AU: Looking at $99 for it in Oz.

The strange thing about the Magic Mouse is not how it works. It is that you have different gestures than on a standard Macbook Pro trackpad.

One obvious example: Since you move the cursor by moving the whole mouse with your hand, there’s no point in also using one finger to move the cursor, like on the trackpad. Moving your finger on the surface of the Magic Mouse allows you to scroll in all directions, 360 degrees around.

You can also scroll with two or three fingers, if you move them up and down. But if you swipe them from side to side while using a web browser, your browsing history moves forward or back.

Physically, the mouse is beautiful, and feels nice. The top is made of white polycarbonate that matches the keys on Apple’s keyboards. It is one seamless touch surface, and, logically, there is no Mighty Mouse scroll nipple.

The surface can also simulate the left and right buttons. Unlike in previous Apple’s mice, the two buttons work perfectly. This time they also added physical feedback, so when you click the buttons, you actually get the entire surface to click—like the original clear Apple mouse.

The mouse runs on AA batteries, and Apple claims 4 months of use per set. You can get it with the new iMac or pay $US69 separately.

There was a small thing I noticed, though: the mouse would sometimes move when I tried to scroll — I can maybe get used to this, but it was a thing that happened to me and my presenter who definitely had more time with the mouse. The other reason why Apple went with fewer fingers for swipe and scroll gestures, besides the issue of pointing already being taken care of by the mouse’s table action, was because you need your ring finger to hold the mouse properly or the thing slides on your desk.

Also, the mouse will be software configurable for lefties.

Apple Introduces Magic Mouse—The World’s First Multi-Touch Mouse

SYDNEY, Australia – 21 October 2009 – Apple today introduced the new wireless Magic Mouse, the first mouse to use Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch technology. Pioneered on iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads, Multi-Touch allows customers to navigate using intuitive finger gestures. Instead of mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the Magic Mouse is a seamless Multi-Touch surface. Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and will be available as a Mac accessory at just recommended retail price A$99 inc GST.

“Apple is the Multi-Touch leader, pioneering the use of this innovative technology in iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Apple’s Multi-Touch technology allows us to offer an easy to use mouse in a simple and elegant design.”

Magic Mouse features a seamless touch-sensitive enclosure that allows it to be a single or multi-button mouse with advanced gesture support. Using intuitive gestures, users can easily scroll through long documents, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. Magic Mouse works for left or right handed users and multi-button or gesture commands can be easily configured from within System Preferences.

The Magic Mouse laser tracking engine provides a smooth, consistent experience across more surfaces than a traditional optical tracking system. Magic Mouse uses Bluetooth wireless capabilities to create a clean, cable-free desktop and its secure wireless connection works from up to 10 metres away. To extend battery performance, Magic Mouse includes an advanced power management system that works with Mac OS X to automatically switch to low power modes during periods of inactivity. The wireless Magic Mouse is powered by two AA batteries which are included.

Pricing & Availability
Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and is available at the end of October through the Apple Store (www.apple.com/au), at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers for a recommended retail price of A$99 inc GST. Magic Mouse requires Mac OS X Leopard version 10.5.8 or later.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Apparently it’s difficult to control and study the neurons of a mouse when it’s physically moving, and this method makes that easier. The ball is suspended on a jet of air, and the mouse is strapped in place with a collar on top of it (like a giant trackball, sort of). Given that I don’t understand psychology at all, or even totally know what a neuron is, I’m going to go ahead and assume that this is an elaborate ruse to get a mouse to play Quake 2. Well played, scientists. [Pop Sci]

Users of glass desks are the kind of people we’d expect to be fans of minimalism. Problem for them is all that glass and smooth surfaces and creative use of negative space is kinda put to the torch by having to use a trackpad so their mouse gets some kind of traction with the surface below it.

No longer! Now glass desk users can enjoy the same mousing goodness the rest of us do, sans mousemat, using Logitech’s Performance Mouse M950 or Anywhere Mouse M905. Or so we are told.

According to Logitech:

To track on glass (that’s at least 4 mm thick), Logitech Darkfield uses dark field microscopy to detect microscopic particles and micro-scratches on these surfaces, rather than tracking the surface itself. Similar to the way in which our eye sees the clear night sky, the mouse’s sensor sees the clean areas of glass as a dark background with bright dots – the dust. Then, the sensor interprets the movement of these dots to track exactly where you’ve moved the mouse.

Hmm, really? We can’t wait to try one of these. You’ll pay for the luxury of mousing on glass. The M950 (pictured) is priced at $199.95 and the M905 (compact design for mobile users) at $149.95. The new mouses (mice?) will be available early next month. That’s sooner than you think. [Logitech]

MAKE calls this a huge XY table. Crunchgear thinks it’s kind of a mouse-controlled Etch-A-Sketch. All I know is, it uses a mouse, three skateboards and an Arduino microcontroller. But for what purpose?

