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Gyroscopic Mouse
Aron Schatz writes "You've heard of wireless mice, but how about deskless ones? This baby doesn't need a suface of any kind to be used. This one comes direct from Gyration."
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Didn't logitech make something similar to this with a track ball on it? I think it was called the "surfman" or something like that - really cool... had like a 20' range from the reciever box.
Look! It Floats!
Who says Penguins can't fly?
Nuclear cruise missiles, anyone?
Haven't these sorts of things been around for a while? I recall "3D" mice being advertised years ago.
There should be a moratorium on the use of the apostrophe.
Max V.
NeXTMail/MIME Mail welcome
I have a GyroPoint Pro sitting right here. It's a wireless as well as deskless mouse. Also it's from the same company, Gyration. Only thing that makes this one differ is when I searched for the date... 1995.
I don't know about this. I can see my arm getting pretty tired after a while (LOTS of hours) of swinging and pointing with the mouse.
:p
That's the advantage of a desk mouse, you can rest your arm.
Then again, lots of geeks wouldn't find this a problem due to the extensive use of their right arm, what's a little more going to do?
- mescaline - its the only way to fly -
Really old tech.
The OPTICAL version is new... I have one of these with a mouseball.
I'd like to hear some of your ideas for the application of this device in everyday use. I'm sure the ideas are endless and all of the sci-fi flicks should feed our imagination.
When one jumps on your back, or spills a Coke over your useful mousage terrain, you're not without a rodent anymore :>
These are most useful for presentations.
General use as a mouse is somewhat awkward.
In presentations, the bulk of the mouse use is a click. Once in a while you may need to struggle to right-click and then go back, and these things will do that. A traditional mouse/trackball/joystick is easier to use than these deskless wonders.
these are old, i bet you can find one on ebay.
Its a cool toy but holding my hand up in the air gets tiring. I will admit though, that for quake 3, it improves my precision a lot.
Wonder what kind of sites his bedtime surfing frequents?
i clicked on the link, like a min after posted, and before i could read it all and click to "next" the /. effect killed it.
This type of mouse has been out for at least a year. I first used one about six months ago. It was neat, but I never felt like I had the precise control like I do with a desktop mouse. The problem was that a person's had can not be steady just hovering in the air. It is really only possible to steady a mouse by using downward pressure on a tabletop. Sure this mouse is nice for presentations where precision is not so important, but for games, I would never use it.
One of the really neat things about the software/driver that came with it is that if you give it just the right up-down-up-down jiggle, it will flash a subliminal (sp?) message. We have ours to flash "Great workshop!"
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
"I'm at the edge of the mousepad, I can't go to the right anymore"
"Well, pick up the mouse and move it to the left of the pad"
"But even picked up the pointer still follow when I move to the left"
"Ah, you need our $2000 desk upgrade then"
OG.
Now once we get rid of the user too, we'll have the ultimate computer.
If its gyroscopic and you dont need a surface, then 3D mice arent to far around the corner. THat would be fun playing Unreal and being able to control your X,Y & Z axises.
These have been around for a while--I remember using a gyroscopic mouse in a training room once back in late 1999/early 2000. It was nifty, but there were some issues with drift and sensitivity of the gyros. Trying to point with it was like trying to eat with a chopstick in each hand--clunky, awkward, and while you got the sense that enough practice would make you reasonably good at using it, it really wasn't worth the effort. In all, a cute little gadget, but of pretty limited use (not much beyond PowerPointing...)
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
we've had one of these at work for 2 years now, they've been out longer than that.
slashdot should be ashamed of their blatent front page ads. was it really worth it taco?!
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
This mouse moves based on how you tilt it in a 2-D plane. It isn't a 3D mouse. Panning your arm around will have no effect.
> You've heard of wireless mice, but how about _deskless_ ones?
I have never gotten a desk with a mouse purchase in the past.
I've been ripped off. Smells like a class action lawsuit to me!
