PC mouses scamper into new terrain

Doug Young

TAIPEI: Nearly 40 years after its conception in a California laboratory, the

PC mouse is finally leaving its pad.

The mouse, which has become an indispensable part of any desktop computer,

has begun taking to all kinds of new surfaces and even to the air, multiplying

to meet the needs of an emerging generation of high precision computers.

Many of the latest designs in mouse technology were on display this week at

Computex, the world's second-largest computer trade show, in Taipei.

The most advanced devices sported ultra-precision optical and laser

technology, allowing them to glide across unconventional surfaces like suede,

stone and even human skin, and do everything from storing files to giving

massages.

Most of the computing world's biggest players, including Dell,

Hewlett-Packard and IBM, offer the devices with their PCs.

Top developers include Agilent Technologies, while Sweden's Logitech is

arguably the only true brand name in the category.

One of Logitech's top-end models, an $80 wireless laser mouse, can track

reliably on a wide range of surfaces including polished and wood-grain,

according to the company's Website.

But much of the innovation is coming from a field of lesser known players,

many of them producing for the big names.

LASER

Taiwan's Acrox Technologies Co. Ltd., which is considering an initial public

offering around next year, was showing a range of new products at Computex,

including state-of-the-art optical laser devices that have taken the mouse

concept airborne.   

One product designed for lecturers allows users to scroll around a projected

computer screen and click on icons using a built-in ball, or by pointing a laser

beam that comes out of the bottom, said Greg Kuo of Acrox's marketing

department.

"It's perfect to carry outside or inside," said Kuo, whose

company's clients include the likes of U.S. retailer Radio Shack and Germany's

Vivanco Gruppe AG "Everyone likes this one."

The move to newer and more innovative mouses -- the agreed plural for the

device -- comes as a range of more portable products hits the market and users

demand more versatility and precision.

International Data Corp. predicts that portable laptop computers will outsell

traditional desktop models by the end of the decade in developed markets like

the United States, creating a need for more flexible mouse designs.

Other new requirements and applications, such as Acrox's lecturing mouse and

the high precision models demanded by gamers, are also driving the trend.

RATS?

The first mouse was developed in the 1960s by a group of early computer geeks

at Stanford Research Institute led by Doug Engelbart. The team also developed a

foot-operated control called a rat, but it never caught on, according to

"The Mouse Project" Website.

The mouse itself did not take off until the widespread popularisation of

personal computers in the 1980s.

Recent innovations have included the introduction of optical and laser models

and battery-powered wireless mouses.

Optical models, which work by "reading" the surfaces they glide

across, can distinguish resolution as fine as 800 dots per inch (dpi), said

Maggie Lian of NewMen Technology, which was also showcasing its wares at

Computex.

Within the high-precision category NewMen also has two models designed just

for click-happy gamers, with an average life of 3 million clicks or more

compared with just 1 million for more sedentary models.

NewMen's other innovative models include mouses with fingerprint recognition

that will only unlock for the right user, and a device with two wire-connected

pads that fasten to the body to give an electrical massage while computing.

"You can't put it on your chest or near your chest," Lian cautioned

of the massage model. "It uses a small amount of electricity to give three

kinds of (Chinese style) massage. You can adjust the strength from the

mouse."