http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/ Engadget Comments for Logitech's MX Air Mouse: a witches brew of lasers, MEMS, and RF geekmagic http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 5:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 5:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 6:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 6:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 6:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 6:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 6:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/The mouse is dead.]]>Jul 12th 2007 6:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 9:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/And its 8%, not 4 ;-)]]>Jul 12th 2007 10:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/
it acts like a standard optical mouse when on a surface and switches to a free-air mouse when you pick it up- but it is still a basic USB mouse either way.

the software that lets you reprogram the four buttons (which are set to back, enter, play/pause and volume) would be the part that is not compatable with OS X. I think most of these commands are fairly standard for input devices? (same functions as a multi-media keyboard).]]>Jul 14th 2007 3:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 7:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 7:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/
In my opionion RF connectivity over Bluetooth is much better; you have to have the OS pair for connectivity with bluetooth- so you cannot use a Bluetooth mouse (or keyboard) for windows setup/BIOS or use it through a KVM switch (unless the KVM switch can do the actual pairing- haven't seen one of those yet). It is also easier for the non-technical user to setup a plug-and-go RF dongle than it is to have them go through the Bluetooth setup- and most desktop PCs will require a Bluetooth dongle sticking out the USB port.]]>Jul 12th 2007 8:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/I would be interested in the demographic cross-section that shows anyone who wants to own a $150 mouse but does not have BT (likely built-in) and does not know how to pair. Incidentally, you don't see too many high-end cell phones without BT and/or with their own proprietary RF link.

The only issue I could see would be speed/lag with BT especially with if the MEMS are designed for "high speed".

]]>Jul 13th 2007 10:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/
As for Bluetooth, the only thing I find it really useful for is A2DP for headphones (and AVRCP for the headphones that support it)- but for some strange only a few devices support this... (such as my blackberry 8300 or my treo 700p w/ the Softick A2DP addon).

the only other advantage that I find for bluetooth is that it has a little better range than standard wireless devices- but the cost of having to pair a device with an OS negates this usefulness when you want to use the keyboard/mouse with more than one system through a KVM that allows switching of USB devices...

Have you every tried to hit the DEL/F2 key when rebooting to enter BIOS with only a bluetooth keyboard plugged in? it doesn't communicate as the bluetooth stack doesn't load up until the operating system loads the BT driver (a BT USB dongle is seen as a bluetooth receiver to BIOS- not as a USB keyboard/mouse).

As far as wireless/bluetooth keyboards, why would anyone ever want a wireless keyboard (well, maybe for aesthetics) unless their monitor font is set to XL to take advantage of being able to sit 8+' away from the monitor? (MCE would be the exception, but that is why Micrsoft makes the IR keyboard receiver). I have a 24" gateway LCD and I cannot read this text from over 6' away.

bluetooth is nice idea for interoperability between systems, but how many phones have you seen that support a bluetooth mouse (and why would they)? and how many devices do not support all the bluetooth features -no serial bluetooth connection, cannot be used for DUN over bluetooth, no bluetooh sync, no bluetooth keyboard support, etc.

Most devices do not even support multiple connections- so if I want to use my bluetooth headset, I have to kill the connection to my bluetooth GPS receiver.

we had four bluetooth keyboard/mice setups (that i actually recommended) in our conference rooms at my office- after about 6 months all four have been retired (two were replaced with a long-range wireless and the other two are using PS2 over CAT5 extenders) due to the problems with having to re-pair when the batteries died or or when someone did a hard power down of the system (we had to keep a USB keyboard attached to each system to allow us to re-initiate the pairing process).

Bluetooth is great in theory, but impractical for day to day use unless you have one bluetooth device for use with one bluetooth system.]]>Jul 14th 2007 2:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 8:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 9:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 9:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/
Who has their penis in their side pocket? Seems like you might want to have a doctor look at that!]]>Jul 12th 2007 10:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 10:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 10:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Didn't they do some research? mousegestures are used by nobody, doing them in the air won't change that.

Damn logitech seems to have a policy now that every new muse MUST be 25% more expensive than the previous one, same for keyboards, it's ludicrous. ]]>Jul 12th 2007 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 11:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/02/apples-market-share-falls-rises-depending-on-who-you/]Meant to link to this.[/url]]]>Jul 12th 2007 12:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 12:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/Jul 12th 2007 12:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/logitechs-mx-air-mouse-a-witches-brew-of-lasers-mems-and-rf/www.motionappsreport.com ]]>Jul 12th 2007 5:13PM