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Logitech Unveils Smart Mouse
Rob writes "Computer business Review is reporting that Logitech International, one of the world's
largest makers of mice and keyboards, has added to its already large range of peripherals
with a new mouse that can receive and process wireless communications from a PC. The new
fangled mouse is capable of two-way communication with the PC, it can inform users when
their mouse battery is low, and
notify them when they receive an email or instant message. Other features include
laser tracking, 10 buttons, volume control and probably too many other things."
Why in the world would a person want their MOUSE to notify them when they get an Email?
The monitor? OK.
Speakers? Sure.
Mouse!? Come on. What would it do? Jiggle slightly?
...Also, I didn't know Buggalo could fly.
That was done before at Princeton.
And they needed one of this to trap some of the rodents that used its new superior skills to escape.
My city: Barcelona.
Is this a two handed mouse then?
threadeds blog
My Apple bluetooth mouse has been telling me my battery is low for years (I really should change it).
As for telling me when I get email... isn't that what the screen and sound cards are for? I don't own a PC, or run linux, but I'm guessing that these operating systems already have a system for telling you when you've got mail too.
10 buttons? Meh. I've got 113 keys right next to my mouse. I have two hands, so I find that I can press these buttons whilst I'm using the mouse.
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
From TFA:
"the ability to sense the power status of the PC"
"it can inform users when their mouse battery is low"
"the mouse can sense when the PC has gone into sleep mode or is shut down. The mouse powers down accordingly."
"ability to sense if there is wireless interference from other devices"
All of these features are workarounds for the fact that the mouse lacks a cable. What the hell is wrong with a good optical mouse with a cable?
Honestly, I can't understand ths obsession with wireless stuff. Of course wifi and bluetooth are convenient, but wireless keyboards and mice add nothing for most users. Most desktop users are better off with wired versions because lots of hassle goes away.
-- MartinG To mail me: echo kewyjlcxyzvjfxbqwh | tr bcefhjklqvwxyz
...on a Mouse?
How much time 'till they will setup a 72keys mouse that need a sub-mouse to be productive? What about a touch sensor and/or touch area, instead?
Grammar Zealots: please spare a non-english writer (lastknight dot com)
*checks calendar* It isn't April 1st, you mean they are serious about this mouse?
That will be so you can tell where the sharks are coming from, I guess.
I have a one buttone mac mouse and I'm totally happy.
God only knows how I would control a 10 button mouse with only 10 fingers... perhaps they need a mouse-o-sutra to get this one going.
These 'features' look like plain ol' bloat to me. :)
When was the last time you changed the volume of your pc? And when you did, did you think 'I wish I was able to control the volume directly from my mouse'?
Why do you want your mouse to tell you that you have new e-mail or an instant message when you see a mail icon in your system tray or your MSN conversation window flashes like crazy?
The only interesting feature you will get is that it will tell you the battery is low very often
what two-way communication has to do with notifying a user that a mouse battery is low?
Practical Semantic Web Log
What do you do when your product already does everything a sensible user wants to do?
If you're M$ you release a new version incompatible with old versions to force the upgrade
If you're Logitech you just keep on adding features. I can't see any reason to upgrade here.
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
What we need now is energy-saving tech in mice. It feels like i am changing batteries constantly in my Logitech MediaPlay. Does anyone else feel the same?
You cant fight in here, its a war room!
Logitech announces their "PC mouse", complete with monitor and networking. For an extra $9.95 it comes with the optional PC mouse mouse.
No, no, no. You've got you mouse confused with your mom again.
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
I hope it does not have a speaker in it that announces "You've got mail".
Anyone remember when each of your peripherals had a clearly defined function?
Now my mouse can check my email, my printer can send a fax, my monitor can produce sound, my cell-phone can access the web and my keyring can store half a gig of data.
A smart mouse? Skynet is here... and it's in MOUSE form.
Just what we were least expecting... figures, that's how it slipped past the security nets!
Watch out! It's coming from inside the house!!... er... mouse.
"This mouse also has way too many fucking buttons, including useless feature 1, useless feature 2, waste of space and money 3, which we think everybody will enjoy!"
...and when their Logitech-delivered adware has just popped a message onto their screen. Why oh why do people go out and build up the crapware business by buying these bloated, pointless ubermice whose features they never use anyway? I mean, how many people use the fancy "multimedia" keys on a keyboard?
