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Wireless Mouse with no Batteries
GI Joe writes "Hardcoreware.net have posted a review of a mouse with no batteries; it receives its charge through induction from the USB powered mousepad. Of course this means you must use the mouse on this mousepad, taking away some of the big advantages of a wireless mouse. However, they said that the mouse is otherwise very accurate, and has no lag at all since it uses RFID."
See if the company was smart they'd leave "RFID" out of the documentation because all the tin foil hat nuts are going to freak about their mouse tracking brain patterns or something.
Although now that I think about, I would like a mouse that tracked my brain patters. Free up an extra hand and such.
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
..if you already "invent" a wireless mouse, why not get the power from the movement the human being makes? I guess I'd notice a slight strenghtening of the movement!
Why has no one build a mouse with a optical sensor that ALSO has a old style ball hooked up to a small dynamo.
:\
Self powered, never needs the batteries changed. And since precision doesnt matter the ball never needs cleaning, so it's not a disadvantage like it is for tracking.
Easily enough power could be generated for the optical system and a low power RF transmitter
Beep beep.
...from Wacom! Who, incidentally, are the best hardware company ever.
http://www.wacom.com for your batteryless pointing device needs.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
Aaaaand in other news, Wacom files a multi-bazillion dollar patent infringement suit against A4Tech...
I'm going back to a wired mouse because they're lighter. No need to further punish my wrists with the weight of a dynamo and the friction of one or more geared balls.
I don't know about you, but i like wireless mice because they have no annoying wires, not because I feel constrained by having my mouse so close to the rest of my computer.
However, the downside of wireless mice is changing batteries. It's annoying to stop to replace the batteries, especially when you're in the middle of round of CounterStrike, trying to defuse a bomb at the same time as not get shot at by AK47s.
So, I'd love to buy this mouse, because otherwise, Terrorists Win!
"Einstein argued that [...] God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer." ~ Brooks
Why in the hell would anyone want a wireless mouse but a wired mousepad? And I dont really like the idea that I cant use it on a metal desk. I'll stick to my wired ball-less 3 button mouse, thanks.
and the mousepad to "conveniently" electrocute you when you download those MP3s.
Meh.
Why would anyone want one? ... not with this mouse, gotta be used on the mousepad it comes with. ... not with this mouse, you can only use it as far away as the cord for the mousepad will reach.
Pehaps i'm unusual, but the major advantage of an optical mouse to me is that it can be used on any surface
AND the major advantage of wireless is that the mouse is in no way connected to the computer (apart from a distance/obstruction restraint for the wireless connection)
I'm not trying to start a flamewar but I just honestly can't see any advantages of this. Can someone point some out for me?
Some hot fucking news!
My Wacom Graphire came with a mouse like that, wireless, but had to be used on the pad only. That was, what, only 10 years ago. Glad to see something just like it finally make the fucking news! Oh, wait, it's not news, it's slashdot...
A mouse pad with an induction coil eh? sounds like a great diskette/ZIP/hard-disk eraser to me...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I'm sure they'll advertise this one as having a "free mouse pad" like its some grand deal. They'll not tell the buyer that the provided mouse pad is an essential part of the system and not a magnanimous offer on their part. I wonder how many people will try to use this mouse with the pad of their choice, get a few days use and then complain when it dies.
It reminds me of those old Sun optical mice with the metal grid-pattern mouse pads. I always like turning coworkers pads 90 degrees and watching the ensuing hilarity.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Right; this mouse uses Subspace Communication (tm Star Trek). Not this old-fashioned RF stuff.
Ah. "RFID". Cue the "Princess Bride" I-do-not-think-that-word-means-what-you-think-it means quotes.
Let's see, RF at 3E8 m/s will cover one inch in about... 85 picoseconds. Yes, I'm sure RF propagation has always been the cause of your lag. Definitely when your mouse is on the moon and the computer is on earth.
Oh wait, I forgot. This device doesn't use RF. It uses... RFID.
I give up.
So why is a USB mousepad any better than a USB mouse? I don't use a mouse pad because none of them provide a large enough mousing surface. When you are gaming you can't pick up your mouse and move it to the other side of the pad or the other guy kills you. This wireless mouse is not much good as it is useless as soon as it leaves the mouse pad.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
I don't use a mouse pad because none of them provide a large enough mousing surface.
You obviously haven't seen this.
What I want to know is how this is any better than the usual graphics tablets that come with wireless batteryless mice already. Mice that are tracked by the tablet, not the mouse, so the mouse is small and light. And some of them even have crosshairs attached to the top side for precision movements.
This is a neat toy (one I wouldn't mind playing around with myself), but this is not the perfect mouse.
Logitech is definitely onto something with their mouse dock. It's quite easy to slip the mouse into the dock when leaving the PC and take it back out when coming back, but with BT (and IR) mice, I find that there is still a problem: distance. I'm not sure about you, but having three displays on my desktop, the last thing I need is another device that MUST be there. Between my PDA's cradle, my sound system's remote, a satellite speaker, and various crap from ThinkGeek, the real estate on my desk is extremely scarce. My perfect mouse would be one with the design of an Intellimouse Explorer 4.0, based on RF technology to allow for reliable use several feet from the base. The cradle can then be placed somewhere where real estate isn't quite so scarce (a shelf, for example.)
As for my take on the battery-free tech, it's a toy. A cool, definitely nerdy toy, but still a toy. There's no reason anyone should be too lazy to slip a mouse into its cradle once every few days.
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
I don't think I could keep a straight face in person discussing geared balls.
We are one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. Back to you with the weather, Bob!