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Bluetooth Mouse That Stores And Charges In PC Slot
Road Warrior writes "The road warrior will appreciate the Mogo MouseBT. The Bluetooth-enabled mouse is a business-card sized mouse that stores and recharges inside your laptop's PC card slot. It will recharge in less than an hour and it will sell for $69.99. It will be interesting to see how the ergonomic of the mouse feels. The product will be introduced at CES."
While I think this is definitely an idea with cool-factor, I'm not sure I'd ever use it. I seriously carry dozens of devices in a month of use that all use different charging mechanisms, and this one is probably the one I'd be the least likely to use.
What I would really like to see is a more standard charging mechanism. The micro-USB (mini-USB?) port is a great start, but I don't think laptops could charge well over a USB port. I see Motorola cell phones with the port (including my wife's) but my Samsung t809 has a proprietary jack. Most new laptops I use now have a DC port insteed of an AC port (external power supply) which is a good start, but they're always different amperage and voltage requirements.
How about a standard appearing soon? Does anyone else get frustrated carrying around 9 chargers for trips? My most powerful charger is a 2A 6V charger for an older PDA -- works fine, takes up little room, works internationally. 2A and 6V should be enough for anything, why bother with all the standards?
I'm guessing the retail industry pushes for the different jacks -- one more adapter to sell the customer for a huge markup. Maybe the move to Amazon and eBay buying will let the manufacturers find a bigger profit on their primary device sales by standardizing on a charging jack -- mini USB, 6V DC plug, whatever.
The look of this thing reminds me of the Shinza MAPP mouse by Masamune Shiro.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
That's excellent! 've been looking for a semi-cheap bluetooth mouse for my laptop, so this will be just wonderf... oh wait, macs don't have PC Card slots.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
where does my bluetooth card go? Not everybody has built in bluetooth, and I'm sure as hell not having a dongle that can snap off and has to be disconnected every time I pack up my laptop. End result is PCMCIA bluetooth, and I've only got one slot for that.
Still, damn if it isn't an interesting idea. Maybe this will appeal to the powerbook crowd.
oh wait, macs don't have PC Card slots.
powerbooks do. ibooks don't.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
What types of batteries does the MoGo MouseBT require?
MoGo MouseBT comes with a built-in, rechargeable battery, and is recharged when it is docked in your laptop's PC card slot. That's a major advantage over other wireless mice, which require frequent change of batteries.
I have two wireless mice and a wireless keyboard all powered by batteries. I'm not quite sure what they mean by "frequent change of batteries". I routinely get three or more months of frequent use out of my mice and six months or more out of the keyboard (and I'm not even using lithium batteries!)
I've always been afraid of getting a wireless mouse for my laptop. I'm worried I will accidentally leave it somewhere since it's not tethered to the laptop (which I definitely won't leave somewhere accidentally). On the other hand, I did damage a laptop screen once with the cord of a mouse. The cord got caught behind the hinge and as I pushed the monitor backwards the cord acted as a fulcrum and popped the screen off it's hinge.
Bradley Holt
Microsoft cordless usb laptop mice are comfortable, work very well and run for at least 6 months on a couple AAA batteries. Oh, but wait, this is slashdot...
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
When I got an eMac a year ago, I grabbed a cheap Kensington USB wireless mouse so I could right-click and use a scroll-wheel as I'm accustomed. It was a regular-sized mouse, not a teeny laptop version, but I was still impressed that the mouse itself had a compartment for storing the USB wireless dongle. That made it a much easier object to pack in a suitcase, without cables and without having to find the loose dongle buried in the luggage. Comfortable for such an inexpensive mouse, too. I'm just not happy with the bluetooth devices I've used. They seem to be much more problematic with lost connections. USB wireless is just fine for the usual small devices around the desktop.
[
From TFA:
Interesting...I wonder just how long those 'minute' batteries last before a recharge is necessary...let's check TFA.
From TFA: No word whatsoever on how long these batteries will last. That's not promising.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
How about a standard appearing soon? Does anyone else get frustrated carrying around 9 chargers for trips? My most powerful charger is a 2A 6V charger for an older PDA -- works fine, takes up little room, works internationally. 2A and 6V should be enough for anything, why bother with all the standards?
Well, using ziplinq mini cables can cut down on the charger clutter, and if that solution doesn't suit you, you can get a multi-output charger from radio shack that's really good.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
How can I get my product advertised on Slashdot?