As of right now I use a Trillian plugin to notify my when I have a new instant message by flashing the three LED's on my keyboard.
This is useful to me because I usually have IM sound off (I have a lot going at once and it gets annoying as hell) and when I'm passing by my computer at home I can take a quick peek at my keyboard to see if I have any messages rather than go to the computer, turn on the monitor, unlock windows, and check my message windows.
Also when running full screen games or applications, a secondary visual indicator comes in handy.
"Lead my skeptic sight."
I just heard you will need this to use your 6.8GHz 1TB RAM and 2TB HDD Laptop to its full potential!
It's pretty clear Logitech is confused about how people are using the internet.
Lots of useful functionality? check
Totally useless for anyone left handed? check
Another fine Logitech product.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/news/GB/EN,conte ntid=10961,crid=34
Featuring this gem:
"This changes the very concept of a computer mouse, because it is no longer simply an input device"
I just hope that, like other Logitech mice which come with a driver CD full of useless crap, they will also work with a plain/generic mouse driver. Throwing the CD in the trash is always the first thing I do when opening a new mouse's packaging. I guess the only people who install that stuff are the users who think it's actually needed and never tried without.
And as someone else said: I already have over 100 buttons right in front of me, under my fingers; I don't want 10 more on an accessory!
surely 'smart mouse unveils itself'
You could mount the opticals under your wireless multimedia keyboard and get a full 105+ keys "mouse" with all the bells and whistles a normal user needs. ... mouse!
This should make more sense than moving leds and keys to a mouse.
And you would also be able to do the three-fingers-salute from your
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
I assume that the light goes off again when the battery level reaches 0? B.t.w., why is it that modern devices all have a light to indicate that they're switched off? They used to have a light to warn you that it's still turned on...
Only if the PC remains shut down for three months.
And combined with the first statement, the mouse must have enough battery power to allow the "battery low" light to remain on for 9 days straight. Is that included in the calculation, or will it now run out of juice in a day because the light is now draining the battery?
Musicians don't die. They just decompose.
... can it make coffee?
Remember when cellphones were...you know, just phones? Don't tell me we're going to do the same thing with mice.
*goes online to horde Logitech USB Marble mice*
Some posters seem to think that 10 buttons are too much for a mouse but I think I'd like it if my next mouse had twice as many buttons on it. A hand held input device (a.k.a. mouse) is leaps and bounds ahead of any keyboard out there ergonomically. What I would like to see are functions such as task switching (alt-tab), ok, cancel, minimize, maximize, and like basic functions used while interacting with the operating system. Having them convieniently and literally at your finger tips would allow the more efficient and transparent manipulation of the command functions of the operating system.
The Windows Icon Mouse Pointer system would have to have some of it's qualifying actions loosened, for example, having ok and cancel mouse buttons active when the pointer is within the dialog box instead of requiring that it needed to be above the actual button graphic. This leads to a more generalized notion that the operating system could be manipulated in a context orientated manner. Like today's Wizards on megasteroids. As you went from screen-to-screen within the context of a wizard paradigm have the buttons on the mouse change functions depending on the screen or context you were currently at. It would have to follow some logical system to be useful otherwise you'd probably be constantly looking at your "mouse" to see what was written on the button display at the moment. If it was ever to take hold maybe our children will take a mouse interface course much as we take touch typing courses today.
Shh.
Sorry, but if you use BATTERIES for your mouse
you're a freaking loser.
I don't need to read anything more. I have no desire to try and use something with 10 buttons on it on a daily basis.
I think they need to read the Design of Everyday Things.
Two years ago I had a Genius wheel mouse that would play a tune when a new mail arrived (the sound was very primitive, like from old mobile phones).
Anyone get the mental image of Scotty talking into a mouse?
Okay, has somebody forgotten that the mouse is an input device for when you are in sight of the computer? If you are in sight of the computer, then why do you need all those things? Or is the idea that you take the mouse away from the computer, in which case, I'd rather have something a bit friendlier, like a small pad.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
I couldn't resist pointing out the rather obvious irony in refering to a mouse as any kind of "pointless".
.sigs are for losers
Meh, is it as funky as their Remote Control? Just got one of these babies, and it is, and I quote my mother, the rocksaw (hehe, she tries, she tries).
Robert Anton Wilson
Damn it, Logitech rolls out its smarter mouse before I complete my improved mousetrap? How is an inventor supposed to compete?
