Engadget posts photos of what appears to be a large multi-touch trackpad accessory from Apple. Similar in styling to the Apple wireless keyboard, the peripheral appears to connect to computers via Bluetooth and is rumored to support a wide variety of multi-touch gestures and possibly even handwriting recognition.
New images received with a claim that the device supports handwriting recognition in addition to "every feature you can find on a Magic Mouse (and possibly features of a MacBook Pro trackpad)." This, from a person who claims to be personally testing it.
Rumors of such a gadget surfaced last October in a hint from John Gruber, and trademark applications for the terms "Magic Slate" and "Magic Trackpad" were linked to Apple in the following months, suggesting that Apple was taking the device rather seriously.
Engadget suggests that the device may make an appearance at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference today, although it is unclear whether that is based on specific claims or simply on the timing of the leak. One of the images showing the back of the device reveals a copyright date of 2009, suggesting that pictured image is not necessarily fresh off the manufacturing line.