Seriously, though, these things are kinda cool. I had a prof who used a laptop and a projector to run powerpoint presentations, and he had a remote mouse. It wasn't so much of a mouse as a presentation device (two mouse buttons, a laser, and mouse pointer), so it was kind of hard to do precision moving of the pointer.
We spent a class testing the range on it, though, by moving to other rooms, outside, etc, and changing the slides. That one had over 25 feet range, however, without line of sight required.
I've got a friend who's used one of these for about a year with his bookPC. It plays DVD's and browses web (he's got it hooked up to a 27" monitor), and works very nicely, although it takes a bit of training to get real accuracy out of.
This is where I get my recommended daily allowance of "Foot in Mouth."
Combine this with the one-handed keyboard and a pocket-sized computer, and you can look like a complete moron walking down the street!
Within a matter of days Grandma will have scrapped this "new fangled remote" because whenever she tries to turn to the Weather Channel, her computer visits hotwetkarateteenswithrubberhoses.com, slashdot.org, etc.
Let me design your website. www.navalswebdesigns.webhop.biz
We have some of Gyration's gyroscopic mice where I work. Using them is an interesting experience - I go back and forth between "wow - this is how I always knew mousing should be" and "wow, this thing's heavy." For presentations and the like, these are indispensable - and you don't know what Jedi Knight 2 is until you've used a gyromouse and the light saber - it's like buttah!
I set one of these up at an international conference for Deere & Company back in late '99. It was really handy for the presenters, since they could use the mouse pointer to highlight parts of their powerpoint slides and wander all around the stage while doing so. Almost all the presenters got the hang of it immediately, and even those who didn't just used it as a remote "clicker" for advancing the frames. As far as I'm concerned, though, it would pretty much suck for desktop use.
End of lesson. You may press the button.
Good thing it works without a surface. At that price, I couldn't afford a desk to set it on.
'Cause it looks alot like an electric shaver..
If these walls could talk they'd probly still ignore me. --MF DOOM
Surprised that the reviewer did not test this with a game or two. It could make for some interesting new games/gameplay, but would suck to have to quit gaming to recharge your mouse during a marathon gaming session.
I know that there have been previous versions of handheld wireless mice, but they lagged bad, this sounds like it would be better.
If the gyroscope idea works so well why does it also have a traditional ball from desktop use? Why not use the gyro all the time?
Other then in a niche for presenters I don't see the value. Strange that they market it as a gaming device.
i'll just stick to the aforementioned PowerGlove.. :)
Base 2 yields only ARTIFICIAL Intelligence
i remember seeing these being made back in '95 and '96. i think i almost remember seeing it on slashdot...
I love my Dyna-Flex PowerlBall Gyro gadget.
I wouldn't wonder if in a few years you'll see gyro engines popping out on the market. It's a very cool technology.
It's hard for me to say without having it my hand, but I gather this can be used like a desktop mouse as well as just in your hand.
Unfortunately, it looks very much like a desktop mouse, and I'm not entirely sure how it should be held if you're not using it on a surface. It looks like it's meant to be held with the fingers underneath and the thumb over the buttons, but this seems a bit cumbersome to me.
Ideally, you would still want to click with the same fingers as a desktop mouse, but it seems to me that doing this comfortably with a handheld device requires a completely different form. I think it would make sense to have some kind of add-on that changes the shape of the mouse depending on whether it's in the air or on a surface.
But again, I don't have the thing in my hands. I rather wish I did. :-)
Accountability on the heads of the powerful.
Power in the hands of the accountable.
That the database is no longer present. Bet that nice and fast Access file caught on fire.
Our teacher had a wireless one that he used to navigate through websites that he had coded for our class. It was pretty slick that he could stand back and move the mouse while standing up and not having to be near a desk or anything...
