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New Logitech Dark Field Mice Operate On Glass
Slatterz writes "Logitech has introduced new mice that use two lasers rather than one to work on a variety of previously unusable surfaces. The first laser picks out imperfections in the surface of a tabletop while the second laser focuses on microscopic imperfections highlighted and uses those to direct the cursor. The technique, dubbed dark field microscopy, allows mice to be used on almost any surface, including glass (as long as it is more than 4mm thick)."
This tech sounds awesome in an evil way. Or evil in an awesome way, I guess.
>The first laser picks out imperfections in the surface of a tabletop while the second laser focuses on microscopic imperfections highlighted and uses those to direct the cursor.
Anybody doing retail sales has surely encountered couples like this. I'll bet the second laser demands a discount for the imperfections that the first laser found.
Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Lasers...
per dolorem ad astra
So how does the field mouse tell the Logitech Mouse where the imperfections in the surface are? Presumably Logitech has decoded the language of the tiny mammals.
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
Mice that work on any surface have existed for years. They use an amazing technology called a "ball."
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
We have more surfaces today than five years ago, obviously. You can't really expect old technology to remain relevant in such a fast moving world as ours, can you?
- These characters were randomly selected.
So you're saying this mouse doesn't work on windows?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
I find your lack of faith in the dark field disturbing.
I'm so glad we figured this out.
It was unacceptable that we weren't able to use mice on glass.
My productivity will increase dramatically.
Yep, glass has only been invented since 2004. Before that we just used melted sand. ;)
I intend to live forever, or die trying. - Groucho Marx
I, for one, welcome our new dark field mice overlords!
-- Chaos, panic, pandemonium... My job here is done!
It can also detect the spirochetes that cause syphillis, Treponema palladium.
Yes, but maybe you should just see the doctor instead of waiting for the mouse to come to market.
also, it doesn't have shit to do with using "two lasers", the story writer at PC Authority is just retarded. In addition, if I might editorialize, is this really necessary? How hard is it to just grab a piece of paper or something and use that, or, GASP, use a mousepad! What's Logitech going to come out with next, a raman scattering microscopy, mid-infrared quantum cascade utilizing wireless mouse, for those times when you simply must do your mousing on an atomically pure, sub-angstrom microroughness telescope mirror in a class 1 cleanroom? cmon now.
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
Use a trackball: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Trackball
Specifically, I use this Logitech trackball: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Logitech-trackball.jpg
After using that, using a mouse feels like my response time and accuracy is that of the old-style slow and stupid zombies.
Never got mine to work on top of a pizza... Might've been the cheese?
-- Chaos, panic, pandemonium... My job here is done!
No it should work fine, most window(s) installations are usually pretty dirty.
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
I _knew_ I shouldn't have gotten that desk made out of 3mm glass.
The first laser picks out imperfections in the surface of a tabletop while the second laser...
Sound familiar? This sounds to me like it could be the start of a Gillette vs Schick style pissing contest, the absurd current state of which was foretold by The Onion.
Let me go on record as predicting Microsoft will bring out a 3-laser mouse within 12 months. With an ergonomic grip and lubricating strips on each end.
For all the things they've been able to get mice to track on, it still sucks to move a mouse on anything other than an engineered mousing surface. This new sensor may be a good feature for notebook mice that will be used on who-knows-what, but buying a premium gaming mouse for it's ability to track on crappy surfaces makes about as much sense as buying a Formula One car for its off-road handling.
And if anyone says "but it's better!": Today's well-made mice track fantastically well on a proper surface. They're already, for practical purposes, perfect. Yes, admittedly, there are people whose Logitech or Microsoft mice track poorly. But those people fall into two groups: (a) those who aren't using a pad at all, and (b) those who are using a horrible made-when-men-were-men-and-mice-had-balls pad they had lying around. Logitech and Microsoft would be better off just throwing in a proper mouse pad—and there are some excellent, relatively cheap cloth pads—than endlessly making slightly better sensors just so that people's cursors jump a bit less while they're scraping their mice back and forth on horrible surfaces.
(And if Microsoft and Logitech had half as much innovation in materials as they do in optics, their mice would move like air hockey pucks by now.)
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
My mouse will work with Windows?
Finally!
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
Periodically I find it useful to have something that works even on dirty windows.
See now I'm just confused. Is there a clean version of Windows that I wasn't aware of?
That story's bullshit, they brought up an extra astronaut to swing the pen in circles so the ink stayed in the tip.
Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
Unless in hospital or prison where would your average Slashdot reader get syphilis from? Now nterococcus faecium (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa might be on their keyboards and be fun to detect.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
It's a good thing they invented the lesbian mouse, then - no balls and it loves carpet.
also, it doesn't have shit to do with using "two lasers"
Thank Jebus! I thought sharks with lasers were bad enough, but now mice? Anyone else see a problem here?
It's not the legs.
I'm sure no matter how many lasers they're using Gillette will come out with one that has one laser more...
/Mikael
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
Your mouse has no balls.
It takes balls to mouse on glass.
It's just the stupid blogs and reviews that have to go rub it on every glass surface they can find
Wait.... we're still talking about mice here, right?