I, personally, love slashvertisements. As a nerd on the run, I rarely have time for news that doesn't matter, and that counts DOUBLY for advertisements.
And not only is this an advertisement, but it's an ad for a product that hasn't even been released yet! Fantastic! When my private DC-10 next touches down a year from now after months of writing code and making executive network decisions from the air, I'll be able to pop into some store and pick one up! Maybe!
For the good old fashioned slashvertisements, I sure wish Slashdot would just put a 'Buy it now' button in the story so that I can do as I'm told (BUY BUY BUY) without having to puzzle out confusing websites or being forced to interact with humans on the other end of a telephone call.
That would be... fantastic.
What ever happened to comfort? Those mini-mice you can get are bad enough, but this looks worse then those apple puck mice. Where do you rest your wrist?
It may look cool, but just looking at it is giving me carpel tunnel!
It will be interesting to see how the ergonomic of the mouse feels.
Kind of like a gerbil.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
If this is meant as a mouse for a laptop I am curious to know how bluetooth usage will affect both the battery life of the mouse itself AND the battery life of the laptop. While this is definitely "cool," I don't think the form factor is very functional and then there's the battery issue.
It will be interesting to see if Slashdot editors can stop using that phrase in every f**king article.
If it will be interesting to see, then we'll let you know when it actually becomes intersting, OK?
That's just stupid.
I don't frequently have my laptop on for "less than an hour" without using it. When do they suppose the mouse should recharge?
It is a little tough to see from the images, but it appears that this mouse has no moving parts. This is probably a good thing. Are the two mice buttons and scroll "wheel" are touch sensitive? It also appears that the bottom of the mouse is not in contact with whatever surface you are using for a mousepad. It has a little arm that props it up a bit, so your fingers can grasp around the edges. How does it get translational information? Is it an optical mouse that can "see" further than a typical mouse? Just as a little test, the Dell optical mouse I'm using at work stops translating if it is even 1/4" from the mousepad.
I am big on ergonomic design because when programming for a living, I don't want a lousy keyboard or mouse combo to cause me pain and misery.
Most notebook mice comprimise on ergonomics for style, and I can see this one having this problem. If your debating if this mouse will work well for you, take a box of cards and rest your hand on it and move it around for a few hours. I think most people's issues from using mice is that they grip them too hard or pound on the buttons, perhaps a slim design like this one will get people used to the idea of simply resting their hand on a mouse and tapping the buttons rather then putting the mouse in a death grip.
I guess for short stints this product would work well and its nice to finally find a use for that PC Slot. Anything is better then those touch pads or track sticks in the long run.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
I got a Dell bluetooth adaptor for 20 bucks on ebay - it is installed inside the laptop in a little port. Does not use any PC slots or USB ports.
It is usually an option, one I did not choose when I configured my recently purchased Sager NP5720 - I use a cordless USB with batteries which will supposedly last for more than a year..? (Cordless MS laser mouse I purchased at Costco)
IMO bluetooth is not a technology a lot of people have embraced - Was'nt it going to be the next wireless/communications revolution...
Hey kids of America. It's machine painted plastic mouse-in-a-slot. Mogo's favorite mouse for over two months. Who needs constant comforting ergonomic stimulation when there's mouse-in-a-slot? You just use the mouse, put it in the slot, pull it out of the slot, use it, and put it in the slot again. The mouse is not on a wire and unattached to the slot, so there's no worry if you don't put the mouse in the slot. And clean up is as easy as putting a mouse, in a slot. So why spend another day not putting a mouse in a slot when you can be using a mouse-in-a-slot?
If big boobed women work at Hooters do one legged women work at IHOP?
The subject says it all. You'd think they'd be cheaper since they are based on a standard platform with chips readily available.
But in reality you can get a basic cordless mouse for under $20, even a freakin' laser cordless mouse for $40, while you can't find a basic optical bluetooth mouse from a legitimate retailer for less than $60-70 and they are usualy $80+ in retail stores.
What is the deal?
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
Well, you obviously haven't looked at a 15" or 17" PowerBook, by golly!
I would, however, hope that a little design/engineering work would be done. It's FLAT. I hate those tiny little baby-mice things I see everywhere. They don't feel right. The smallest mouse I can stand is the wireless laptop mouse from logitech (the one I currently use). But this sort of thing would be perfect if only it could be made thicker and more mouse-like feeling. The way it feels is EVERYTHING of course.