These have been around for awhile. We have them in some of our conference rooms, and we got them over 2 years ago. They're pretty cool for playing Q3 on the 12 foot screen. :) It's very easy to aim with it as you just hold down the trigger and point it at what you want to shoot, much easier than moving a regular mouse to aim.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
Diamond.. err.. S3.. err. SONICblue sold this thing 5 years ago, (the Gyromouse). it was incredibly difficult to use, flimsy and gathered dust on the store shelves. I don't see a big future in this unless it becomes easier to use than a regular mouse.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
If you add another gyroscope (perpendicular to the first one) you have a three dimensional mouse.
Now, the big advantage of a three dimensional mouse doesn't come into play with present technology; the big trick with three dimensional mice would come up if you could map O directly onto the spatial centers of the subject's.... er, user's, brain. This is not as hard as you might hope... er, think. However, experiments with monkey's controlling a pixel notwithstanding, reading someone's nervous system to get I is gonna be pretty quirky and unreliable. Therefore, you want a three dimensional mouse.
Oh, and, also:
You won't notice any problems unless your on the computer straight for 8 hours a day.
Who the hell does he think buys gyroscopic mice?!?!?! Okay, some of the same yuppies who buy Parka's good to -40* Centigrade and never Manhattan. They buy them. Mostly, however, it's people who use their computers all the time! Using your computer for eight hours at a stretch isn't good for you (and ever single person on slashdot should stop doing it!) but I need it as an option, and I don't need to have to replace my mouse at 3 AM in order to keep working.
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
Quite a few of my college professors use these. They bring in their laptops, hook them up to the projector then walk around the room with one of these in their hand. To go to the next slide/illustrate something, they use it to control the computer from halfway across the room. No mousepad needed and totally wireless. Pretty nifty.
Guess you know you're at a geeky school when even the english teachers use 'em.
Their company name is "Gyration" what were you EXPECTING?
S
Use of this site is limited to our Terms of Usage. Using this site implies acceptance.
Perhaps to you, it does. Good thing it doesn't constitute acceptance. Phew, I'm still safe on your site.
Could you please post the advertising rates here at /.?
I have a product or service I would like to expose.
Thanks
Dickless mouse? Poor little guy, I feel sorry for him.
mr hat: look at inrique eglasias hot gyrating ass mr garrison: oh stop it will you...i'm trying to concentrate... wait a minute, thats it!! a GYROSCOPE!!!....
I am unique, just like you, and you, and you...
I used one of these mice when I worked in IT at my university when I went there. It was a small hand held mouse, w/ two buttons. You moved your arm left/right/up/down and used the buttons to click on things. No wires, no ball...it was a gyroscopic (sp?) pointing device.
Honestly? It was a pain in the a$$. I preferred a regular mouse behind the desk.
I had the finger model, but every time I flipped off my cubicle-mate, it rebooted the system or deleted an important document.
Can't scratch your butt either unless you remember to turn it off first.
Table-ized A.I.
wow. That URL shows nearly white text on a white background in my browser. Their web designers should be shot.
Round about 1982, my older brother and I took a BASIC class for the Atari 400/800 at an electronics store in Pennsylvania. They had a display with an Atari 2400 and some sort of gyroscopic joy-stick. It demo'ed a lousy darts game, and wasn't wireless, but sounds like very similar tech.
This is a mouse which requires no surface. It uses gyros. The question of optical vs mechanical does not arrive.
Infuriate left and right
I wouldnt mind having one while sitting in chair 10 feet away on a big screen tv.. This looks more interesting then a gyro mouse.. http://www.cymouse.com/content/VideoGaming.html
In the early 80's there was a company that made a joystick which had no base and used mercury switches to detect tilt. You just held it in the air and moved it around, much like this gyro-mouse. It wasn't cordless but damn did I want one! Anyone here actually get to use one of those things?
LEXX
"Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world." - Alan Greenspan, 1999
once. It's pretty nice, but at first made my wrist hurt a little.
Free Pie! The Pie is Also Evil!
Fucking come on then!