Otherwise, I mean, Christ... I can barely juggle three buttons as it is!
what no mac support? *opens mouth & spits fire*
auto turn off is nice.
how about a feature to interact with the clipboard more easily?
http://homepage.mac.com/vineetb/iblog
One thing that I like is the auto-power off stuff. I have a wireless laptop mouse from Logitech, and the power switch on it is probably the best feature on it; batteries seem to last forever when compared with a regular wireless mouse.
I hope the auto-poweroff stuff is just as good -- then I don't have to remind everyone to turn my mouse off if they stop my pc.
Okay... I'll do the stupid things first, then you shy people follow.
[Zappa]
I enjoy the fact that the battery meter probably drains the battery more because of the microprocessor. Don't bluetooth mice do this already?
All that it's missing is the ability to run embedded Linux, Apache, MySQL (sorry, I mean PostgreSQL) and PHP, store 16 GB of data, play MP3s and Videos, allow you to enter text using a special "nano" keypad, browse the web...
We're geeks... We're the sorcerers of the modern-day world. --
With two-way communication you can have your PC and mouse send each other messages. Maybe even have multiple mice send messages to each other. Is this the invasion of the killer mice? Something strange is going on around here. Reminds me of H2G2.
Oh great! Now I'm getting spammed by my mouse. What'll be next? My chair?
What would it do? Jiggle slightly?
Yep, and when you get spammed it breaks your wrist.
unless it's porn spam. then it just humps your hand. or licks you.
Punk good! Fire bad!
Now how about they make a keyboard with the original f-key groupings (3 x 4 instead of 4 x 3) and more importantly NO EFFIN F-LOCK???????
More buttons = smaller buttons,
Small buttons + big fingers = Me bashing the hell out of my mouse when the wrong button gets pressed.
"The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To order a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now."
. . .until they can send and receive email.
Still, I think I'm going to hold out on this one until it's also a camera and can play DVDs, at which point it will be a laptop and need a control peripheral.
KFG
I wonder if it will let me know when my internet refridgerator is running low on milk.
Tech: You have to use the mouse, sir.
Scotty: (into mouse) Computer...
Mouse: (in Computer-voice) Hold on, my battery is low.
Scotty: (Changes batteries) Here, these are dilithium crystal cells.
Mouse: Thank you, I feel much better now. Where would you like to go today?
Scotty: Well, I'd like to get back to the future with a whale and save earth, but...
Mouse: (Interrupting) Hold on, You've got mail. Would you like to buy any v1a6ra?
Scotty: Maybe later, what I really need is some transparent aluminum?
Mouse: Whoah - don't know what that is. Hold down Button 7,scroll wheel down and left-click, and I'll launch a Google search for you.
Scotty: Umm, okay? (Clicks 3 or 4 random buttons).
Computer: (Clippy appears and performs a roundhouse-flying-punch-and-beam-of-death secret maneuver, impaling the Search Puppy)
Tech: Maybe you should try the keyboard...
Scotty: Keyboard?... How quaint.
Why, oh why, didn't I take the Blue Pill?
By 2020, only the top 5 governments in the world will be able to afford mice.
And they'll be so huge that a warehouse will be needed to store them.
Now wouldn't it be nice if the mouse vibrated when the email arrived (or what ever other event of your choosing occurred).
Then you could put your mouse in your pocket and leave your computer, and go for a wander, and should you get that all important email - you will know, even if you can't see your monitor. Maybe you could even set up your mouse buttons so you have a remotely operated panic button for when the boss arrives unexpectedly and you're in the next cubicle.
Then again - isn't this function available in phones? Perhaps they could put mouse function into phones? But then what happens if you are trying to navigate your computer app and talk on the phone (ie customer support).
Sigh.
Is that a mouse in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
I for one welcome our new glowing mice overlords.
he said he already is the smartest mouse and is gonna sue logitech
Let me go out on a limb here and assume that this little novelty only works with Micro$oft products. If I have you use Outlook to benefit from the features of this mouse, they can keep it. :-P
Unfortunately, the only browser that is recognised by the software is IE...
Bite my shiny metal... oops... Nevermind!
It's crap like this that is counter productice. Now the mouse takes up more ram, probrably has a 100mb install size on teh HD, has tons of different drivers to cause problems with standby and hibernate, etc...
All this is going to do is drive more people to Apple. It's about the simplicity. Mouse. Click it. Done. Nothing else to do.
They need a small display on the top of the mouse that shows the area under the mouse pointer.
