Mouse/Keyboard Changes

[firewire2001]

Re: New, from Apple

Originally posted by cyberfunk
The ThoughtMouse (tm) ! Just start a thinking, and the mouse starts a moving !

might be problems tho, like, if your listening to your iTunes, and getting groovy from the visualizer, then the mouse starts a clicking here and there.. ruining all your fun.

as funny as it sounds researchers have been able to do something similar with monkeys...

basically a monkey "thinks" about moving a cursor type thing on a screen and has to put it on tope of a target.. the scientists say that it is more like moving an extra joint than it is "thinking".. lie you wouldnt think "move mouse up" - you would actually think of thye movement (like i think of the movement of my hand)...

i woulf send you a link for the article, but it was a while ago.. there are a lot of researchers working on this hot topic, but the reason why this particular article stood otu was because it required very little training on the user's part, as opposed to other systems that require a lot more training.

 

[macsurfer]

Yes, I saw that on the news. What you don't mention is that there was an electrode attached to the monkeys head that was connected to a wire that was connected to the computer.

 

[Ibjr]

Re: New, from Apple

Originally posted by cyberfunk
The ThoughtMouse (tm) ! Just start a thinking, and the mouse starts a moving !

might be problems tho, like, if your listening to your iTunes, and getting groovy from the visualizer, then the mouse starts a clicking here and there.. ruining all your fun.

I can't imagine the problems this would create for teenagers looking at pornography.

 

[macsurfer]

Did I mention OS 9? I NEVER said that. YOU did. I love the dock and the way it looks and behaves.

 

[wilhelmd]

Can someone give more examples of what you can do with a PowerMate before I go out and buy one?

Originally posted by G4scott
Tell me which is more efficient? clicking on a tiny arrow to scroll down this web page, moving your hand to the arrow keys on the keyboard, or moving a finger on your mouse? Scroll wheels are very useful with browsing web pages, very long documents, and folders with lots of items. I'm not sure what experience you've had in the past with scroll wheels, but I find them very useful...

Ok, so some people like scroll wheels, some love scroll wheels, and some hate them. It's like the MacOS9-vs-MacOSX discussion. Well, maybe not.

Ok, here's an idea: Apple came up with the "no-moving-parts" iPod scroll wheel. I have no idea at all how these work, but if they feel good (and judging by Steve, they do) why not implement them in the mice? Or the same thing as the trackpad on the iBooks and the PowerBooks - only just smaller, so that users can scroll both vertical and horizonatl - and program it to do lots of cool things!

Or what about a fingerprint scanner? Or cooling device, so that your hand wouldn't get sweaty? Or - or - or...

Well, time will show...

 

[G4scott]

Originally posted by digitalvideo
To YOU. I still hate scroll wheels and will ALWAYS hate scroll wheels. Besides, I can use the down arrow key if I don't want to use the mouse (or my PowerMate). Not only that but I can scroll up and down this whole page by just moving my mouse a half inch to an inch up or down. HARDLY inconvenient.

Yes, I think the dock is efficient and I LOVE THE DOCK. I don't get the spinning beach ball when I use it. I hate all the whiners and complainers who b*tch and moan about "oh whaaaaaa, mommy look what the dock did to me, whaaaaaa".

OK, so you prefer not to use scroll wheels, and that's fine. Just cool down a bit... Just because you don't like scroll wheels and some people do doesn't mean that everyone who uses scroll wheels has flawed logic. Just because some @$$hole made a snide remark doesn't mean that everyone else is wrong...

As for the dock, I feel the same way. It's really useful for me, and much more efficient and just plain better than the application switcher from OS 9 and the taskbar from windoze... It could be a bit better in some ways, but it's still fine...

Anyways, I just hope this thread doesn't turn into "scroll wheels suck" and "scroll wheels rule" and "the dock sucks" and "the dock rules" and all that other crap... Remember, this is about keyboards and mice

 

[cyberfunk]

Re: Re: New, from Apple

Originally posted by Ibjr


I can't imagine the problems this would create for teenagers looking at pornography.