The models I'm using (at least) aren't precise enough in gyro mode for drawing lines or such. But gyro mode is fine for webbrowsing similar noncritical point-and-click stuff.
The gyros are really cute, tiny little gadgets maybe a centimeter long and half that high and wide, mounted on a tiny daughtercard. They look perfect for sticking in RC airplanes and such. Gyration lists (used to list?) a development kit for them, but the one time I tried contacting them about it, I was unable to get any reply. They seemed to be busy retreating from the general desktop mouse market into their current niche market.
Summary: Really cool technology that works like a charm. I dread the day when my last GyroPoint mouse bites the dust. So far, however, it looks entirely possible that they will outlive me...
Crap, how can I click for the next picture when the mouse pointer keeps moving from the top of my screen to the bottom.
(B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
1. I thought gyroscopes had to have some mass in relation the forces applied to them in order to stay oriented. It seems like a light 'scope could easily be knocked out of whack easily in a handheld device.
2. These 'scopes would require lots of power to keep spinning. My cordless optical uses two AA batteries a month.
3. How do you orient this thing to begin with?
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
I want a computer lab of these things so I can point mine at someone's screen across the room :D
"Teacher! He clicked a porn link over there!" >:D
Why is a mouse that spins?
With a regular mouse, you pick it up so you can
move it back to center without the pointer tracking.
How is this accomplished with a gyroscope mouse?
it worked well -- it was nice being able to let my arms rest naturally, and i found it easy to do precise mousing with it
the reason i stopped using it was that all of the computing i do involves frequent switching back and forth from mouse to keyboard. (& my keyboard was on my desk). for that reason, it is just easier to have the mouse next to the keyboard and not have to keep picking it up and putting it down.
ymmv, though. i'd like to try it again in combination with a keyboard in an ergo-proper keyboard tray, just leaving it in my lap when i needed to type something
HAL would have been the ultimate computer, but he couldn't get rid of Dave.
I have used one of these previously while giving presentations. It is really neat and handy, however I tend to be somewhat animated while talking. The pointer was relatively sensitive and danced around the screen during my presentation. I think that it was somewhat distracting to everyone watching.
It should be very appriciated for laptops instead of those pesky pads and pins that pretends to be mice. Another great thing to use it for is when you use a projektor and sits in a couch away from any plan surface.
Just lean back and wave the little thing.
HTTP/1.1 400
It's a cool idea, but the mouse is extremely sensitive to small motions. Unless you have really good fine control of your hands, save your money.
"player 4 hit player 1 with 0 stroms"
From the linked site's T&Cs, you're a "User" of the site if you are:
Anyone who reads, posts to, links to or refers to this site, directly, indirectly, inferred or otherwise.
Damn, they shouldn't have put the comma in after 'site'... now you're a user if you indirectly read it or, more likely, infer an indirect reading of a link to an otherwise direct post.
Sorry, I'm in a Grammar Nazi style mood tonight.
Actually, more to the point, they state that:
In using this site, you acknowledge the acceptance of the terms listed within this document. If you do not agree with these terms, you will possess no further rights to this site and all contents contained within.
But the terms state that we have no 'right' to the content on the site anyway. So what, exactly, are they threatening us with???
*Sigh* -1, Offtopic...
- Oliver
The right to bear arms is only slightly less stupid than the right to arm bears...
I've had a Diamond GyroMouse Pro for YEARS. Box says Compatable with Windows 98 and 95 :)
Why choose white shoes?
I really hate that aspect of the home PC industry. The packaging on a product isn't required to be specific about what it means when it says it "requires" something. Sometimes that's a lie and it just means "we only give phone support under those circumstances", and other times it really means what it says.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Actually my monitor is on a monitor arm.
No desk here.
I know a guy that just used an orange stick to model 3d with the help of a camera. The program ran on a Pentium level processor; the only thing that made it run a little slow was the camera, since he used a cheap one that could only record at 320x240 and 15fps.
I like that idea much better for playing 3d games. We don't use mice. We use SWORDS!
