Gurman: Voice Control for Next Magic Mouse 'Makes Sense'

[avkills]

A billion sold and 998 million returned.

People actually bought them?

 

[Manzanito]

Mac minis don't have a mic. And neither do MacBooks when they are closed according to a quick dirty Google.

So (in that world) it makes sense to add voice to a peripheral.

I'm not sure how it would be the worst place to add one. It's close to the user after all.

the problem to overcome is the hand on it and resulting muffling/noise. But it's not like they don't have noise canceling tech and other ways of mitigating that. Would it be enough? maybe ...maybe not.

edit: also, worst case, would it be terrible if the Magic Mouse you were buying anyway also functioned as a mic as long as your hand wasn't on it?

Looks like a solution in search of a problem to me, and makes zero sense.

True, mac minis lack a mic, but if you MUST have a mic, lots of displays have one integrated, or, you know, you can buy a mic. Having it integrated in every mouse just in case makes little sense to me, but that’s just my opinion.

 

[Chuckeee]

Seems like every computer video camera has a microphone. If your Mac has a built-in camera, a display with a camera, a stand alone camera or you use your iPhone camera with your Mac, then you already have a microphone. And that microphone is probably already directed to point at your face and you are unlikely to accidentally cover it with your hand.

 

[enigmatut]

View attachment 2467207

Came to be sure this was a comment. V glad to see it was the first. Hats off to ye.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

In what scenario would you need to use a mouse where there isn't a mic nearby? Laptops have mics built in – would this be for Mac minis?

I could see an implementation like the raise to wake Siri on Apple Watches, although I would much rather they added something more useful like touchID and haptic feedback instead.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Voice control makes zero sense. What would make sense would be to move the charging port to the front of the mouse, making the mouse more ergonomic, making the edges of the mouse less sharp, making the arrow keys on the keyboard full sized, and bringing the price down

I really doubt Apple would put it on the front because they don’t want people to use it wired. They’ll probably make a port on the back or go the MagSafe route

 

[gaximus]

You now have to ask permission, to flip it over, and stick it in, to charge it. 😂

 

[God of Biscuits]

The MM isn't really about 'scrolling' on multiple points. It is more about putting a mini track-pad on the top of the mouse., The multiple points thing is just a small effect (not an ergonomic primary objective). It is Apple's skew toward macOS being primarily aimed at laptops (with trackpads) and trying to promote the unique trackpad gestures and the associated 'muscle memory' (so 'annoyed' when it isn't there... hence buy Apple's more expensive alternative).

The other Apple objective is 'button-less' ... which really isn't necessarily an ergonomic improvement. (e.g, Apple Displays with no buttons. )

A rose by any other name... A surface as a scrolling control is the point. Call it whatever the hell you like, it accomplishes the same thing, and has the advantage of being 2D for horizontal as well as vertical scrolling.

 

[God of Biscuits]

Nothing can improve the Magic Mouse from Apple

Looks quite nice, BUT is not ergonomic, too flat like a flounder

Keeps your hand in tension

Cannot compete with Trackpad

One of the worst products developed by Apple

You can hold it multiple ways. It doesn't lock your hand into one molded way. Not everyone's hands are the same size, nor are fingers the same proportion to overall size as the bowl of the hand. Arguing that it's can't compete with the trackpad? It's not trying to. It's an alternative.

 

[God of Biscuits]

Why use wired charging at all? Just make it wireless chargeable.

How exactly would that appease the "Waaah, I can't use the mouse while it's charging! Waaah!" crowd?

 

[God of Biscuits]

Virtually any Logitech mouse is more ergonomic than a Magic Mouse. I use a Logitech M720 and it feels quite nice and fits my hand very well.
A brick is more ergonomic than the Apple Magic Mouse.

I can almost guarantee that particular mouse would hurt my hands. The scroll wheel alone would do it. The Magic Mouse does not.

 

[xraydoc]

I can almost guarantee that particular mouse would hurt my hands. The scroll wheel alone would do it. The Magic Mouse does not.