I was going to say that.. but then I thought better of it.. glad someone else has a slightly dirty mind.

 

[Ibjr]

Originally posted by digitalvideo
Did I mention OS 9? I NEVER said that. YOU did. I love the dock and the way it looks and behaves.

If I were to call someone a lady of the night, i would be calling her a prostitute. OS9 was implied, its most ardent supporters despise OSX.

 

[cyberfunk]

Powermate

Originally posted by wilhelmd
Can someone give more examples of what you can do with a PowerMate before I go out and buy one?

It's a great tool ! You can program it to any key combination, and it can be application specific, or system wide settings, or you can have it be specific to some applications, and in others, do the system wide thing (system wide defualts to changing the volume, and muting/unmuting when you "click" (push down on it) with it).

GriffinTech's site has many cool usage suggestions


http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate/features.html

 

[macsurfer]

Originally posted by Ibjr


If I were to call someone a lady of the night, i would be calling her a prostitute. OS9 was implied, its most ardent supporters despise OSX.

OS 9 was implied where and how? You are REALLY paranoid!!!!!!!!

 

[G4scott]

Originally posted by wilhelmd
Ok, here's an idea: Apple came up with the "no-moving-parts" iPod scroll wheel. I have no idea at all how these work, but if they feel good (and judging by Steve, they do) why not implement them in the mice? Or the same thing as the trackpad on the iBooks and the PowerBooks - only just smaller, so that users can scroll both vertical and horizonatl - and program it to do lots of cool things!

Kensington's Mac Only mouse already has a scroll wheel like that. It's a solid state touch sensitive area, just like trackpads on notebooks, except smaller. It senses where your finger is, and where it moves to do what it does accordingly... One feature that my brother's pee-cee laptop has, that seems nice, is the ability to scroll up and down by moving your finger up or down along the very right of the track pad, and to scroll left and right by moving your finger along the bottom... I haven't used it much, so I don't know how well it works, but it might be a nice feature to have... (oh, and this isn't a dell innovation... it's a logitech, or some mouse company's idea, so it's ok for Apple to use it )

 

[Ibjr]

Originally posted by digitalvideo


OS 9 was implied where and how? You are REALLY paranoid!!!!!!!!

Nothing I do is out of paranoia, I hope you are never told to write a commentary on Lolita or Pale Fire.

You'd miss the best parts.

edit: Changed books

 

[macsurfer]

If you can show me where I implied OS 9, in my post, I'll eat my words. But there is no implication, so you are quite paranoid.

"Lady of the Night" is a euphemism for "Prostitute". What euphemism did I use for "OS 9"?

 

[cyberfunk]

Originally posted by G4scott
One feature that my brother's pee-cee laptop has, that seems nice, is the ability to scroll up and down by moving your finger up or down along the very right of the track pad, and to scroll left and right by moving your finger along the bottom... I haven't used it much, so I don't know how well it works, but it might be a nice feature to have... (oh, and this isn't a dell innovation... it's a logitech, or some mouse company's idea, so it's ok for Apple to use it )

I've used that feature on some compaqs, I think it's mostly software based, but I've found it sort of annoying and unreliable.

 

[topicolo]

Originally posted by digitalvideo
Guess the same thing would apply to "Scroll Wheels Rule" then, wouldn't it???? WOULDN'T IT?????????????

Just innocently curious: how old are you digitalvideo?

 

[macsurfer]

What difference does that make? Possibly older than you. Possibly not.

 

[Snowy_River]

Just as a comment on mice and Mac OS X...

I would not be at all surprised to see Apple come out with a three button mouse. With Mac OS X, they have an operating system with Unix at its core. Many Unix operations and applications rely on three button mice. As Apple pushes to get more apps ported to Mac OS X, it only makes sense for them to add a three button mouse to their Pro line (where such high power applications would be most likely to turn up).

On scroll wheels: Personally, I like scroll wheels. It's very common these days for mice to have the scroll wheel double as the third button. However, I suspect that Apple will maintain a one button mouse in their consumer line, with the idea of simpler interface for the non-high-power user.

