Android Community wrote:

Multitouch support was dropped from the Android platform, and therefore the T-Mobile G1, after Apple requested it not be included.  That’s the latest rumor, apparently confirmed by an unnamed Android team member, who described the arrangement as an attempt by Google to avoid the IP aggression we’ve recently seen between Apple and Palm.

While the G1’s capacitive touchscreen certainly recognizes multitouch input – as recent hacks have demonstrated – and earlier builds of Android code included what’s believed to be Google-written, but subsequently disabled, multitouch support, the functionality did not ship in the released device.

[via Android Community]

This Silicon Touch iPhone case works in tandem with and iPhone application to help the visually impaired feel the icons and what it is they are typing.  One thing that we would never have even imagined in such a product is the multi-touch and gestures actually working with this accessory. We are told that multi-touch features will not be compromised.

There are also many nice features like text to speech and moon type tactile feedback.  We hope that there will be high enough demand for this product to see it come to market. It looks like only time will tell.

[Via SlashGear]

Lots of Apple industry news to report. First, a pay-as-you-go plan for the iPhone 3G is set to launch on the carrier O2. The eastern European sales figures for the device have been rather disappointing on the global scale and China Mobile and Apple are still in talks to try and figure out how to bring the iPhone to the country.

Best Buy is officially going to be a retailer for the iPhone 3G, and they will even set up the phone for you and your email for free, that is, if you buy an accessory package. Another angry iPhone user is suing the company but the reasoning this time is rather interesting. They are claiming Apple and AT&T knowingly sold more iPhones than their network could allow, making for shoddy service all around. Apple has also filed a patent for a multi-touch plus function that would combine touch gestures with other actions like speaking.

EA Mobile will be bringing Spore Origins to the iPhone shortly along with a variety of other EA games like The Sims 3. Two new home automation control systems have also come to the iPhone this week, allowing those with home automation devices like Control4 or Crestron Control to manage the systems by means of an app on their phones. Some developers have been getting their apps rejected from the App Store because their creations have “limited utility.” Plus, the Phonofone II is a super expensive iPod dock that nostalgia lovers and gadget enthusiasts alike will adore.

We also found out that an Apple iPod event is set to happen on September 9th. Much speculation has covered iPhone Buzz about what that event will or will not contain, but we do know a completely retooled iPod nano should make its debut and the iPod touch will get a minor facelift. Dimensions of both devices leaked this week, as well. We also learned that iPhone 2.1 firmware may be released as well as iTunes 8.0. And be sure to check in on all the happenings by watching our live coverage of the iPod event on Tuesday at 10 a.m. PST at http://live.slashgear.com/.

The potential here is practically limitless, meaning we could one day shake the iPhone to perform one function, flip it on it’s side to perform another, speak a word to activate a program and more.

[via Engadget Mobile]

The Pogo Stylus works great. It works right with your iPhone and those over at GottaBeMobile have posted a video of this tool in action. And I have to say, it looks responsive and like a nice alternative to using your finger. 

But $24.95? That’s a bit steep for a stick with some felt on it, don’t you think? Granted, it’s a special stick with special felt, but once the price drops a bit, I may just have to get myself one of these. 

[via GottaBeMobile.com]

There are advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that less screen to illuminate is obviously going to draw less power. This could help make up for the extra juice that the 3G chip and the GPS chip will suck up. This shot is a side by side comparison of the device sizes, which shows it will look the same as the current iPhone. Just think smaller with more features.

One negative thing about this photo, there is no hole in the face plate for a front facing camera. If this is the real deal it shatters the dreams of iPhone video conferencing. One thing that would not be so great about the smaller screen is that means a smaller interface, and smaller on screen keyboard. This could prove to be a big problem for iPhone users if the interface proves to be too tiny.

[Via iLounge]

The BI-IPEN is solving that using a special type of conductive resin on the bottom of the pen. The device will allow you to touch and drag, but unless you are going to set the device down and use two of these bad boys, then no multi touch. It is available in both black and silver, but I could not find a price for the device, or if it is even shipping yet.

[Via Akihabara News]

As part of an Intel event for the 40th birthday of the semiconductor company at Munich’s BMW World, Germany managing director Hannes Schwaderer confirmed today what has long been a rumor on the Internet: namely, that there is an iPhone with Intel’s new Atom chip. The device is slightly larger than the current version, Schwaderer said. That is not, however, because of the Intel chip, but because of the larger display used in the new iPhone. – Hannes Schwaderer, Germany Manager, Intel

There you have it, a slightly larger device that will accommodate a larger screen. It is rumored that the device will have a 720×480 multi touch display. This matches the description in the rumor about Steve Jobs announcing such a device at WWDC this year, which kicks off on June 9th. We also expect to see the 3G iPhone during the conference as well.

