Logitech takes mouse off pad.

By Allan
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Grand Master

Allan

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Boldly claiming "the future of PC navigation starts now," peripheral vendor Logitech has unveiled a laser mouse that uses motion-control and wireless technology so users can click, scroll and perform other control functions while holding the unit in the air from across a room.

The new Logitech MX Air rechargeable cordless air mouse will become available in August for US$150.

In announcing the device, Logitech noted computers are now much more than productivity tools found at desks. They are increasingly being used as hubs for digital media and are being installed in living rooms and home theaters.

Standard mice do not lend themselves well to those uses, since they usually need to be attached to, or in close proximity of, the computer and often need pads or other flat surfaces to work properly. Its new device overcomes those issues, Logitech said.

Don't Get Up

"Similar to the way people use a remote to control a television, when holding the MX Air mouse, people can now lean back and relax while navigating the computer and enjoying media content," said the company.

In announcing the MX Air, Rory Dooley, a Logitech senior vice president and general manager, offered a number of situations in which the device could be valuable.

"It's for anyone who has listened to music on their PC and been frustrated by having to return to the desk to change songs or volume," he said. "It's for people who want to share vacation photos with friends and family without being tied to the desk. It's for any of the millions of people using the Internet to browse and watch videos on sites such as YouTube or Grouper. And it's for people with a living-room computer or media PC who want to navigate their media content on their terms."

Combined Magic

The mouse combines Freespace motion control (a technology created by Hillcrest Labs), gesture command and wireless "so people can point, select and play media files with just a flick of the wrist," Logitech said.

Freespace provides accurate, responsive navigation based on a combination of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) sensors, DSP (digital signal processing) technology and RF (radio frequency) wireless technology, according to Logitech. Combined, the technologies allow the mouse to work while being held in any orientation and pointed in any direction.

"Sophisticated algorithms" can differentiate between intentional and unintentional hand movements, Logitech said. This means the MX Air knows about and ignores "the slight involuntary tremors everyone experiences when holding a device in the air," said the company.

Additionally, the unit's "gesture-based command" capability means users can change volume, skip tracks and perform other functions with simple wrist gestures.

The MX Air does not have a traditional scroll wheel. Instead it is equipped with a touch-sensitive scroll panel. "A swipe of the finger across the surface enables the inertial scrolling mechanism, which adjusts its speed according to the speed of the finger swipe," said Logitech. Functions including play/pause, volume/mute, back and select are activated "in the air" by pressing a thumb to orange lighted buttons on the back of the mouse.

Source: TechNewsWorld

32509522-2-120-0.gif From ZDNet

logitechmouse.jpg CIO.com

mxairtopdf5.gif Hardware Geeks

New article from Hardware Geeks.com

Today Logitech has announced the MX Air Mouse, an exceptional gadget designed for the entertainment enthusiast. So what is an Air mouse? It's a mouse that you do not need to place on a hard surface to use. All you have to do is move the mouse around in mid air.

There are similar mice on the market and I have tried a few of them, but they all fall short compared to the MX Air. Similar Air Mice are limited in where you can point them and how you can handle them, but with the MX Air there aren't limitations because no matter how it's held, or where it's pointed the mouse pointer follows any direction your hand moves. Think of the Nintendo Wii and its controller the MX Air works just like that.

The MX Air doesn't just work in the air; you can use it on any surface. How can the MX Air work so great in the air and on surfaces? It uses a technology called Freespace.

How does Freespace work?

When the MX Air mouse is held in the air, people can navigate content and applications by pointing and clicking on icons and hyperlinks - just as they would when using a mouse on the desk. The moment the mouse is lifted from a surface, Freespace motion technology recognizes that it is no longer being used on a desk or table. It identifies its orientation in space, and then isolates and translates multiple axes of motion into accurate, consistent and reliable on-screen cursor movements. If you have hand tremors the technology will reduce involuntary hand movements by 70%. (Check our the video below to see it in action.)

The MX Air is also beautifully designed, it has a smooth feel to it and fits in your hand perfectly, its buttons also light up when in use. When the MX Air is placed in its cradle its battery indicator lights up, it turns off when the mouse is in use.

It works perfectly with Media Centers as you can control the volume of your system, the movie you are watching, or the music you are listening too. It was designed to work with the following programs: iTunes, RealPlayer, Rhapsody, WinAmp, Windows Media Player, WinDVD, ACDSee, Photoshop, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Picture Viewer, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Netscape.

I really like how you can raise and lower the volume of your system, simply hold down the volume key and move our hand to the right to raise left to lower the volume, or hold the play button, circle your wrist 360 degrees to the right or left to skip backwards or forwards while playing music. Only thing it lacks is a gesture to fast forward and rewind through a movie or song.

You know what else the MX Air is good for? It's good for presentations; twice I used the mouse in a presentation. After I connected a projector to my laptop, I had no need to touch my notebook; I was able to control my power point presentation from the back of the conference room easily.

So can you use this mouse for gaming? Sure but I don't know if you would use it in the air, I wouldn't. But when using it on a hard surface the response time was perfect for me as I didn't notice any mouse lag (as I call it) during game play. The mouse also responded to the slightest of movements. However the mouse wasn't designed with gaming in mind.

The MX Air has a rechargeable battery that takes about 2 hours to fully charge, and the charge last along time, I have had the mouse several days with our recharging, and I still have 2 of 4 battery bars left.

Source: HWG

Edited by _Allan_
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Grand Master

gigapixels Veteran

Posted
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This has already been done... http://www.gyration.com/en-US/ProductDetai...M&accshow=3

No doubt Logitech has done it better, but still, they're acting as though this is the first time anybody's ever done this.

Experienced

Matt B

Posted
Posted

probably will get this to replace my mx1000, the mx revolution never really seemed to interest me and nor was it a revolution at all (different design and another scroll wheel doesn't count). I was worried they'd ruin the MX series after it but this definitely looks great!

Experienced

jordan.

Posted
Posted
The remote control is for lazy people

No. Its not. Considering how many channels we have these days and how often we change them, the remote control is a necessary convenience. I couldn't imagine having to stand in front the tv set and press the channel up button 50 times to arrive at the station that I want, then decide, oh the other channel was better :wacko:

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