By: Bill Armstrong (Contributing Editor)

Staff Note: Sep 15, 2010: We want to know how real users like us feel about this. So we are giving away a dozen Apple Magic Trackpads (3 per week) for the next 4 weeks! Oh yeah! Simply sound off on the comments below on what you like about the magic Trackpad. Only one comment entry per week per person allowed. Winners will be announced every Wednesday starting Sep 22. Each new week after that starts with a clean slate. Goodluck!

Winners: Contest is now officially closed. Special thanks to our friends at Apple and to those who entered! Congrats to all the winners.

Rhonda S. from Chatanooga TN; Liam M. from Boston MA; Corinne P. from Nyack NY (Sep 22)

Philip R. From Queens, NY; James G. from Atlanta, GA; Katherine S. of San Diego, CA (Sep 29)

Manuel R. from San Francisco, CA; Kim C. from Seattle, WA; Thomas C. from Pueblo City, CO (Oct 6)

Robert S. from Paramus, NJ; Jennifer B. from Joliet, IL; Julia M. from Costa Mesa, CA (Oct 13)

First there was the Magic Mouse. A super sleek slimmed down device that combined the functionality of the mouse and the built in track pad on the Macbooks. Aside from having to learn to hold the Magic Mouse differently than you have been holding a mouse for years, it is a great product. But that was not enough for Mr. Jobs. Somewhere along the way Steve decided that we needed to shun the mouse all together. And thus the Magic Trackpad was born. Many have speculated that this could be the end of the mouse as we know it. With the arrival of the iPad and the pending arrival of a truck load of other tablet style computers, it doesn’t seem so farfetched. I decided to see for myself. When I decided to give the Magic Trackpad a Reality Review, I wanted to be sure of my thoughts before sharing them with you. So for this test run I gave it a full 30 day trial, replacing my mouse entirely. And to make sure it got a fair amount of use, it was my work mouse that I replaced.

How it Looks

The Magic Trackpad looks every bit like an Apple product. The smooth brushed aluminum design matches perfectly with all the recent line of Macbooks, iMacs, and Mac Minis. It measures 5.17” by 5.12” and at its highest point stands three quarters of an inch tall.

How it works

The Magic Trackpad is a larger standalone version of the track pad on the Macbook and  Macbook Pro. It connects to your Mac via Bluetooth. To get the full functionality you will need to download the updated track pad software. This is easily done by clicking on the apple icon, and selecting software update. Once the software is updated and the device is paired, you are ready to roll, or swipe.

The swiping gestures took me about an hour to get used to. Dragging one finger across the surface of the pad moves the cursor. It is important to remember that the cursor needs to be in the area you are working with. Two fingers on the pad will scroll up and down or side to side. Three fingers will move you from page to page, like the arrows on your web browser. It also works on documents. Swipe four fingers up and down to show all of your open pages in Expose. Swipe the same four fingers left or right to switch between open applications. Using two fingers in a pinching gesture will zoom in or out of a picture or page, and making a rotating gesture with two fingers will, you guessed it, rotate a photo or image you are looking at. You can zoom in and out rapidly by holding down the control key while swiping two fingers up or down. While navigating with the Magic Trackpad, you have the option of either tapping or clicking. And you can set the preferences in the control panel to suit your individual taste.

How it Feels

The Magic Trackpad may function just like the original track pad and Magic Mouse, but it takes some getting used to. First there is the location. Traditionally, track pads are located below the keyboard. I have become quite accustomed to this over the years, having eventually given up the mouse for a quick swipe of my thumb to control the cursor’s movements. The height and large surface area of the Magic Trackpad prevent you from placing the pad below the keyboard. For me, the hardest thing to get used to is moving my hand. With the mouse you rest your hand and slide the mouse around. With the Trackpad you have to lift your hand to make the gestures. Once I had figured out how all the gestures work I noticed how much I enjoyed the increased level of control that I never had with the mouse. Moving from page to page and switching between applications came with ease. After a week I no longer noticed any discomfort in my hand or wrist. Another benefit is I did not run out of room on the mouse pad. This allowed me to navigate easily on my large monitors.

Pros

Increased level of control. Looks nice. Affordable

Cons

Semi steep learning curve. Can be uncomfortable

Reality

While it is a great tool, the Magic Trackpad is not for everyone. Many will find it difficult to make the switch from traditional mouse. At the end of my trial period, while I still keep the Magic Trackpad on the desk, I have reverted back to my Magic Mouse. The sense of comfort and familiarity drew me back to my old friend. As I mentioned, I do keep the track pad on my desk for instances where the increased level of control is useful, such as photo editing. The Magic Trackpad sells for 69.99 on the Apple website. Not a bad price considering the quality of craftsmanship found in most Apple products. As for a recommendation on this particular product, I offer these words of wisdom: It does what it’s advertised to do, and it does it well. If you are willing to take the time and effort to train yourself to use the Magick Trackpad then it is a worthwhile investment. If your sole interest is to collect another product from the almighty Apple, then you may want to consider holding off on this one.

By Michael Hunter (Contributing Writer)

How ironic is this? An employee of Panda Research (an anti-malware company), received a very special, brand new Vodafone HTC Magic or what we know as the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G here in the US. This device was so special it came bearing gifts, gifts in the form of malicious malware.

When she plugged it in to her computer the virus software immediately detected some suspect auto run executable files. Now, having extensive experience with Android devices I know that the computer shouldn’t even recognize anything has been plugged in until the mount option is selected on the phone, so this part spooked me a bit.

Come to find out the device was surely infected and ready to infect any computer it may have been plugged in to. The type of malware found on the Magic was a Mariposa botnet client, a type of botnet that is very dangerous because once it has been run, programs can be downloaded and executed on demand by the bot master (hacker, i.e. the person stealing all of your information).

This “virus” has the capability of growing and causing more damage, as more code could be written and commands given. Upon digging deeper, a password stealer and a conficker variant were also found on the device. The only magic this device was capable of was giving remote access to all of your personal information and making it disappear.

Don’t worry too much though! The malware was found on the micro SD card that was preinstalled in the device, NOT the device itself. It still has me wondering how something like this could have happened though, the more I think about it the more scared I get, I’m out!

(via: Panda Research Blog)