Anyway, just my thoughts spilling out through my keyboard...

 

[srobert]

One more note about keyboard:

The black apple pro keyboard and mouse are now selling for 6 $ CAN less than the white ones on Apple Store Canada. Could this be a confirmation. hmmm.... But then again, the black keyboard is only cheaper on Canada's Store. And what's more, the black keyboard is more expensive than the white one in UK. Maybe this is simply coincidence.

Note that displayed amounts are in canadian dollars.

 

[topicolo]

damn, I just want to lick those "add to order" buttons. They remind me of Jolly Ranchers

edit: fixed a spelling stupidity

 

[macsurfer]

Jolly *Ranchers*

 

[topicolo]

Damn, u caught that before I did.

 

[jettredmont]

(Regarding the right and bottom of some track pads acting as a scrolling area)

Originally posted by cyberfunk


I've used that feature on some compaqs, I think it's mostly software based, but I've found it sort of annoying and unreliable.

I've used it on Dell and HP laptops. It works well for the most part, but it doesn't hook into the OS like the scroll wheel does (there are scroll wheel up/down calls in XP and OS 10.1.5; the scrolling-area on a trackpad physically temporarily positoins the mouse on the topmost "up" or "down" button, sends a "click" event to the OS, then repositions the mouse). Because it isn't well integrated, it sometimes has unintended consequences.

I would suspect, were Apple to adopt this particular innovation (I don't think it was Logitech either, but rather a trackpad manufacturer that came out with it several years back) I'd hope they'd make it an OS-supported thing rather than a tacked-on kludge as is still the norm in the PC world (and, I might note, will continue to be the case until MS begins producing a trackpad).

Oh, and scroll wheels r00l!

 

[bird]

Why do scroll wheels "suck" again?

I still don't understand why scroll wheel "suck". I realize that "scroll wheels are killer!" isn't chock full of reasoning either, but at least it has an obvious corollary: that, with a scroll wheel, you can scroll a window. People seem to find that functionality useful. Maybe that functionality is done better by Griffin. Why? What specifics can anyone give as to why scroll wheels are so bad?

Is it the implementation of the scroll? Placement on the mouse/trackball itself? Something else?

And please understand that blanket statements with no evidence will not be very convincing. For instance, I use a trackball -- love 'em -- but obviously some prefer a mouse. Why? Probably boils down to reasons having to do with personal taste and preference. In other words, what I like may not be what you like. What's the point of going around and saying "People who use [insert input device here] are losers!"? It's juvenile.

But I'd really like to know some reasons why scroll wheels are so disliked by some.

Bird

 

[redAPPLE]

Re: Why do scroll wheels "suck" again?

Originally posted by bird
I still don't understand why scroll wheel "suck". I realize that "scroll wheels are killer!" isn't chock full of reasoning either, but at least it has an obvious corollary: that, with a scroll wheel, you can scroll a window. People seem to find that functionality useful. Maybe that functionality is done better by Griffin. Why? What specifics can anyone give as to why scroll wheels are so bad?

Is it the implementation of the scroll? Placement on the mouse/trackball itself? Something else?

And please understand that blanket statements with no evidence will not be very convincing. For instance, I use a trackball -- love 'em -- but obviously some prefer a mouse. Why? Probably boils down to reasons having to do with personal taste and preference. In other words, what I like may not be what you like. What's the point of going around and saying "People who use [insert input device here] are losers!"? It's juvenile.

But I'd really like to know some reasons why scroll wheels are so disliked by some.

Bird

Because it reminds one of a peecee?

 

[macsurfer]

Re: Why do scroll wheels "suck" again?

Originally posted by bird
It's juvenile.

Bird

Ahhhh what's wrong with being young (or young at heart)?

I hate em becuase they are a PC thing. I hate em becuase they are ugly. I hate em becuase my finger cramps up and get's tired of the repetitive short movement it has to make over and over again to use it. I just hate em and that's my personal taste and I will never use one unless Apple starts making them and I have no choice.

P.S. Who's trying to *convince* anyone of anything? Not me. I'm just saying how I feel!