Just think how useful that would be!
Oh Oh I just thought maybe they could have an alphanumeric keypad on there too.
Oh wait - they need USB ports and DVD/RW on there how else can you play multimedia.
Mind you, with all of that on there they really do need some storage - perhaps one of those mini hard drives.
Just think of the functionality you build in then!
are we talking about a mouse or a keyboard here? 10 buttons? why not just make it 20.. next I'll be able to receive wireless phone calls on it and send text messages.. oh a get some spam for my mouse.. sheesh
Hey, here's an idea for Logitech. It's so obvious where evolution leads to. So why not put a laser underneath your keyboard and move the whole goddamn thing around, all functions handily within reach??
like many other people leave my PC on all the time and the monitor goes into standby. Would be quite nice to have something I could spot as I walked passed.
On the other hand, if this intelligent mouse turns itself off when the computer goes into standby - then yes, it is completely pointless.
I bought a Griffin iSomething (the big metal knob) just so I could adjust the volume, or mute it - very handy when you're playing BF2 and the girlfriend shouts something towards your gaming-pit-of-filth from the other room.
Alternatives were to fumble about with a little knob on your speakers, or buy some vile 'media' keyboard.
I'm quite fussy about my mouse and really don't want a wireless one - but assuming it's a good mouse, I'm quite happy for them to cover it in buttons, lights and give it a bit of intelligence. If you don't like the feature/button you can just turn it off - never anything wrong with options.
... using the same digital file transfer technology over RF. I hate headphones out there right now that you have to tune in the old fashioned way like a radio, if they made one of crystal clear wireless digital headphones, I bet they'd sell like hotcakes.
As for the mice, jesus we already have enough nice heh. Logitechs been flooding the market with their MX brands, enough versions to sink a ship.
have been talking about liking having a large number of buttons on their mouse to do simple stuff like changing windows etc.
Just thought they might be interested in this StrokeIt - mouse gestures like with Opera but on everything.
Costco and Amazon sell AA's so cheap (typically $9-11 for 48) that rechargables can never make up the cost.
oh, and to answer your next retort, "I don't give a f@#& about it"
Scotty (speaking into mouse): "Hello computer?!"
Mouse: "I'm sorry Mr. Scott, I'm afraid I can't do that."
[and it can] notify them when they receive an email or instant message.
A classic example of just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
Logitech Smart Mouse:
Features:
10-key keyboard in QWERTY layout
Stereo audio
LCD color VGA display
8 signal LEDs
WiFi
Intel Pentium Centrino(tm) 2.5GHZ CPU
512MB RAM
Weight: 3.1kg (not including batteries)
Dimensions: 30x15x5cm
Power usage: 40 Watt
Battery: 2 Li-ion batteries of 40Ah each
Battery life in sleep mode: 32h
Battery life when mouse used: 4h
DeLuxe model includes power steering allowing for almost frictionless and momentum-less movement.
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
I keep hoping. One day, I may yet be able to get an optical or laser mouse with 3 normal-sized buttons to hold my three normal-sized fingers. I can quit fiddling with trying to click an all-too-flexible scroll wheel any time I want to paste in X. Logitech's latest and greatest is just another in a long series of disappointments in that regard.
Yes, I still use my old, mechanical, three-button, no scroll wheel, MouseMan from like 7 years ago. Thankfully it stays clean and still works. I guess that's the only good thing to say about Logitech: they used to make good mice.
Anyone remember the "Smart Mouse" for Commodore 64 and Commodore 128? Since the Commodores didn't have built in real-time clocks, the mouse compensated and GEOS would fetch the time at boot-up.
If the mouse is going to do everything why not put a little display screen on it too. That way you can eliminate useless desktop clutter like monitors, keyboards and speakers.
Why did someone mod this 'Flamebait'? The post is two very significant quotes from the Logitech website plus a factual statement about a scanner. Hard to see how this is going to start a flame war.
you will always have your mouse next to your computer. you already have keyboards with these kind of information. i don't know about most people, but i type looking at the monitor, not the keyboard nor the mouse. so what if my mouse is blinking or flashing? i am not likely to see that most time, i rarely look at the mouse, plus my hand mostly cover the darn thing.
this is just stupid in my opinion. i don't see how this is better than all the simular kind of indications on your screen (which is where you are looking or likely to look first).