I suppose it could be used as an inexact Etch-A-Sketch, using three skateboards for linear movement, but it seems like an awful lot of effort (and space—it must take up an entire garage!) for that. So help me out: What could this thing be used for? Should I be scared or excited? [MAKE via Crunchgear]

Logitech promises that its new “Incurve” concave keys and wrist-rest properly cradle your fingers in a way we suppose flat keys can’t. We haven’t gotten a chance to use it, but it sounds interesting to have a little gully for fingertips. The MK700 also has improved battery efficiency that yields some impressive results: The keyboard will last about three years, and the mouse about 12 months. Otherwise, it’s a pretty standard set, clocking in at $US100 when it ships later this month. [Logitech]

Launching just days behind the similarly-designed piggybacking headset for BlackBerry, the Mogo mouse for netbooks brings its own slot, in the form of a mountable charging holster. The 5mm-thick mouse connects via Bluetooth, and will do your hand’s bidding for around 10 hours on a 30-minute charge.

Mogo for netbooks is available as part of a $US100 kit, which includes one (1) tiny mouse, a docking connector and a charging cable. [Mogo via Slippery Brick]

Original 1967 mouse patent? Check. Crazy virtual reality input methods? Ditto. In addition to abandoned pyramid-shaped and Timex clock mice, highlights include a mouse that has a telephone built into it, and another that’s built-into a telephone. [Technologizer]

Updates to the Comfort Curve design include a soft-touch palm rest and low-profile quiet touch keys. As for Windows 7, users can take advantage of a time-saving feature called Taskbar favourites that allows easy access to open programs by mapping their location to a series of hotkeys and instantly adapting to changes. It also includes Device Stage support—giving users quick access to peripheral devices and a dedicated Windows Flip button for thumbnail previews on both the mouse and keyboard.

The Wireless Comfort Desktop is available now for pre-order on Amazon ($80) and is expected to ship later this month.

Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 Makes Everyday Tasks Easier with Smart Features for Windows 7

New desktop set offers ultimate comfort made easy.

REDMOND, Wash. ¾ Aug. 4, 2009 ¾ More than seven in 10 Americans have felt discomfort from computer use,1 so today Microsoft Corp. debuts the ergonomist-approved Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000, which utilizes a Comfort Curve layout that encourages natural wrist posture with a slight six-degree curve. This new desktop set combines the Microsoft Comfort Curve keyboard layout with a soft-touch palm rest to make the PC experience more comfortable. Since the Comfort Curve design launched five years ago, more than 10 million units have been sold,2 and the design’s ease of use continues to draw praise, with 94 percent of users recommending the keyboards.3 To complement the comfort, the Microsoft Hardware Group also created smart one-touch features for Windows 7 to help consumers make the most of their new Windows 7-based PCs.

“People are spending more time on computers than ever before, so comfort is very important,” said Dan Odell, lead ergonomist and user researcher at Microsoft Hardware. “A Comfort Curve keyboard, like the Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000, provides an easy way to improve your typing ergonomics while maintaining your productivity.”

Full Package: Comfort, Style and BlueTrack Technology

The design elements of the keyboard enhance its look and feel with an updated soft-touch palm rest; low-profile quiet touch keys; and a contoured, compact shape that looks great on any desk. The included Wireless Mouse 5000, with rubber side grips and an ambidextrous shape for comfort in either hand, features Microsoft BlueTrack Technology, which lets consumers go anywhere and work with confidence on more surfaces than when using optical and laser mice.4 Both the mouse and keyboard wirelessly connect to the computer via a reliable 2.4GHz mini-transceiver that works up to 30 feet away.

Smart Features for Windows 7

The Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 is the perfect companion for Windows 7 because it gives people smart ways to make everyday computing tasks easier. A new time-saving feature called Taskbar favourites gives Microsoft keyboard users an easy way to access their open programs. Instead of the traditional My favourites Keys with stored locations, Taskbar favourites will map to the location of open applications on the improved Windows taskbar. The icons in the taskbar can be easily rearranged just by clicking and dragging; Taskbar favourites will instantly adapt to the new icon locations. Other Windows 7 integration features include these:

o Device Stage. Microsoft Hardware mouse and keyboard products will support Device Stage, a Windows 7 feature that gives customers quick and easy access to common tasks, including product information, registration, settings and more for popular device categories such as cell phones, cameras, printers, portable media players and input devices.
o Windows Flip. Microsoft mouse and keyboard users can easily see a thumbnail preview of all open windows with the press of a button. A full-screen preview of the application will automatically display, enabling the user to better identify and select the desired application.

