mouse

It's only been a few days since this season's Valentine's Day products began appearing in earnest, and we're already thoroughly nauseated. In fact, given the selection offered so far, we're surprised it took this long. Here's one that certainly doesn't help the cause: the "Heart Mouse" from, of all places, the Victoria and Albert Museum. (At least it doesn't profess its love for you, as did the last one seen in this space.) It's products like these that make the "FPS Gun Mouse" look better all the … Read more

With all the digital pens that are coming to market these days, one might ask whether the world needs yet another smart writing instrument. But unlike some of its competitors, Wow-Pen has a bit of experience on the subject.

Almost exactly a year ago, the Korean company came out with its "Traveler" version, which was really a mouse with an ergonomic design that could be handled like a pen. Now it's releasing its "Digi" model, which also reads and stores what you write through a wireless USB receiver. It can toggle back and forth from … Read more

HP's products have never been known for their fashion sense, but some extra-curricular coaching from Gwen Stefani may be paying off. Its new Bluetooth Laser Mouse isn't going to set Milan on fire--was this the best they could do for its name?--but remember who we're talking about. It's Hewlett-Packard.

So HP might deserve a little more credit for adding a tiny bit of flair, kind of like the way you compliment an acquaintance for wearing jeans instead of Dockers for the first time. The specs aren't too shabby either, according to Chip Chick, with … Read more

Microsoft is looking to make its Bluetooth notebook mouse more Mac friendly.

The emphasis in that sentence is on the word "looking."

The software maker hasn't made any software or hardware changes to the Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000. It has, however, created new retail packaging for the product, dubbing it Microsoft Notebook Mouse for Mac.

Gone is the red packaging and the "Certified for Windows Vista" logo. In its place is a Mac logo and white packaging. Of course, the same mouse is inside, meaning the Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000 works perfectly well on a … Read more

This is wrong on so many fronts. First, there's the obvious: a mouse festooned with diamonds and gold? It's bad enough that we're forced to endure $29,000 USB sticks made of the same. Second, would you really want to jam something like a rock-studded "MoGo Mouse" into your computer? That's where the ultra-slim peripheral is stored and recharged, in the PC slot.

Even though this limited edition is estimated at a relatively paltry sum of $1,000, according to Newlaunches, we can just imagine its stones coming loose inside a laptop's chassis. … Read more

On Thursday, Web site-monitoring firm WatchMouse released the results of a study about the performance of 104 social-media sites--social networks, blogging communities, bookmarking sites, and the like--and boldly deemed them to be overall "slow and inaccessible."

WatchMouse used its "Site Performance Index" (SPI) methodology to track the reliability and load time of the sites in question; this figure is computed by calculating the time needed to call up a site's home page and applying a penalty for each failed request. Lower is better: an SPI of 500 is considered good, whereas the Utrecht, Netherlands-based WatchMouse … Read more

We're not convinced that combo mouse phones are the way of the future but, hey, if there's a market for laptop trackballs then anything's possible. In fact, the competition is apparently heating up sufficiently so that manufacturers are vying to cram even more functions into the devices--the latest being an earphone.

Why? For "extra privacy," as Geek Alerts notes, though there's no microphone boom to whisper into. But we suppose one can't be too picky about a Skype phone combined with an 800 DPI optical mouse that goes for $22.

Brando is such a thoughtful company. When the Hong Kong gadget maker isn't dispensing heated mice to warm us up, it's worrying about how to correct our posture. It's even given us a USB lightbulb to brighten up the gray days of winter.

And now it's extended this compassion to matters of personal hygiene with the "USB OptiWind Mouse." This fan-cooled peripheral is designed to keep palms dry even for the most avid gamers with its built-in air conditioner. And it's a lot more discreet than such alternatives as the "Anti-Perspiration Wrist Pad&… Read more

It's impossible to guess what the mad scientists at Hong Kong-based Brando will come up with next, and all bets are certainly off when it comes to the mouse. Already, various manufacturers have combined the once-simple peripheral with everything from phones and keypads to hand warmers and back massagers.

But leave it to Brando to find the first "USB Label Mouse Printer" from Casio to distribute. All you need to do is write your message on the computer and transfer it to the mouse through its USB connection, and the little guy will spit it out on … Read more