I imagine some sort of spring-loaded outer shell or skeleton that pops up when it's not in a PCMCIA slot. Then when not in use, it would collapse back into the card shape. But I wonder, then, how sturdy it would actually be.
I haven't used a single PCMCIA device since I got this laptop. My laptop already has ieee1394 (firewire/ilink) USB 2.0, a modem, ethernet, wireless, and bluetooth built-in. At the moment, there just isn't much I can imagine putting into the PCMCIA slot, although I'm sure something will come up eventually.
As for advantage of using this over a regular wireless mouse? Not much. The current version of the logitech mouse claims to have a battery life of close to a year. I've left it on for several months with no sign of problem... at that rate, I could deal with the cost of battery replacement.
While I don't see this new mouse replacing my current setup, I would like to play with this new toy even though it is a bit pricy.
Oh yes! At last my dream will be fullfilled an application for an inflatable mouse. It would be perfect for this, and there sure would be enough space on a PC card for the fabric. You don't need much more "height" to make this mouse comfortable/ergonomical.
The problem is inflating it...
Something I've never understood about having the ability charge portable devices on the road. I can somewhat understand using the last hour of juice on your laptop to charge up your ipod but what would you do with a burnt out computer and a fully charged bt mouse. If you're a true "road warrior" wouldn't you use your trackpad in lue of wasting precious minutes of battery that could be used to check your myspace messages one more time? And if you're at home with a an ac adapter, is it that much trouble to put your bt mouse back on the charging dock once every few days?
I can't find any evidence that it actually has a wheel or middle button, the latter is essential for me as I can't stand 'Option "Emulate3Buttons"' in X, it's just not confortable (if you're a windows or mac user and don't understand this, don't stress it, just ignore this post).
It looks like it might have a sort of touch pad middle for perhaps click and scrape-like scroll. I'd have to try to see.
I guess in the mean time we can practice what this'll be like with any other pcmcia^WPCcard devices, some sellotape and a plastic leg, to see if it's as uncomfortable as people are saying they think it'll be.
Not to rain on their parade, but most laptops i've seen only have Bluetooth as an optional extra which most non technical folks end up not getting.
Apart from the sales reps who will want this device to try to convince their non-technical customers that they (the sales reps) are the real digital superheros of this information age, only a few executives with big egos and no sense of self worth will find a real use for this device. Why not innovate a little bit beyond the mouse. Were this a PC-card touch-pad that could sit in one hand and be controlled by my thumb, I might be interested. [Note to self: send patent application for PC-card thumb pad device ASAP, or find rich industrialist who will pay me $50 for the idea.] It's just a mouse. I've used nothing but a laptop for four years now, and I have learned to be very efficient with keyboard shortcuts and my stick mouse. For your typical data pusher (I won't insult any gamers or casual surfers by suggesting that a mouse is useless), that's all you really need. The mouse is really only useful when the tab stops are not set well, or when you don't know your shortcut menus. So to me, this is a notch on a manufacturer's belt, or a trophy piece for a gadget freak. Dang, give me a gyroscopic bluetooth wristband that will respond to my hand movements--then you'll be talking innovation. [Second note to self: Stop posting all of your potential money-making ideas through my comments on Slashdot.]
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
Just looking at this picture makes my wrist hurt. Of course, there are a lot of pictures online that can male my wrist hust ;-)
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
You should only feel a mouse on its ergonomic if the mouse says it is ok.
Truly, I think battery life is a much more serious concern than how ergonomic it is. I would become accustomed to the mouse no matter what shape it was within a matter of hours.
The mouse I use is not rechargeable for exactly this reason. It works for 2-3 months of 8 hours per day use on a pair of AAAs.
Furthermore, when my mouse batteries die I can just go get some new ones rather than having to waste even an hour of productive time while the damn thing charges.
Any mouse that costs me time would end up in the circular file in short order.
Where is the ergonomic of a mouse located anyway? And what does it do?.
Buy my new PCMCIA powered mouse pump! I can see it even being included as a standard feature of the all-in-one phones.
SearchIRC - Now with live chat directory!
...a USB-powered mouse!!
