Apple wants to make devices simple. Making something simple often means using indicators, little lights that illuminate to tell you something. If you’re using an Apple keyboard right now, look at the Caps Lock key. See that little dot that lights up when you’ve activated caps-lock? That’s an indicator. So is the light that turns on when your iSight is active, and the power light that pulses on your Mac.

Aesthetics are important for indicators, too. Your car dashboard probably has a Low Fuel light, but you don’t see it unless you’re running low on gas. Out of sight, out of mind—and less for you to think about until you need to. Good indicators should be invisible until you need them. After all, that little dot on your Caps Lock key? Why should you have to see it when caps-lock isn’t active?

Apple also wants to make devices small. But making devices smaller leaves less room for indicators. It’s easy enough to show an indicator on a display, but really small devices like the iPod shuffle don’t even have displays.

So Apple invented a way to create invisible indicators in hardware.

According to a recent patent application, Apple hardware may soon include laser-drilled holes so tiny they’re completely invisible to the human eye—until they’re lit.

This opens up some intriguing possibilities. Combine these indicators with capacitance sensors and you could have a device with no physical controls at all.

Sounds like magic to me.

Thursday, May 15th, 2008, 11:16 am    Both comments and pings are currently closed.