The dang thing runs on 2.4Ghz - I got rid of my 2.4Ghz wireless phones because they didn't play nice with my 802.11g network. "excuse me, I can't find a clear channel, would you mid turning off that useless interferring radio thing? Thanks...."
Bluetooth is a standard wireless protocol - they could have acheived everything they wanted, *WITHOUT* creating interference.
We'll just not discuss the bloatware aspects....
look at the relative size of two common gadgets, the small smartphone/pda/music player gadget and a mouse. Now that would be an interesting combination. Plus security, the mouse could be tied to the computer and it would be needed to turn the computer on and authenticate it for the user.
I dunno about you, but the mx1000 I have pops up a systray message about my mouse batteries needing recharged. I've had it a few months too. What is exactly new about that?
really... cars usually are a box shape with a wheel at each corner. they contain seats and some basic controls for making it move. you apply motion lotion and, well, go. from a to b. my car does this job just fine, but it does have the added extra of a knackered old stereo so i can listen to radio 4, handy!
now, try buying a new "car" nowadays that doesnt have bluetooth/phone integration, sat nav, dvd player, a supercomputer, heated steering wheel, coffee maker, vibrating seats, banana plantation etc. it's getting increasingly difficult to get a bog standard car that does the car job well and concentrates on being a car first and a replacement for having a house second.
sadly this will soon be true of everything. my car is 10 years old and though it does require some tlc to get past it's annual MOT it does it's job fine. car makers are so desperate to get the likes of me to needlessly buy a new vehicle that they lob all this crap at me.
so i expect the same is true of these mice, i've got a knackered old optical mouse. with a wired connection. being optical it has gone for years without getting so full of crap it wont work, forcing me to buy a new one, the cable seems to have resisted the effects of fatigue too. when it dies i'll probably go out and buy a new one exactly the same. if they exist any more (two buttons + scroll wheel) that is
so, questions: is it possible to buy flat screen 15" monitors WITHOUT integrated speakers and/or a usb hub? how about a toaster or microwave WITHOUT a digital display, fifteen buttons and endless programs and modes? a washing machine with just one button ("on")? or my favourite: a mobile phone that doesnt have color screen, games, bluetooth, web browser, camera and mp3 player? FFS my phone is a PHONE, i do often use it for the extravagant act of texting instead of phoning, but it does it's job well, holds charge for a week, gets as good a signal on a boat as in the city and has buttons that even my stubby thumb can operate.
it too is several years old and yes i could easily buy a new car, phone and logitech mouse but... why?
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
This sort of sounds like a keyboard with 10 buttons - you know you need 6 or 7 to type out english usually. And why would a mouse need to blink away when the battery is low ?. I've always bought stuff for it's low maintenance - which is why I have a single cheap optical mouse, an old AT keyboard (clickety, clack) and a CRT. They just work...
More complicated things have a habit of failing easily in the heat and humidity. Mostly it's the insects but the dust does help too. I've seen 40$ keyboards just lose it while my old faithful just keeps tapping on (bought in 1999)
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
I'm still looking for an USB replacement (no more PS/2 ports on new PCs) of my slowly deteriorating collection of Logitech Trackman Marble FX (hence TmMFX) trackballs.
The TmMFX must have been the best kept secret and apex of Logitech engineering. I've tried other Logitech mice/trackballs in the meantime, but they all fall short one way or another. This gizmo is no exception.
Please, please, Logitech: bring back the brilliant engineer(ing team) that designed the TmMFX.
Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
Welcome to our new 20 fingered overlords... I guess the next mouse model will have 101 buttons and will plug into the keyboard connector.
Oh well, what the hell...
Does it have a microphone built-in?
What is up with the recent flood of press release regurgitation here? How exactly is a mouse that does exactly nothing new make the news?
-- $G
no text.
I guess today is a passable day to die.
How about a mouse that can drive itself?
When it senses the battery is low, it could drive itself to a charging cradle. When charged up, it could return to its last location.
THAT would be cool AND useful. IMHO
----- If communism is a system where the government owns business, what do you call a system where business owns govern
when I was in parochial school, the left hand was referred to as the devils hand. Left hander were slapped with rulers until they learned to start using their right hands.
Maybe logitech is trying to appeal to the religious right.
Wonder if they ship a driver so it can be used with the Jesux OS.
----- If communism is a system where the government owns business, what do you call a system where business owns govern
All you than need are left and rightclick and a scrollwheel.