[Via Mac Rumors]

Apple also went more environmentally friendly by cutting packaging size down 56%, making circuit boards Bromide and PVC free, and taking mercury out of the displays.

The Macbook air can be pre-ordered now in Black or White, and can be seen in stores in 2 weeks at a respectable $1799. Hit the cut for more images of the MacBook air.

“[T]he Keyboard Wireless Dock connects to the dock using Wireless USB. It also has a bigger hard drive, some sort of DVD player/burner, inputs for your USB and Firewire devices. The whole keyboard part itself is used as a large multitouch track pad. Since the keys need to be depressed when hit, you can do lighter touches as you move across the whole thing” Design’s creator

Could such a device be on the cards for Macworld on the 15th?  Given Apple’s notoriously tight-lipped attitude to new products, it’ll have to be a case of waiting and seeing. 

Flickr [via SlashGear]

Of course, the current rumor is that Apple themselves are preparing a MultiTouch UMPC or tablet of their own, based on the iPod Touch and iPhone, and possibly reviving the Newton name.  However such a device would not be a direct competitor to the Modbook, which, courtesy of its high-sensitivity digitizer pen, is being targeted at artists and design professionals.  It will certainly offer far more accuracy than might be possible with a fingertip.

To hammer that point home, Axiotron are planning to take the Modbook to the MacWorld Expo, where a number of designers, architects, cartoonists and animators will demonstrate its abilities.  Ironically, that’s similar to the exclusive SlashGear footage below, shot at last year’s MacWorld:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN_e_Y1oIp8[/youtube]

The panel – which as yet has not been fingered for any particular device in Sony’s catalogue, but could form the basis of an upgrade to the Sony Ericsson P1 range of touchscreen smartphones – also improves on Apple’s already impressive resolution; full VGA 640 x 480 as opposed to the iPhone’s 480 x 320.

[via SlashGear]

Read the full advert after the cut

Some analysts believe that Apple is planning a larger-scale version of the iPod Touch, running full-scale OS X, which would compete with Microsoft’s UMPC and Tablet PC platforms.

[via Engadget]

“If you are impressed by the “touch features” in the iPhone, you’ll be blown away by what’s coming in Windows 7″ Hilton Locke, TabBlogger

It looks as though Microsoft are also doing their own work with capacitative displays, the sort that Apple use in the iPhone and iPod Touch; in fact one has shown up in Dell’s Latitude XT Tablet PC, which the manufacturer is calling the “forerunner to emerging multi-touch capabilities”.  Ever since the iPhone launched and gathered dropped-jaws by the bucket load over its incredibly intuitive interface, the Mac faithful have been begging for the same touchscreen technology to be included in a MacBook or MacTablet; could Microsoft beat them to it?

See Dell’s capacitive interface in action, after the cut…

Of course, it’s not likely.  Many rumors point to a smaller MacBook, possibly MultiTouch-enabled, being announced at MacWorld in January.  Even if the launch doesn’t come so soon, Windows 7 is likely to drop in 2010 at the earliest which gives Apple ample time to put the finishing flourishes to the device they’re likely got waiting in the wings.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsxyhc_VnPA[/youtube]

What’s left to consider, then, is the depth to which any touchscreen interface is immersed in the OS and the software it runs.  So far, the iPhone has had hardware touch an integral part of the software environment; that, in part, could be due to the closed system of specifically-coded applications, making not just compatibility but seamless integration possible.  As touchscreen-variants of the Windows OS have discovered, adding touch to a full system can be far harder; while Vista’s inking is a great improvement on that of XP Tablet Edition, there are still many programmes (both Microsoft-made and third-party) which fail miserably to make the best use of pen or finger input.

Apple perhaps has a head start, since so many users stick to their iLife suite of bundled applications that “merely” re-coding them to take advantage of MultiTouch would vastly improve the sense of touch being designed in rather than an afterthought.  But there are undeniably questions to be asked and answered that may further delay any MultiTouch Apple portable.

Current binary touchscreens recognise touch or no-touch; Apple is developing panels which can identify multiple levels of pressure and accurately monitor movements such as rolling, smudging and tilting.  The precision could also be used to recognise, say, the position of fingers as if holding a stylus (though without an actual stylus being present) – which Apple call “pengrip detector” – as well as chording that could switch an input surface between browsing and on-screen typing modes.

We’re unlikely to see any products introduced in the near future, but it’s inevitable that these patents will be linked to the persistent Apple Tablet rumors.