I envy you then. I’d love to be able to comfortably use Apple’s mouse.

 

[Sippincider]

Mousey, scroll up.
Mousey, move diagonally.
Mousey, left click.

Apple, please park this in a dusty corner of the R&D lab...

 

[JDHiro]

I was just thinking, a feature I'd really love to see is the ability to pair the mouse to my STUDIO DISPLAY instead of my Mac. That way when I swap MacBooks connected to my display at home, I instantly have a working mouse. Currently I have a work laptop and personal laptop, and it's annoying to juggle the mouse between them.

Magic Keyboard doesn't matter as much since it can just be plugged-in to the Studio Display.

 

[macjaffa]

I was just thinking, a feature I'd really love to see is the ability to pair the mouse to my STUDIO DISPLAY instead of my Mac. That way when I swap MacBooks connected to my display at home, I instantly have a working mouse. Currently I have a work laptop and personal laptop, and it's annoying to juggle the mouse between them.

Magic Keyboard doesn't matter as much since it can just be plugged-in to the Studio Display.

Great idea, and very Apple like. Well, old Apple at least.

 

[seek3r]

I was just thinking, a feature I'd really love to see is the ability to pair the mouse to my STUDIO DISPLAY instead of my Mac. That way when I swap MacBooks connected to my display at home, I instantly have a working mouse. Currently I have a work laptop and personal laptop, and it's annoying to juggle the mouse between them.

Magic Keyboard doesn't matter as much since it can just be plugged-in to the Studio Display.

If the plug was on the front like most mice you could, that already works perfectly with the magic trackpad because apple autopairs the keyboards and mice to whatever the most recent mac they’re plugged into is

 

[macjaffa]

If the plug was on the front like most mice you could, that already works perfectly with the magic trackpad because apple autopairs the keyboards and mice to whatever the most recent mac they’re plugged into is

I dont think thats' what JDHiro was asking or look ing for. He wants the input device paired to the display so it works with whatever mac is plugged into the display. Your solution of having it autopair to the most recently plugged in mac does not work since I may connect a laptop to the screen that was not the most recently paired device.

 

[JDHiro]

I dont think thats' what JDHiro was asking or look ing for. He wants the input device paired to the display so it works with whatever mac is plugged into the display. Your solution of having it autopair to the most recently plugged in mac does not work since I may connect a laptop to the screen that was not the most recently paired device.

It does work pretty well with the trackpad and keyboard. I'm not sure if plugging them in is pairing them wirelessly, or if it's just communicating over the wire.

Either way, I would still like for the mouse to be wireless as the wire can get in the way a bit when a mouse device, but yeah I'd take a front facing USB-C over nothing.

When I was using a Logitech MX mouse, I just plugged a dongle into the Studio Display but it always works. But that mouse died in 4 months and now I refuse to buy another Logitech lol.

 

[seek3r]

I dont think thats' what JDHiro was asking or look ing for. He wants the input device paired to the display so it works with whatever mac is plugged into the display. Your solution of having it autopair to the most recently plugged in mac does not work since I may connect a laptop to the screen that was not the most recently paired device.

right, but if you leave the mouse plugged into the display when not in use it will autopair with the laptop when you plug into the display (this will work now btw, it's just that the port placement makes it irritating)

 

[CarlJ]

right, but if you leave the mouse plugged into the display when not in use it will autopair with the laptop when you plug into the display (this will work now btw, it's just that the port placement makes it irritating)

Yeah, but they don't want the mouse wired all the time. If I understand correctly, they want the mouse (and keyboard?) paired via bluetooth with the display, so that when you connect the Mac to the display, all the input devices come along for the ride, in their native form (i.e. no cable for the wireless mouse). Not waiting for the mouse to pair with the current computer (and hope it works), just having the display provide the mouse and keyboard. So you can switch back and forth between having multiple different computers hooked up to the monitor, and whichever is currently hooked up immediately and reliably gets all the peripherals.