Personally, I'm still using my one-button bluetooth-mouse (Apple), because I simply have to push the upper shell down. No need to worry about the position of the buttons, about which finger to move, just klick. With a good user interface, it can be that easy. I rarely ever have to reach for the control-key to get a context-menu. When I need to scroll, there's usually a scrollbar to be found. And since I use the entire hand to hold down the mouse "button", I'm not getting a cramp in the index-finger while slowly scrolling a webpage, either.
Oh, BTW - why is it, that if a webpage has more than one scrollbar (like thew one I type this on), the focus is always on the wrong element and it never scrolls where I want? Using the scrollbar, this does not happen. (This is written on a WinXP-machine I have to use, I didn't choose to.)
I saw the press release from Logitech over this mouse and frankly, the feature bloat borders on overkill, to say the least.
I mean, the Logitech MX5xx series mouse pointer (I use an MX500) already has the screen navigation capability that covers most users, and its tracking accuracy is good enough for every user except very hard-core gamers. I don't think most users want to have new email warning and IM chat control capabilities built into the mouse pointer itself, though I do agree that the power control features are useful given the new mouse pointer is a coreless mouse.
Perhaps it will alert you if your machine has been compromised as well.
$fortune
Tomorrow has been canceled due to lack of interest.
Logitech International, one of the world's largest makers of mice and keyboards, has added to its already large range of peripherals with a new mouse that can receive and process wireless communications from a PC.
Does this sound like standard press release crap to anybody else? Thanks, Slashvertisement!
rooooar
i'm using a 4 year old logitech, with a cord, with a ball (not optical), 2 buttons on top, one scrollwheel thats also a button.
cost me $5
while cleaning it last week i broke the spring on the scroll wheel button
went shopping for a new mouse,
cheepest i could find was 50$
and nobody stocked mice with balls, and cords
sigh,
Every time I eat cheese in front of the computer, the damn thing attacks me!
DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
with the ability to vibrate like a rabbit when I received a IM.
Blonde69
those damn airplane laser flashing idiots!
Generation Trance: What generation are you?
Does the mouse scurry into its recharging hole when a cat approaches?
It seems everyone's in agreeance that this is some pretty lame feature output... I wonder if Logitech *has* come to the last of it's ideas.
:)
If so, I'd love to propose one for them. The one thing I'd love is to have a keyboard that takes a flash card, or even a USB flash drive for input, and keeps all your keybindings.
Back when I was in IT, I'd have all sorts of shortcuts on my computer, and I'd go to a new computer and I'd have to fall back on defaults again, or make do where no other one existed.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could slam your USB flash drive, or smart media card, or something, into a keyboard, and voila! Mouse sensitivity settings are retained, keyboard shortcuts, etc?
Anyways, just a thought of mine.
- - - -
KickingDragon
I've had the MX 700 for years and I've loved it. I recently got an iBook w/ built in BlueTooth support, and I'd like to upgrade to the latest in the MX line in the process of getting a BlueTooth mouse. Now why the hell isn't there a newer BlueTooth model other then the old MX 700 copy? I've only been waiting less then a month. I'm sure many other readers waiting longer must be quite a bit more irritated.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
The PC in my garage is in a cabinet to reduce the exposure to dust. (It's an mini-ATX board, so no fans to worry about) The monitor (a recycled flatscreen) is on the wall outside the cabinet. I use the wireless keyboard and/or mouse to control the PC.
:o)
So there's at least one use
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
Next years version will vibrate when you get an IM. Perfect for those special chat sessions.
This mouse seems to have almost all the bells and whistles except for a rechargeable battery. That would the the first thing I would look for in mouse such as this one. Also, why go through the trouble of developing a proprietary wireless system when bluetooth is out there and becoming more and more ubiquitous.
The gates in my computer are AND, OR and NOT; they are not Bill.
I would like to mention that overkill features to some are actual funtional tools to others. If you like simple and featurless... by all means, get the tools that suit you. I, for one, am excited about this mouse. I'm due to get a new one, and this looks like what I need.
-Quixxilver- "Where am I going?
Aren't they already smart enough? Being the most intelligent species on the planet and all...
Seems like kind of a useless feature, but it can save a few seconds of moving the mouse or hitting a key to disable the screensaver, logging in, and then checking your email... only to find out that the slimmie from match.com still hasn't responded to your message.
With this mouse, you could walk by your computer room and glance at the mouse, and know instantly that she is still ignoring you. No effort wasted if you already know you don't have any email.
