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Mouse Uses RFID Instead of Batteries
ValourX writes "NewsForge (part of OSTG, like Slashdot) has a review of a mouse that is powered by RFID (and yes, it works with Linux). It's cordless and uses no batteries -- you just have to keep the mouse within 2 inches of the mousepad for it to work. What else could be powered by RFID?"
s/RFID/Induction
--fatboy
The statement that the mouse is powered by RFID is a bit of a misnomer. It may be RF that transmits the mouse movement, but it is actually Inductive Coupling. The mouse pad has a coil that transfers power to a coil in the mouse using magnetic flux. This transfer of power is limited to short distances. Passive RFID uses radio frequency to transmit the power to the tag and relay the information back to the "server". I think that using inductive coupling for Mouse power is a great idea! Anything to reduce consumption of batteries that wind up in a landfill.
All the worlds indeed a
So you have to keep it within 2 inches of the mat, and where does the mat get its power from? It either has batteries or is cabled.
I'll stick with my real wireless mouse thanks very much, no batteries just charge it once a week (or when I remember to put it back in its cradle).
Bush and Blair ate my sig!
So, whats the difference between this and a wacom tablet, besides the fact that wacoms are generaly superior? If you've never tried photoshop/other graphics app with a wacom, you're missing out.
The mouse pad cannot be operated on any metal surface. Since the warnings about this are printed on the box, in the manual, and on the mouse pad itself, I figured it was in my best interest to avoid finding out why metal and power-over-RFID don't mesh.
Well there's a sentence that sure didn't end the way I wanted it to... Where's his sense of adventure?
Yeah, I'd have to go with the "Hey that's (kinda) cool" reaction. When I got my first wireless mouse, the advantages were seen immediatly: I could use it anywhere on my desk and not worry about a cord. The way this thing is set up, it'd be more of a pain then a tradtional wired mouse, because not only would there still be a cord for the mouse pad, which the mouse needs to sit at least 2" from, but the mouse itself is useless unless it's on the mouse pad.
.messy).
For me, one of the nice things about having a wireless mouse is when I'm reading longer webpages, I often sit back in my chair, holding the mouse in the palm of my hand, and use the mouse wheel to scroll down the page. (which I could do with a wired mouse, only it gets. .
I'm sure there are better implimentations of remote RFID power, and it's probably going to end up being very common in the future, it's just I can't think of any right now.
The Internet is generally stupid
You can buy a bluetooth wireless mouse and run all over the place with it without worrying about bringing your receiver along.
This seems like it's just a really, really nice idea for desktops, where my MX700 needs to be cradled every night and still occasionally runs out of juice at just the wrong time.
Well yeah. Optical mice, to me, were kind of pointless when they first came out and I thought of them more of an unnecessary "gee-wiz" toy then anything else. But with time they figured out how to make them not need the 'grid mouse pad', and make them cheap enough so they can be on par with traditional mice price-wise. (I should note that my last mouse purchase was a wireless optical, which I bought over a year and a half ago for $30 and have had no problems with)
And most likely, they'll figure out a way to safely increase the broadcast power, or the reception sensitivity (or even the mouse's power usage efficiency) so the RFID chip mouse will have the same range and flexibility as current day battery powered wireless mice.
But for now, this nifty new "gee wiz" toy would be more of a hindrance then an advancement. Though it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that if they could figure out a way to make it work at distance sans mouse pad, these things will become the norm.
The Internet is generally stupid