What’s truly magical about Apple’s budding “magic” line is that these devices can be modified with software to really take your peripheral to the next level. I use BetterTouchTool to make it so my magic mouse can recognize a two finger swipe up/down gesture to increase or decrease the volume. I have also toyed with other ideas, but this was the most important for me. I love having a mouse as it is a smaller device, but a magic trackpad can only mean big things for artists if the thing can be hacked to appropriately distinguish pen inputs.

In fact, Apple already has a number of patents for more “advanced” inputs, but probably has not implemented them due to their difficulty of use (image below via PatentlyApple):

Update: Look’s like an alpha build of BTT that supports the new trackpad is already released.