tap, then the phone will naturally.

Think about it, the memo on the phone really sticks, and the stamp you get on Facebook can really poke at you, and the world is really crazy.

(This article to the automatic Point Technology partner TechCrunch China)

Apple's black tech: How to make the touch pad feel like a tap