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Logitech Reveals Mouse Mat That Is a Giant Wireless Charging Pad (theverge.com)
Logitech has just revealed a new Powerplay technology that builds wireless charging directly into its mouse pad, allowing compatible wireless mice to charge constantly while on the pad. The Verge reports: The wireless charging tech built inside the Powerplay mouse mat is proprietary to Logitech, and the company claims it took more than four years of research and development to make it a reality. I asked Logitech why it didn't go with something more ubiquitous like the Qi standard, and the answer I received was that it wouldn't have been possible to cover the whole surface (275mm x 320mm) of the pad with Qi. Alongside the Logitech G Powerplay, which is to be priced at $99.99 and released in August, Logitech has also announced the first two mice officially compatible with it: the G903 and G703. The G903 is a very modest upgrade from the G900 while the G703 is practically identical to the well liked G403; both of the two new models use the PMW3366 optical sensor and just add improved switches rated to last longer. The G903 will cost $149.99 and the G703 will be $99.99 when they go on sale later this month.
I had a mouse with this same functionality back in 1992, and it cost much less. It even came with a wire to keep it attached to the computer, so it wouldn't get lost.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
fire hazard, cancer hazard... it won't end well...
When you need a wired mousepad.
I am not a big fan of wireless mice anyways. But the main benefit is it keeps your desk clean of excess wires But if your mousepad needs a wire then what is the point.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I guess it would be nice if my trackball was wireless and I could just put it on a mouse pad to recharge it...
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
Lets cram batteries in for no reason! Yay. Maybe they should be working on making a wireless accessory that dosnt suck first.
Let me guess, next step will be wireless mousepad that is installed under the desk and charges both mouse, phone, tablet and a toothbrush:)
Inductive field + metal object. I can feel my hand sweating already.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
No man can serve two masters. You're either committed to your marriage, or your mouse.
If you try to do both, expect to be burned.
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
Hmm, they could have used inductive sensing/power as Wacom does since eons ago and completely eliminated the need for a battery or even a separate radio in that mouse (the Wacom ones communicate using the same signal that keeps them powered). The mouse would have been lighter too - some Logitech wireless mice are literally bricks with significant momentum due to their weight, making them very tiresome to use over longer periods.
Of course, you can't use the Wacom mouse outside of the tablet surface but I guess that is a moot point here - the Logitech charging pad is meant to be the mousepad too.
Right now Logitech has managed to replace one annoyance (running out of battery) in a wireless mouse with an even larger one - proprietary charger that takes up a ton of space on your desk. Oh and it costs $150 - for a mouse!
I wonder if Logitech forgot about the patent on this
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
Wasn't one of the big selling points of the 2nd-generation optical mice is that you didn't need a mouse pad anymore, you could use it on more or less any surface, even an uneven one? Now they want to sell you an expensive mouse pad? Seems backwards.
Logitech is also pairing up with VW to make stone wheeled cars that will be built to run on rubber roads.
11 comments and nothing but complaints and grousing. Where's the apps guy, to accuse you all of being Luddites?
I've been using a cordless keyboard and mouse since 2001, Logitech's very first model with a USB antenna. They're a marvelous invention. The antenna is a brick as big as the mouse with a four foot cable coming out of it with two separate USB connectors on the end. Still works beautifully, even though it looks like something from the last century. Admittedly it didn't cost $200-$250, even though I bought it when it was a brand new product, so I'm not impressed with the price point of this product, but the concept is immensely appealing. Not having to pop the batteries out of the mouse every few weeks and muck around with the battery charger is just the sort of tiny little convenience my lazy ass desires. (Why do I have sometimes have to rotate the batteries with my thumb after I plug in the charger before the charge light will come on?)
In the immortal words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, stop whining!
Instead, let's speculate about why Logitech is lying about their inability to use Qi. The Wireless Power Consortium has published a paper about how to use multiple cooperative flux generators to provide charging over an arbitrarily large surface, while not wasting power energizing coils that aren't underneath a receiver. Considering the size of the receiver puck in the picture of the Logitech product, it's obvious they're using precisely this technique in the mouse pad. Qi could have been used just fine, especially since the part that makes Qi what it is is the communications protocol between the receiver and the transmitter. Qi uses backscatter modulation from the receiver to tell the transmitter to give it power. When there's no receiver present, the Qi transmitter uses only 70 mW. With a receiver present and the protocol negotiated successfully, the transmitter ramps up to the power level requested by the receiver, up to 7.5W in the v1.2 standard.
I assume Logitech doesn't want to submit to any standards verification and doesn't want people to be able to use their mousepad to charge their Qi-enabled phones because Logitech hates their customers and wants them to die. I invite other opinions...
What the hell is a 'mouse mat'?
Do mice whipe their feet on it???
My wireless mouse and wireless keyboard from Logitech I bought 4+ years ago both still get 12-15 months of battery life on 2 AA batteries and are used heavily. So...I don't really see the point. It'll just end up creating a magnetic field to ruin itself or other nearby electronics. I don't want to be the "ground." I'm good.
Someone is going to put a smartphone near this and it will end up exploding (even if its name isn't Galaxy).
Simple solution: stop being left-handed.
The linked article as well as the Logitech website don't state if the mouse can operate away from the powered mouse pad at all, and if so, for how long, and for how long it has to be charged. If the mouse is constrained to the pad anyway, instead of charging the mouse, a technology such as in the Wacom tablets may be a better choice, where the pen or mouse only contains passive elements and no power source, and provides absolute positions if requested, instead of only relative movements.
"TTF" (tumor treating fields) are varying electrical fields that disrupt cell reproduction by interfering with gene segregation during mitosis.
They can be produced, in turn, by varying magnetic fields. This allows treatments to be done with magnetic coils, rather than electrodes.
While they are used for cancer treatment, they work by killing ALL cells that attempt division while exposed to the fields.
This is very handy for treating, say, glioblastoma (an aggressive brain tumor), because cells that are NOT trying to divide are apparently unaffected, and non-cancer cell division in the brain is very rare.
(This might be why epidemiological studies of cellphone use versus brain cancer incidence has indicated a slight REDUCTION in brain cancer risk.)
In other tissues (like the hand, for instance), I'd expect such fields to be more problematic. If they kill off, say, the stem cells needed for wound repair, there might be substantial damage or eventual destruction of the hand - but nothing would be noticeable for perhaps years.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Except, the charging is continuous and my mouse has started to grow. It's less of a 'mouse' now and more of a 'capybara'.
I wouldn't mind except that the capybara is developing an attitude so the capybara tends to bite when I click. Also, my arm is getting really tired!