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Logitech Bluetooth Cordless Presenter Review
securitas writes "Many Bluetooth devices have (deservedly) received dismal reviews and we were prepared for the phaser-like Bluetooth Logitech Cordless Presenter to be another toy headed for the trash-heap of history. Instead we were surprised (some might say stunned :) ) at how well it performed. The Presenter combines a laser pointer, an electronic presentation remote control and a wireless optical mouse in one elegantly designed package."
Damn, the keyspan USB remote is just $79.
for a second I thought that this device was able to function as a mouse while being held by the presenter (via some sort of inertial sensor presumably) but it seems that the mouse function is just a standard 'put it on the desk and move it' type of thing...
Pity, because if you're in the middle of a stage giving a presentation, I doubt you'd want to have to trek to the sides if/when you have to move the mouse pointer on the screen.
-- the cake is a lie
"Other methods" indeed. What the hell to these people have against duct tape? It's both stylish AND waterproof! No real geek should ever be without at least three rolls.
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
"In our tests, the Presenter was able to send a consistent signal through two floors until substantial metalwork began to interfere with the signal." So, what.. one guy is in an empty room, moving the cordless mouse around, and two floors up, another guy is talking to him on the phone saying "yes, it's moving up.. try left now! Woo! That works too!"
I thought bluetooth was fairly short-range, and for higher bandwith type applications. Seems like this device could easily get by with regular wireless. Is there something I'm missing?
Brevity is the soul of wit
-- Polonius
If ever, I repeat ever, see a consultant/vendor/salesperson enter the room with this device I know I am in for a 30+ powerpoint presentation; if only the laser were powerful enough to stun me to minimize the pain...
"This isn't a study in computer science, its a study in human behavior"
I think the "reviewer" just may have succeeded even better than the original market-droids of Logitech.
For under $80, you can get the Keyspan Presentation Remote, which is smaller, comes with a carrying case, includes a laser pointer, and looks just like a USB mouse from the PC side (no drivers). And, yes, it works with Linux.
Another choice is the Gyration wireless mice. But their receiver is a bulky box and requires a wall wart. And if you want to be able to use standard AAA batteries, you have to pay $100 extra for the "Pro" version.
"I read about a study recently where eye cancer patients had a laser pointer shone into their eyes for 15 minutes, with no ill effects."
Well yeah, if they already had eye cancer what harm could a pointer do?
The ability to use it as a mouse by pointing it at a screen. For $200 I figured they ought to be able to do it, I mean how much did the NES Zapper cost back in the day? $25?
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
My cat loves laser pointers. And now there's a mouse built in? Whoah... I wonder if I can torpedo her into a wall again.
"The installation CD also comes with MusicMatch, a digital music software package that helps the user organize and rip digital audio files from music CDs."
Why does it come with Musicmatch? I wonder what Microsoft will bundle when they release a product to compete with this one (as they always do).
I work in a training facility that may have several different powerpoint presentations going at the same time, sometimes 4-5 classrooms in use on the same floor alone!
I love the idea, but what if several are in use within range on one another? Is there any provision for channel selection?
So, this little toy comes with a blue tooth adapter to plug into the USB port. The Microsoft bluetooh keyboard and mouse also have their own adapter.... except some of us have laptops with bluetooth built in, or seperate cards. Why are we ending up with a seperate USB adapter for every piece of hardware?
Can someone honestly tell me why this is a significant product? I mean, as far as I can tell this is a cordless mouse with a laser pointer attached. Why is the use of bluetooth so necessary?
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
Frankly, what is the advantage of combining mouse with a laser pointer? I can get laser pointer as cheap as USD-10 and size of a small key-chain. Besides, during presentation, I don't run the risk of draining mouse battery power, which if exhausted would put me in more trouble.
It would have been great, if they had come out with two separate devices but with some mechanical coupling, so that they can be held together as if it is 1.
They seem to have some good products (that pocket digital camera looks really cool) but it seems like they are violently interested in being a MS only company. That doesn't make sense to me.
I understand that MS has the majority of users, but pushing off potential customers doesn't seem like good business to me.
The zapper worked exactly like a light pen works.
Oh, you don't know how a lightpen works.
A CRT based screen "paints" the image by scanning an electron beam over the display surface. The graphics chip that generates the display knows where the beam is at any time (it has to, since it has to know what pixels to be sending out.)
The light pen (or gun) is a lens that focuses the display down to a point on a fast image sensor (typically a phototransistor). So, when the electron beam paints the part of the screen that the pen/gun is focuses on, the photosensor fires.
This signal is tied back to the graphics controller, which says "AHA! the electron beam is at 234x421 when the sensor fires. I'll record that into these registers".
After that, it is simplicity itself to set up a cursor.