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
If my mouse, router, laptop, pda, desktop, and whatever other fucking wireless device looses connection when ever I turn on my microwave (not to mention interfere with all my neighbors devices), I decide that there are too many god damn wireless devices in the air.
The 2.4ghz portion of the spectrum has been taken, by the hardware industry, as the answer to all their wireless prayers. It is believed that if you ever need a (moderately) long range wireless transport, use the 2.4ghz range!
Guess what guys? There aren't enough goddamn channels, and no 'interface robustness' is going to fix the problem.
Here is what I suggest: Logitech, as much as I like your products, please stick to mouse and keyboard technology (whatever that might be), and leave the 2.4ghz range to the network guys. Thanks!
Does it have fingerprint sensing and DRM? :D
Honestly, I think the most important thing in a mouse is ergonomy.
...do we get the three button optical mice that are like the PilotMouse(iirc) but with optical innards instead of a ball? I'm bored with cleaning my balls. I personally have an instant market for seven of these mice.
Yeah, force-feedback was all the rage a while back, with mice, joysticks, etc. I was interested for the same reasons you were, but they were marketed mostly as a gaming toy. I think their main drawback was that they were very complicated mechnically. Which translates to much higher cost per unit, and much lower reliability. Mice get a lot of wear, so expensive and breaks easily translates to no customers. Indeed, the trend is in the opposite direction: last time I bought a mouse, every one in the store had optical movement sensors instead of a ball or other mechanical sensor. Which was fine with me -- I wouldn't have bought one if it had been available.
I bought a Logitech keyboard with lots of Logitech buttons. Its keyboard driver was about 8 megabytes long, for a keyboard driver.
Then I found that the buttons weren't reprogrammable in the manner that the sales literature led me to believe.
Then, worst of all, I found that the function keys wouldn't work as assigned with ordinary programs correctly unless I remembered to press this tiny little key in the corner of the keyboard every single time that I turned the PC on. I finally was able to trade the keyboard with someone who actually thought that all the stupid worthless buttons were a good idea even after I explained their limitations.
Logitech is truly lame. If everyone wouldn't buy their stupid stuff, then they wouldn't have enough money to do things like develop a mouse that notifies you that you have email. Logitech's greatest advantage over everyone else is that they make their stuff with 'egg-shell' white plastic instead of beige 'dirty-white' plastic. Fashion things like that are very important in the Macintosh community but less so in the real world.
From what I read in this thread, multi-button mice don't actually require any kind of drivers to work with Linux, the extra buttons are supposedly handled out of the box, you 'just' have to find how to configure them
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
My dream super gadget will be when I can combine my ;-P )
- pda
- cell phone
- camera
- ipod (60 GB, not 500Mb flash
into one little package that manages to hit 10+ hrs of battery life. I guess now I'll just add
- wireless mouse
to the list!
"Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
All this advanced technology, and even the iPod people haven't figured out that the best volume control is a BIG FRICKING KNOB!
It's amazing. Back in the 1980s the stereo manufacturers tried to introduce the up/down arrows for volume control. And they worked worth shit. Then in the 1990s the car stereo makers made the same mistake.
Now virtually ever stereo receiver has a big fricking knob.
Why can't the computer people figure this out?
Alot of opinions so far, but no facts.
What makes this mouse smart is the power management. It shuts off when the computer is off, turns on when the computer is on. There is a power button underneath to manually turn it off. I bought this mouse 3 weeks ago. 2 AA NiMH batteries, still going on strong.
Volume control is very useful. Say you're using Media Player Classic or WinAMP. Being able to change the system volume independent of the application volume while sitting back and cueing a particular time in a movie is very useful.
The email and IM buttons/ indicators don't seem to work w/ free software applications. I haven't tried using them w/ Outlook or anything, though.
I have the MX 1000. I use it for gaming, and for work (graphics editing).
How does this mouse compare? One of the things I *HATE* about the MX 1000 is the huge base. I like the idea of a very small USB receiver for the M610.
Anyone here have any input (well obviously, but lets say qualified)? How are the tech specs in comparisson?
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
I've always thought wireless mice and keyboards were ridiculous. In gaming it's obvious, but even having lag on my mouse in a desktop environment irked me. Lag when I'm typing irks me too. It was surprising to me the other week when I first thought "damn I wish I had a wireless mouse and keyboard." The situation was that I had a ton of devices on my desk at work, all with wires plugging from one to another, debugging networking hardware and the like. So I had this mess of cat5, serial cables, power cables, usb cables, dangling antennas, and in the mix my mouse for my T30 (damn the nub) and my desktop's mouse and keyboard were getting restricted. There is nothing more frustrating than having a mess on your desk, then being unable to move your mouse because the wire is caught on the mess. And that is the only reason I can come up with to have a wireless mouse; a messy situation.
