MousEX Glider extends your mouse's utility

While there are a myriad devices -- such as the Saitek Pro Gamer Command Unit and Belkin n52te SpeedPad -- available to complement your mouse when gaming it up, MousEX extensions look to actually alter the way you handle your critter. The outfit is apparently looking to roll out a number of extensions, but the one currently available (dubbed the Glider; $29.95) enables users to attach their current mouse to a pad along with its programmable keyboard, where he / she can then move the cursor without actually curving their hand around the mouse itself. It also features a whole heap of buttons to store your favorite macros on, and in case it wasn't apparent, looks to assist the everyday user a bit more than the hardcore gamer. We know things such as this are better explained via imagery, so check out an informative (but slightly mundane) video after the jump.

[Erick @ Nov 26th 2007 7:43AM]

Thats about as non ergonomic as you can get

[Cox @ Nov 26th 2007 7:52AM]

This looks rather uncomfortable.

[mike @ Nov 26th 2007 7:53AM]

They can just put an optical sensor at the bottom of the thing that looks like a number pad so the user wouldn't need a normal mouse

[Grizz @ Nov 26th 2007 8:08AM]

No-crap, that's what i was thinking. Plus the fabric dampens accuracy, its like a handicap.

[Chird @ Nov 26th 2007 8:30AM]

Yeah, or at the very least make it wireless. Better yet, give it an optical sensor AND make it wireless.

[William @ Nov 26th 2007 8:09AM]

Looks pretty clumsy, and hard to perform fine movements, but it might be useful for someone with tendonitis or carpal tunnel...

[Nikkoli @ Nov 26th 2007 8:24AM]

It looks like the scroll function is worse than my scroll wheel, and based on teh size of that I think I would need 2-3 times the mousing area to get the same effect that my current mouse can do on my keyboard tray.

[Dale @ Nov 26th 2007 9:01AM]

Looks like a total piece of crap.

[alex @ Nov 26th 2007 10:09AM]

@Dale Couldn't have said it better myself.
How does the mouse attach? With glue or velcro or something?
It could very well be that sliding would be more ergonomic than holding a mouse, but this thing looks like it was designed by red green himself. For those of you who aren't familiar with red green, sufficed to say: don't be surprised if it comes with a roll of duct tape and a canoe paddle.

[Technex @ Nov 26th 2007 11:17AM]

WTF? Heard of Teflon (aka Polytetrafluoroethylene)?

[Craig Misak @ Nov 26th 2007 11:46AM]

high school or middle school science fair go BAD... and plus my wireless laser mouse has 10 programmable buttons i can do the SAME thing and it's oooohh so comfortable not dragging around a piece of cardboard. I'm embarrassed to have even said i watched that video.

[Tonicboy @ Nov 26th 2007 12:02PM]

Wait, let me get this right. So they want to add a bunch of programmable buttons onto a mouse, but instead of doing just that, they put those buttons onto a stupid pad which you are forced to slide around unergonomically. First of all, they are trying to "solve" the "problem" of dragging a mouse around. I don't know about other people, but I don't drag my mouse anywhere. My wrist stays still as I nudge the mouse around with my thumb, ring finger and pinkie. With this stupid thing, I would be forced to actually slide the pad around with my wrist which is much more fatiguing. Second of all, I now have another wire to contend with. I haven't used a wire on a mouse in years and now they want me to regress? Lastly, it's goddamn ugly.

[B @ Nov 26th 2007 12:13PM]

i hope this doesn't catch on. I like moving just the mouse to move the cursor on the screen. This is like making the keyboard into the mouse. *** Mouse with 104 programmable keys ***

[jollyfish @ Nov 26th 2007 12:26PM]

Isnt it a little too early for April fools??

[Mark @ Nov 26th 2007 12:56PM]

Does nobody lift their mouse to "scrub" along for more motion than their messy desktops allow?

With my two screens, small keyboard/mouse tray and a program that annoyingly moves the cursor to my secondary screen, I want to be able to lift my mouse to either keep moving the pointer across both screens, or at least to put it in a neutral position for fine pointing tasks.

[wayrachaki @ Nov 26th 2007 1:07PM]

looks like a great idea, but very painful for anyone with wrist problems.

[ptulskie @ Nov 26th 2007 3:09PM]

The natural way for your hand to rest is with the thumb up in the air or slightly at an angle. There is nothing ergonomic about that and if anything it will only serve to increase problems for people who have them to begin with as a result of too much typing.

That being said, it looks interesting and it might have some utility but the follow through looks very rough... very rough indeed.

[Znarfaggle @ Nov 26th 2007 5:19PM]

What's wrong with the mouse that people need to improve it? if you're gonna change something, try something completely different (like a trackball), but don't add useless upgrades like this onto something that works.

[Dhes @ Nov 27th 2007 7:05AM]

I love the fact that the programmable key board is just a numeric keyboard rotated by 90 degrees and wingdings instate of numbers.
I know what could be there next big thing, what if they make the piece of cardboard bigger so you can put your laptop on it, so now you can just drag your laptop over the desk instate of using a unwieldy mouse.

[jvcalin @ Nov 27th 2007 9:53AM]

Er... why do they require a mouse on it? Why can't they just equip the thing with it's own usb cable and have it send the same signals that a mouse would? It's not like a mouse is so expensive people can only afford one... doh!

Even then, it's still easier to use a mouse (or even a trackpad... Apple's multi-touch trackpad is amazing) than this silly thing.

[jvcalin @ Nov 27th 2007 9:53AM]

Here's an idea... why not eliminate the keyboard on the laptop and replace it with a big multitouch trackpad.

Or even better, replace it with a multi-touchscreen a la the Nintendo DS, only bigger.

[Linda @ Dec 16th 2007 1:39PM]

This is the perfect mouse for the FrogPad one handed keyboard. www.frogpad.com