“Our goal is to have a strong ecosystem of compatible and innovative products,” said Gary Schare, director of Hardware Ecosystem Product Management at Microsoft. “We’re excited about the work Microsoft Hardware has done to light up the key features of Windows 7. For example, the Taskbar favourites keys on the Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 complement our improved taskbar – helping to deliver a full end-to-end experience to make life on a Windows 7-based PC easier and more enjoyable.”

Pricing and Availability

The Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 will be available later this month for an estimated retail price of $US79.95 (U.S.).5 The product is available now for presale on Amazon.com and will ship when it is widely released. The Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 is backed by a worldwide three-year limited hardware warranty from Microsoft. More information about these and other Microsoft Hardware products is available at http://www.microsoft.com/hardware.

[Amazon]

SteelSeries rails against the current gaming industry pseudo-standard of DPI (dots per inch) as a measurement of tracking speed, instead preferring to tout CPI, or counts per inch, so the money spec for the laser-powered Xai reads like this: It processes 12,000 frames/second at 5,001 CPI at movement speeds of 150 inches/second. Which makes it high definition. Okay!

Xai shares its ambidextrous grip—which supposedly took three years of research with pro gaming teams to deduce—with the slightly smaller, cheaper Kinzu that’s essentially an optical variant. And both of them have seven programmable buttons, with driverless install.

And of course, there is a special mat just for high definition mice, the 9HD, though no word on how much it, or the mice, will cost. I would bet you the amount that they cost that they’re not cheap, because then I would make a lot of money.

STEELSERIES INTRODUCES NEW HIGH DEFINITION GAMING MOUSE AND GAMING SURFACE

After extensive research with the world’s top gaming teams, SteelSeries’ innovative gaming mouse provides gamers with new levels of precision, accuracy and stability to enhance performance

CHICAGO – July 24, 2009 –SteelSeries, the leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories, today introduced the SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse, SteelSeries Kinzu Optical Mouse and the SteelSeries 9HD hard plastic surface. The technology, shape, size, weight and feel of the SteelSeries Xai was designed with one purpose: to create an immediate advantage for gamers by enhancing a user’s performance during game play.

“We spent three years methodically perfecting the SteelSeries Xai by researching mouse grips used by professional gaming teams such as Fnatic, SK Gaming and Evil Geniuses in order to create a level of performance that gamers have never experienced before,” said Bruce Hawver, CEO of SteelSeries. “The SteelSeries Xai’s High Definition sensor offers a huge improvement over the current highest-end gaming mice and it is designed with technical specifications that increase the level of performance results, especially during the most frantic and fast-paced games.”

Research and development of the mouse was done in close cooperation with full-time professional gamers from the U.S., Europe and Asia to ensure that the SteelSeries Xai is a tool with a purpose – not just a gadget. The 10.8 megapixels/second sensor offers a huge improvement over the current generation of gaming mice by processing 12,000 frames/second at 5,001 CPI at movement speeds of 150 inches/second providing the user with High Definition tracking for unparalleled precision. Furthermore, the SteelSeries Xai offers unprecedented levels of personalization for the user, with unique SteelSeries sensor innovations like SteelSeries ExactAim, SteelSeries ExactRate, SteelSeries ExactSens, SteelSeries FreeMove and automatic lift distance calibration. SteelSeries Xai can be fully configured via a LCD menu system on the back of the mouse, where settings will be stored on the mouse thus eliminating the need for drivers and providing configuration capabilities on-the-go.

Some of the features of the SteelSeries Xai include:
Ambidextrous shape
7 Programmable macro buttons, 200 strokes per button
Driverless plug-and-play, with 5 profiles
Fully configurable via LCD menu system
100-5,001 counts/inch

The SteelSeries 9HD surface was designed to fully support the enhanced tracking capabilities of next-generation High Definition gaming mice. The finely textured surface consists of tens-of-thousands of light reflecting microscopic points, enabling the user to perform exceptionally precise mouse operations, including minimal movements as well as high velocity “slingshots.”

In addition to the SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse, SteelSeries is also introducing the SteelSeries Kinzu Optical Mouse. Based on the same shape as the SteelSeries Xai, but 7% smaller in size, the SteelSeries Kinzu processes 9,375 frames/second at 3,200 CPI and is compact, lightweight, and is in a league of its own when it comes to reliability and stability.

SteelSeries Xai, SteelSeries Kinzu and SteelSeries 9HD will be available August 2009.

About SteelSeries
SteelSeries is a leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories, including headsets, keyboards, mice, software and gaming surfaces, selling in more than 75 countries. SteelSeries has been on the forefront of professional gaming gear since its inception in 2001, thanks to continued innovation and product development in cooperation with leading professional gamers. All SteelSeries products are developed in co-operation with professional gamers to ensure optimum performance and durability. SteelSeries supports the growth of competitive gaming and electronic sports through professional team sponsorships and community support all over the world. For more information, please visit www.SteelSeries.com.

[SteelSeries]