Rayovac for over a year has had a 15 minute rechargeable battery available in AA and AAA sizes. Recently energizer has come out with its own series of 15 minute chargers. If you do not know this only you are to blame.
It is possible to have an electric shaver, cell, mp3 player, pda, wireless mouse/keyboard, laptop, etc. all in one home all that require their own propietary rechargeable batteries and cradles. It is getting maddening with all these charging cradles I now have. It would be nice if companies ceased intergrating chargeable batteries as a feature and used standard AA batteries and AAA batteries for some of these devices. That way I can use my own standard choice of a rechargeable battery across many different platforms.
What I want is for the people who make these mice and keyboards and things with extra buttons to publish an API, so you could use the mouse indicators from other applications... say, turn the light on when you get an IM, or "pulse" it if you get an email from someone important.
Or, even, use the extra functions from other operating systems... so you don't need to wait for Logitech to write "Mouseware for Linux".
"If said mouse is truly smart, my hard drive will be filled with anime and porn by the time I get there." - Comic Book Guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude,_Where's_My_Ranc h%3F/
I want a totally pimped out mouse to match my Alienware PC. I want it to gangster lean when I get an IM, bounce when I get email, and give me a chrome mag wheel that continues to spin even after I've stopped scrolling. They should replace the red/blue tracking laser with a neon loop that goes around the entire base. The top of the mouse should have a LCD panel for playing DVDs
People still use mice and trackballs these days? Get gesture based input peripherals folks! forget about the cord, or batteries. Not that the units move so there is no need for the cord to get in your way. Touchstreams beat the pants off keyboards and mice as separate entities...
My Logitech MX900 bluetooth mouse flashes when it is low on batteries and displays a notice onscreen. The keypad on the diNivio keyboard displays new email messages and beeps, also shows what song you are playing in iTunes. I had a microsoft mouse that also transmitted its battery life to the computer. I also had a memorex mouse that kindly let me know when it had finished eating its battery by not working (about every 3 hours). ;)
I can't agree enough about the Logictech Trackman Marble FX. I've got two and I hope they never die because it looks like Logitech will never comeout with a new trackball.
The only newer trackball out there is the Cordless Optical TrackMan, but I don't see why I need to consume mass batteries for a device I will never move.
I want a new trackball from Logitech with finger movement (bulge on right), lots of buttons, a cord, and USB. Basically, a corded Optical Trackman.
But three years and no new Trackballs? I feel like I'm the only trackball using dinosaur in the valley, except I evolved from a mouse, and now I have to de-evolve [devolve?] back.
It'll bring down the price of the MX1000, the one thats out of my price range but has the features I want/need.
Kennsington developed 11 button wireless trackball mice with a scroll wheel that would self-detect when it's battery ran low. Trouble is, it detects a low battery condition with annoying frequency if you use rechargeables (really doesn't like the .3 volt difference -- intelligent design that was; why not require 3 batteries if one needs the voltage to be that high, naw, that'd be too much like "right")...but when running on low voltage, they send random button presses -- mostly the extra 6 user-defined function keys at the top -- which were really cool when I first got the mice and had them to launch mail web browsers or specific apps, but once I got wise to the low voltage problem making them go off randomly/frequently, just changed all the launchables to 'noops'; the main buttons don't seem to misfire as much or don't go
bad until the battery really gets low, so that's at least usable. I also have 2 of them on my desktop at any one time, so if one just ups and dies in the middle of a move, I can complete it with the other mouse -- they are on the same frequency and just can't be used simultaneously, but I can mouse with either hand -- which ever is more convenient. It was a first step toward easing off stress on my right hand's repetitive stress.
But I still get those dang annoying popups on a semi-frequent basis telling me that a brand new low-voltage battery has been detected in my mouse. Gee, thanks for sharing...
-l
This mouse operates at 2.4GHz and in most cases will be in close proximity to laptops and other devices connected to wireless networks. Is anyone else concerned about interference?? I have had a lot of trouble with phones and other 2.4GHz devices causing trouble on my network at home.
Thanks, Maj