The movie add says that they are ok to use on an airplane. I thought that ALL RF devices had to be off while in flight. Anybody know anything about that?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein
How about "minute" as in very small or tiny, instead as a unit of time?
The word does have more than one meaning.
Introducing the new MoJo Mouse, complete with a PCMCIA powered enlarger.
Ryan - http://www.thecosmotron.com/
http://www.newtonperipherals.com/MogoMercial.htm
Too bad it doesn't really doesn't tell you anything about the product that you probably haven't guessed already.
Still cool, though.
Evolution is a fact. Darwinism is a joke.
Perhaps you should consider un-subscribing from the Input devices and portables category under Preferences. Or perhaps un-subscribe from hardware altogether.
While the idea of a flatpack mouse is interesting, battery-life concerns (why does anyone need a bluetooth mouse for their NOTEBOOK?) and the ergonomic horror apparent from the photos lead me to give this one a pass. I'll stick with my compact, ergonomic, lightweight, batteryless, cord-storing, and inexpensive Logitech notebook mouse, thanks.
The road warrior will appreciate the Mogo MouseBT.
Yes. Yes he will. Whether fighting for fuel, or just hangin' out in the Thunderdome, the Road Warrior will certainly love this. If only it came with a sawed-off shotgun option, or a recharge-with-pigshit option, it'd be perfect.
What's that? You're talking about regular people who travel with a laptop?
They aren't fucking road warriors! They don't kill, they don't fight; fuck, they don't even do anything FUCKING INTERESTING! They are generally the most pretentious, most boring people in the fucking world! They are not road warriors! If they wanna call themselves a "road warrior," they can meet me in the Thunderdome. Chainsaws, baby, mono-a-mono.
Any article that refers to assholes with laptops as "road warriors" automatically rates the roundfile.
Jeez.
Now, where's my lithium?
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
Interesting, I have a Logitech MX700, and the batteries only last 2-3 days between charges. A few months ago, the mouse completely stopped recharging. I now have to use an external charger and I rotate a couple pairs of batteries. Since you can't access your batteries, it sounds like your mouse will become useless if/when the charger or battery fails.
Like the guy that said there isnt much of a BT userbase, except on Macs - supply and demand. If they arent selling em, they cant make money, so they figure they jack the price up to make more per unit, when in reality, the smarter thing to do would be to lower (oh my friggin God!!! the thought of a company lowering their prices - pure InsANiTy) so that people wouldnt have to spend 70 bucks to get a damn mouse, and therefore be willing to buy their BT mouse.
They have to pay for the license to use the bluetooth specification and i assume its due to patents.
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
How's this work? Normally my laptop is OFF when I'm not using the mouse.. so it won't charge.. hope that's not the ONLY way to charge it!
....just get two of them, keep one in the charger and be using the other...although I don't know if this would confuse the bluetooth receiver in the laptop itself. It would solve the dilemma though if it worked.
me, no wireless*, I never minded cords/cables at all, even with the laptop. I hardly ever use the builtin keyboard or track device anyway, always just stuck a normal keyboard and mouse on to use them.
*although I am a radio freak, so go figger
They're expensive because Blowtooth is ill suited to applications such as mice and keyboards. The problem is that bluetooth is basically a really crappy frequency hopper bolted to a massively over kill networking base band. Which means you need an ARM7 with 128k of rom and a 1k of ram to implement the protocol stack. Yet because it's a frequency hoppy it has serious problems with latency when synchronizing to the network.
Compare that to a simple 14MHZ on-off keyed radio bolted to 8-bit micro. That solution costs maybe $1 for both ends, has lower power consumtion, and no latency issues. It works because its designed to do exactly what it's supposed to do and no more.
I like my wireless / usb / microsoft mouse. ... the suck ass.
It's tooth fits into the bottom of the mouse when not in use.
It rocks.
And cords.
HARD
It doesn't matter because the heat from the laptop's gonna kill the batteries anyway.
http://www.macally.com/spec/bluetooth/btmouse.html
Macally has 3 models, each with $50 MSRP, but yeah, that's still pretty expensive compared to the non-bt mice out there.
How about "minute" as in very small or tiny, instead as a unit of time? The word does have more than one meaning.
And the phrase "You can suck minutes!" doesn't really make sense with either of them.
when oh when will they bring out a decent sized bluetooth mouse that has a retractable USB charging cable?
How many laptops keep the PC-Card slot powered when the laptop is off?