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
...you idiot.
Quoting from the article (emphasis mine):
The unit uses a NiMH battery which means that there may be a memory problem so make sure it has a good first charge. Once and awhile it is good to totally drain the battery and recharge it totally, this is called refreshing.
NiMH rechargeable batteries have a negligible memory effect (the correct technical term would be voltage depression). References:
Duracell (HTML)
Duracell (PDF, more exhaustive)
Energizer (search for voltage depression)
Greenbatteries
My experience is that most so-called memory effect problems with NiCd and NiMH rechargeables can be traced back to cheap charger units which overcharge the batteries. Use a microprocessor controlled charger whenever possible, it may be a little more expensive at first but it will save you trouble in the long run.
"There are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare." - Blair Houghton
Yawn. Not nearly as cool as Pigs in Spaaaaace!
Um.. no. NiCad's have a "memory effect" where they lose capacity if you charge them when they're not completely drained. NiMH's don't do this, it's one of their main benefits.
Plus, TONS of incorrect word usage, grammar and spelling errors, and awfully awkward phrasing. Enough to make our own beloved
And many, many, many more. (And it's a short article!) Either English isn't this guy's main language, or he's about 12.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
What about a story about how computers are now shipping with 3 1/4 inch drives. I hear they are catching on like wild fire.
Now if the could get the mouse to hover exactly where I let go of it while I type on the keyboard, I'd buy it.
If they made a gyro mouse in the shape of a gun, they probably wouldn't be able to build them fast enough.
Go not unto/. for advice, for you will be told both yea and nay (but have nothing to do with the question)
...8 of them in the library presentation rooms of the college I work for, really fun to play with but when I looked into it to see if I could get one I found out how expensive they were, something like 100$ for the professional version (I think). Still, I would love to use one of these in combination with the 10 foot wide projection screen and Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament.
From the article: I can think of nothing better than to lay in bed and browse the internet not even being near the computer.
Great! Can the mouse be used from another room? That would be really handy, being able to surf the internet from the next room away from the computer. Heck, you can even bring this mouse into the bathroom and keep on surfing the web.
Or thereabouts, maybe '95.
It was hooked up to my Mac IIsi.
Worked quite well for 5 minutes, until my arm got tired of waving that damn thing around and i switched back to my trackball.
After seeing these pictures pictures...
Technician: Hello, this is Gyration technical support. How may I help you?
Caller: This cordless phone you sold me doesn't work! And when I hold it near my head it just shines annoying lights in my eye!
"Never put off for tomorrow what can be avoided altogether"
Obviously what everyone should use is the Nintendo PowerGlove Taste the Fist of Linux, Cyberworld!
While I was interning at my last college we used some of these for our presentation classrooms. After about a month of use the faculty was demanding something be done about these pointing devices. Like any buricratic system we hadn't heard about any problem. We were informed that the computers, would lock, crash power point, or just stop working. We adjusted channels, changed radio recievers, batteries you name it we tried it. The conclusion was that windows pointing device drivers would seizure if you will and the device would try to rsync the connection. Sometimes it worked other times it didn't only 1 or 2 out of the 5 classrooms have them anymore. I do have to say though that this was a really fun toy to play with and would be awsome for a tv, or simple presintation style pointing but other then that its, too hard to be precise.
- DenialX
Does anyone else think this might be at least a little annoying? I mean, it would slow me down a lot to have to assign one hand to using the mouse at all time. I often leave the mouse to type or enter strings of commands, and I wouldn't want to have a wireless mouse to use, especially if I can't even expect it to be on the desk. Keyboard shortcuts are great, but this wireless/deskless mouse seems like it would make it hard to use them.
Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
I reviewed this from PCExpo last summer (2001) for BYTE.com. Still have the bugger in my office -- the best it's ever done was allow a friend who has no fine hand control but does have gross motor control over upper arm movement actually move the cursor around on a screen without vocal controls. He rather liked that aspect, even though it wasn't something the makers ever meant the gyromouse to do. Guess the poster wasn't reading BYTE, eh? --NC Hanger
*will edit for food*
Even worst, I brought it on the middle of the Amazon's Rain Forest.
