The time has come for a cordless mouse for your PC
At an exhibition recently, one of the PC vendors who were showcasing their products lost a mouse. Someone must have grabbed it and put it in his pants' pocket when the girl in charge of the demo unit turned her head away just for a split second.
If it had been a regular mouse -- or the real rodent -- I would not have been surprised. But, it was a cordless mouse, and the only reason I could think of for someone to steal it was that it was already a habit. And the petty theft was a big surprise to me, because the exhibition took place in the ballroom of one of Jakarta's most prestigious hotels, not at the JICC where almost anyone can enter.
Cordless mice have been around for a couple of years. Usually, such a mouse consists of two parts: The mouse itself, which contains a battery-powered transmitter, and a receiver, which is connected with a cord to the PC's or notebook's USB or PS/2 port.
The mouse has no cord, but the receiver does. The radio frequency signals from the mouse are received by the receiver, which draws the power from the computer. Since I first used a cordless mouse several years ago, I have never wanted to go corded again.
Usually, too, the mouse can only work with its own receiver. They both use special codes to communicate with each other. Can you imagine a group of people working together in a room with their mice using the same code? It would be total chaos.
Each time you move your mouse, you would also move the cursor on the screen of your colleague's notebook. Each of these mice uses a different code to prevent it from interfering with the other mice. Thus, stealing a cordless mouse without its receiver simply does not make sense.
Anyway, there are many different models of cordless mice available on the market today. In general, they cost a lot more than the corded ones, but they are more convenient to use. One of the most expensive cordless mice is perhaps Logitech's MX700.
Recently, however, this company, which has already shipped its 500 millionth mouse, introduced a new mouse called MX900.
Now, the receiver of the MX700 serves also as the battery charger. The package comes with two rechargeable batteries. If you place your mouse back on its cradle each time it is not being used, it will stay fully recharged. It is also an optical mouse, which means that there is no moving or mechanical parts to clean with cotton swab and alcohol.
The MX900, according to a recent CNet report, is actually part of a mouse, keyboard and numeric keypad combo called Dinovo MediaPad. The US$250 price tag will shock most of us. However, these input devices use Bluetooth instead of a proprietary RF technology. What it means is that we should be able, in theory, to use the keyboard with any Bluetooth-enabled device, including the PDAs and the cell phones to type in SMS messages.
A cordless mouse is also a great companion for any traveling knowledge worker. I bought a Targus cordless mouse for around Rp 450,000 (about US$52.5), and now I can never leave home without it (each time I take my notebook with me, that is). What makes the Targus mouse a great one? First, it is not overly big, so that I can still use it on the palm rest of my notebook.
The receiver also has a detachable extension cord, so that I can place it behind the screen. Why do I need to do it? The receiver has a blue light to indicate any mousing activity, and my eyes do not like the distracting light. If I put the receiver behind the display, it will stop bothering me.
What do you have to look for when choosing a cordless mouse? First, choose an optical mouse. Today, no other technology can give us as much convenience and reliability as the optical sensor.
Second, choose a mouse whose size fits your palm snugly. Third, take a good look at the USB plug. If the plug is too big, and your USB ports are very close to each other, one of them may end up being unusable. Targus was clever enough to add the extension cord for the receiver and give it a normal-sized plug.