Now, that technique won't work for a liquid crystal display, since they aren't "scanned" in the conventional sense - there is no pulse of light as the system writes the data to the LCD. Therefor, there is no way a light pen or light gun could work on an LCD display like a modern projector.
Now, in theory you could use a camera to sense a laser pointer's spot, and then move the pointer there. But then you would need a fairly high resolution camera, plus a calibration proceedure so the system would know what points on the camera corrisponded to what points on the display. You would also need a fairly narrow band filter to allow the camera (once calibrated) to see only the laser pointer spot - otherwise it might respond to other objects on the display.
www.eFax.com are spammers
"The best argument against democracy is a five minute chat with the average voter."
--Winston Churchill
That's the idea of bluetooth. A wireless kind of USB.
Assuming you have a correct Bluetooth stack.
Most companies provide one with their adaptors.
Windows XP will include one with the next SP. Linux has the BlueZ-Stack (integrated), Axis Stack and another one I can't remember.
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
I wish I were that lucky. I just received a PP presentation file for a forthcoming product enhancement, and (I am not making this up) it's seven hundred and seventy-eight slides long. Kill me now. Please.
--Larry
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence
I am NOT a programmer, but the impression that I have is that unix, linux, beos and the like are some modifications and a recompile away from working with OS X. Is this true in the reverse?
If this is correct (or somewhat) why not release the drivers or source 'support free'? I would happily forego tech support for the promise of using devices with other OS's.
If you must use something like PowerPoint, StarOffice is, of course, another choice.
One of my favorite bits from the article:
Uhmmm...so, to paraphrase, it's significant because it's hyped. Apparently, there's no reason for it to use Bluetooth, other than the hype. As many others have noted, you can get products that do the same thing for less than half that price, and that don't use Bluetooth.
Too late to be known as Bush the First, he's sure to be known as Bush the Worst.
I still wonder why this device is so expensive. It is possible to get a Bluetooth
baseband controller for 4$ in quantities of 100K pieces (and logitech must order much more than that) with a spec which reads an ARM7 core, 64KB SRAM, 384KB flash and many more things, I cant really comprehend what makes this device so expensive. I mean surely they are using a configuration which maybe costs only half as much. I dont have experience with mouses but I have some experience with more complilcated bluetooth devices, like bluetooth watches with Mpeg4 decoders and stuff like that, and even they cost about 50 USD to make even though they use much more flash and SRAM. So I will say wait for a year before contemplating buying something like this.
What's under yellowstone?
I bought one, not with my own dime and have been beta testing it for quite a while and I have to say this is one smooth device... it works great in every test Ive thrown at it and it does work much further then 30 ft. I don't know if it is worth $200 but everyone has a different idea of what something is worth to them. to my company it is worth 200 in the hassle of what earlier presenters have cost us.
The good news, for prospective purchasers, is that the range on this thing is pretty decent. Not sure what the bluetooth spec quotes for range, but it works perfectly in the 50 - 60ft length of the theatres. The bad news is that this means lecturers feel far more confident about walking around and asking questions of the insomniacs catching up on some much needed shuteye at the back.
Has anyone had any experience with two of these devices in the same bluetooth hotspot? Not that I've got anything planned, at all...
They probably end up getting a lot more phone calls because they don't let people write Linux drivers. If companies like Logitech simply put the Windows driver source and/or some of their engineering documents on the web, Linux users wouldn't bother to call them.
This seems a neat toy, but as I'm getting fed up with powerpoint presentations, I hope I never see one. Most presenters come loaded with far too complicated presentations, each slide with too much data (that's why they need the laser pointer) and they spend all there time driving the computer not telling the story.CBC had a story on Monday about this, andTom Creed from Saint John's University has some more insite.
Semper ubi sub ubi
Crimony, instead of linking to geartest.com's page on it only, why don't they link to Logitech's page too so that we can see what the stupid thing looks like when geartest.com gets slahdotted? Think, people!
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
Lasers are harmful the the eyes, but it is not cancer that they cause. They scorch the retina with their high energy radiation, rendering you blind. Cancer is cell over growth, but lasers cause cell death by cooking them much as the Sun can.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
I've read the Bluetooth specification and the only thing that could be interpreted to your "keying" is that a two devices can be paired up.
Both must share a common secret (a PIN-code) to enable communication between those two.
But any two devices can (with human intervention) be paired up.
They could conceal the PIN to the user, but why should they?
Another possibilty is to hard code the Bluetooth device address from the Reciever in the sender. But again, why should they do so?
This would only increase the work and costs as they had to flash different programs on the controllers for the benefit of a disgruntled user.
Could you provide a link to back up your statement?
I can't imagine that the Bluetooth SIG would approve this, as it would be detrimental to the goal of Bluetooth.
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"