This is a great OLD idea. Still great, but less old.
Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
... the last line from the review?
"I can think of nothing better than to lay in bed and browse the internet not even being near the computer."
riiiiiiiiight
Aron from HRN and HRHN, or, in actuality NRH and NHRH.
Additionally, Aron's legal capabilities seem hindered by...something....
"Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
Now who would you know that help you load the appropriate modules...there must be atleast one person....
"Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
You know what this schlemiel needs? A hidden forum; you know, one where everyone who assists there can pre-review and suggest corrections before an article goes out. Wow, that'd just be peachy. I believe it's on the roadmap as "someday, in a distant future of a parallel universe."
"Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
If someone walked up to your computer, they might be frightened by seeing the cursor quickly moving up and down...they might think it was haunted or there was a flaw in the driver, and everyone would just be shocked by seeing an error on your non-compliant OS....
"Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
[insert witty comment here]
You dont need any fancy gyroscope mouse to be lazy, I already lie in bed and use my comp, I'm doing it right now actually. I just use a wireless optical mouse (logitech mouseman) and and old calvin and hobbes comic book for a surface.
I will not be trained.
This could be great for all those people with carpol tunnel. You can use it with your arm in a natural, comfortable position.
Also if you wore a 3d mouse/glove on the back of your hand you could probably type without having to put it down. just moving you fingers could represent button clicks.
The biggest problem i see is that I don't want to keep your hand and arm in any position for longer than a second. So, if they add a button for the thumb, to contol when moving the device causes cursor to move, I'll consider buying one.
This would be great for CAD when you have to make presision drawaings with alot of mouse work, and also have to type in text notes. The jump from keyboard to mouse is just more work than it could be.
This would be a huge leap for computers adapting to human needs, rather than the norm of people adjusting to thier computers limitations.
(I know-- it's been said before)
If the Gyropoint never caught on back in '95, why should this one?
And I loved it. It was not cordless but it did have the gyro in it. Saved my wrists at times.
It took a little getting use to but it worked really. Unfortunately my cat chewed the cable and the mouse no longer worked after that. I should have chewed the cat for that one.
We've had one of these at my company for at *LEAST* two years.
use CPAN;
Cable's Black and White
Had a gyromouse years ago.
Massive arm and wrist strain to use.
Can you say Two Minute Carpal Tunnel?
It's been in a drawer since the first week.
Only Popeye could use it without strain.
We had gyroscopic mice back in 1995 in a cybercafe. The company sent them to us for free. You could stand up away from the desk and surf. I guess my question is.. what is the big deal about these? Similar devices have been around for over 7 years!
I've had one of these for about a year and a half. They have OK range (About 15' or so unobstructed), but the battery life SUCKS. Mine frequently will lose a charge after about an hour of use, forcing me to have a wired serial as a backup. And yes, I've replaced the battery (Twice). I'd prefer if you could just slap in AAs, but it's got a cordless phone type rechargable battery. The advantages of being able to use it without placing it on a flat surface aren't worth the hassle. I've since bought a logitech wireless, and have to replace the batteries about once every six months. Much better.
To quote Microsoft, "Who wants a server on the desktop?" You don't need Tux (the kernel module) and I'm making wild guesses that you have different hardware (though Chris' system isn't exactly "bleeding edge hardware for mass information service.") Just a thought. What are you using? Some Mandrake was it? Pop open the kerneldrake or configdrake or whatever drake it went to (I swear it moves with every version) and click through the areas you need to redress and fix it that way. If you can't find where Mandrake is hiding it's kernel utility, the kernel source comes with an "x-config" that you can use (not as purty, but it's just as good). And incase you forgot the obvious, you can get a copy at kernel.org and kernel.org.uk
"Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum