We're not really sure if Microsoft is peddling a revolution here or just the mousing tech flavor of the month, but we've got ourselves a much better idea of where things might be going. After that little
"Say Goodbye to Laser" teaser turned our pointing device world upside down, a reader spotted this MS Explorer Mini Mouse with "Blue Track" technology over on Amazon.de. Coincidence? We're guessing no. We followed a bit more of the PI work done by our fine commenters and discovered Blue Track to be based on a blue LED combined with a wide-angle lens that's supposed to work on more surfaces than laser and optical. Microsoft only really seems to be aiming this at the portable spectrum, hence the wireless adapter and miniature size, so perhaps Blue Track isn't the end of laser after all.
[Thanks, awesome commenters]
Read - Amazon.de's Blue Track gallery
Read - Blue Track explained... in Italian
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Cybergypsy @ Aug 27th 2008 9:18AM
Love the color.
nxp3 @ Aug 27th 2008 9:18AM
Yeah everyone know's blue is better, yeah you can tell ms is caving in...they'll have blu on their xbox360 soon.
Homeboy @ Aug 27th 2008 9:35AM
That's exactly what I'm waiting for. I'm going to buy a full HD TV next month. Want a bluray player. The PS3 is good but I simply don't like the PS3 so I'm left with the option of buying a HTPC with a bluray player. Preferably I would love to purchase a 360 with a built in or external bluray drive.
BSTKiller @ Aug 27th 2008 9:50AM
@homeboy
You should suck it up....for the $ you are not going to find a better BD player than the PS3 for twice the price. You are not forced to use it for any thing else but the built in DLNA to stream PC content, Netflix (soon), HULU etc and the built in WiFi are awesome. SONY won't bite. Oh, through a PSP into the mix for Remote Play of your streaming content too (not BD yet though :( )
Richard Lai @ Aug 27th 2008 9:50AM
I wish the same for Toshiba laptops soon...
sydlawrence @ Aug 27th 2008 10:01AM
@BSTKiller I couldnt agree more I have a 360 for gaming but I have PS3 for home entertainment system. I dont even have any games for it. Streaming all my vids and music from my iMac and using the browser for youtube, bbc iplayer (UK only), and all the other *ahem* legit online video sites. As well as a great blu-ray player. I dont even have a sixaxis anymore just use the bluetooth remote and logitech mediaboard.
Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Aug 27th 2008 10:21AM
"The PS3 is good but I simply don't like the PS3..."
Now that makes sense.
sr @ Aug 27th 2008 10:27AM
Yo homeboy, the dolts at MS are like the dolts at Toshiba. See if you can buy a better player or build an HTPC or whatever you want to do for less than $399. Remember as long as you don't buy games Sony loses money on your purchase.
Kurt @ Aug 27th 2008 10:44AM
I would never buy a PS3 for a media player. You don't get MKV support and that is essential. I can live without BluRay because I can download the bluray rips in MKV format. WMVHD is what I use now and stream to my Xbox but my next step is a Core2Duo with HDMI out based system that can play everything.
dan2600 @ Aug 27th 2008 12:47PM
oh boo hoo kurt im so sorry ps3 doesn't play your illegal downloads...
MKV support could be added in the future if more people use it (they just added xvid in a few updates ago)
WMVHD sucks
stop being a cheap ass and pay for the things that entertain you, people gotta eat.
Vidikron (FU) @ Aug 27th 2008 12:27PM
@Kurt
The 360 doesn't support MKV either. You can quickly remux to MP4 (XenonMKV and one or two other programs out there can do this for you), but you'll lose surround sound and have a 4 GB file size limit, or you can go through a lengthy (10-24 hrs depending on file size and PC) and tedious re-encode process to WMVHD. On the other hand, for the PS3 you can use a program called MKV2VOB to quickly (1-2 minutes) remux an MVK for a playable format and retain full surround sound and the exact same video quality as the source MKV (since it's a remux and not a transcode). I'd esitmate that works for about 85% of the MKVs out there. The rest require some minor transcoding, but it typically takes 2-4 hours on my PC instead of the 12 or so hours trancoding to WMVHD took (and those failed half the time).
Richard Lai @ Aug 27th 2008 1:57PM
Hmm... I got low ranked for wanting Blu-ray on Toshiba laptops. Why the hate? :(
phanbouy @ Aug 27th 2008 2:38PM
transcoding just so you're compatible for playback om some gizmo?
fuck that. HTPC ftw.
seriously, saying MKV is only for illegal downloads? talk about ignorant! it's called (legally) archiving your DVDs.
Tony2X @ Sep 4th 2008 4:42PM
How on earth did a post about a new mouse turn into a fanboy rant about which console is best? Oh yeah, clever. Blue. Blu-ray. Ok, I get it. Impressive.
Please stop.
HAZE @ Aug 27th 2008 9:18AM
Commenters FTW!
ByronGman @ Aug 27th 2008 10:27PM
Being an ass-kisser won't get you any votes.....
Kiwi616 @ Aug 27th 2008 9:19AM
Why can't MS use BT as a frequency instead of using another dongle????
XGM @ Aug 27th 2008 10:09AM
Because people would complain that it uses BT instead of a dongle, because those people getting one of these new netbooks (stupid name imo) don't really have BT on them.
wickedpheonix @ Aug 27th 2008 10:20AM
which is why, XGM, BT mice come with BT dongles.
telepheedian @ Aug 27th 2008 10:21AM
Really? I've been trying to find a decent, cheap BT mouse for my Eee 1000h, besides, they could bundle a cheap adapter in with the mouse, similar to how they do it now with the 900mhz stuff.
Cal @ Aug 27th 2008 10:23AM
A simple (or at least in theory) solution would be to have the dongle, but have a switch on the underside of the mouse to switch it between bluetooth mode and dongle mode.
Richard Lai @ Aug 27th 2008 10:25AM
@Kiwi616: RF consumes much less power than BT. My Logitech wireless mouse lasted for about 5 months on two AA batteries! I don't think there are any BT mice that can match that, but correct me if I am wrong.
xtremesniper @ Aug 27th 2008 10:28AM
From previous experiences (BT MX1000) bluetooth mice have a nack of lagging.
RF is perfectly fine.
GON @ Aug 27th 2008 10:35AM
Why can't you ask a different question?
Tonicboy @ Aug 27th 2008 11:11AM
@Cal
That makes no sense whatsoever. That would be more complicated and expensive than a Bluetooth mouse with an included dongle which you would simply leave home if you had built-in Bluetooth.
slab @ Aug 27th 2008 11:29AM
My Microsoft Bluetooth Wireless Laser Mouse 8000 came with a bluetooth dongle; I haven't used the dongle, though, since it syncs up with my Mac's bluetooth just fine.
Neal @ Aug 27th 2008 11:35AM
BT uses a LOT more juice than RF. I get 5-6 months off an RF mouse, and I trashed my last BT mouse, it would suck the same type batteries dry in 1 month or less used on the same PC with the same user habits.
BT is great for what it can do, but it has a lot of power and lots of bandwidth, but taking in feedback from a mouse doesn't need either of those.
Basic @ Aug 27th 2008 12:11PM
There are low power CSR radios out now... and it will only be another few years until I find a 5-button BT mouse that takes 1 removable battery that also has a low power radio.
Also... why isn't the stupid dongle smaller?
heffeque @ Aug 27th 2008 4:56PM
@Richard Lai: I have a Toshiba BT mouse working on my MacBook Pro and... no, two AA batteries don't last 5 months, but they do last for 3-4 months of intense and continued use (a little less if they're rechargeable batteries).
KevinQ @ Aug 30th 2008 12:15PM
Bluetooth technology is actually the cheapest to produce, the expense is in the bluetooth patent license. I worked with a hardware developer on a project and it turned out 75% of the cost was in the license.
horizontaleight @ Aug 27th 2008 9:19AM
That lasted long...
Dusty @ Aug 27th 2008 9:19AM
Interesting... I was just reading about this in the other topic. Pretty cool.
chyan @ Aug 27th 2008 9:19AM
Nice actually.
Beastage @ Aug 27th 2008 9:21AM
Now... if us lefties can get a version of their own!
chefgon_ign @ Aug 27th 2008 9:28AM
I've never understood why there are people who use the mouse with their left hand. I'm a lefty myself, I have essentially no coordination with my right hand whatsoever, but using a mouse requires almost no precision. I use a regular right-handed mouse for the virtue of not needing to reorganize every single computer desk I ever lay my hands on in order to make it usable and I have never had trouble using my otherwise totally useless appendage for mousing duties.
Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Aug 27th 2008 9:35AM
Since I do most of my PC gaming with my right hand (as well as photo editing and any other precise tasks) I like to balance things out by using my left hand for basic clicking around. If I don't, my right hand will sometimes get a little sore since I work with PCs all day long.
projectpete19 @ Aug 27th 2008 10:08AM
i heard some guy named Ned Flanders opened a store just for lefties called the Leftorium, you should check it out!
dagwud @ Aug 27th 2008 11:24AM
I have tendinitis in my right elbow, which is aggravated by using a mouse. So I use my left hand at the computer.
Thinking more broadly, not everyone who uses a computer has a functional right hand, or even a right hand at all.
Jarhead2012 @ Aug 27th 2008 3:13PM
I personally think that left handed mice are stupid. I'm a lefty, and I do just about everything left handed. I can use the mouse with my right hand, but when I'm playing PC games I have to use the left hand on the mouse. I think that mice designed specifically for left/right-handed people are stupid, and, IMO, uncomfortable, even if I am using the correct hand with them. I like my regular non-specialized mice just fine, thank you.
on that same note, I can't cut with left handed scissors. I can only cut with right handed scissors on my left hand ;-)
Wwhat @ Aug 27th 2008 7:03PM
How hard can it be to sell lefthanded versions, or adaptable versions, you'd think it's the old times where they used to frown on lefthanded people and tried to force them to be righthanded, and burned 'witches and shit..
Macca @ Aug 27th 2008 9:31AM
Apple Mighty Mouse comments here out of the way please.
Thanks for your co-operation.
telepheedian @ Aug 27th 2008 10:23AM
Get out of the way, please.
Pc_Madness @ Aug 27th 2008 9:41AM
Awww, the poor MS marketing peeps. Gone to all this trouble and it only lasted.. 2 hours? :p
Kaveman @ Aug 27th 2008 9:45AM
Really the only reason is "blue" is the new everycolor.
To all the lefty-righty commentors, I am so left handed, you may as well chop off my right hand. We really need mouse manufacturers to either step up and invert their mold for a *significant* batch run, or design these things symmetrically.
Can't wait for neuron control!
Yuri @ Aug 27th 2008 10:40AM
I'm a true lefty, I cannot do anything with my right hand at all except play the piano which took me 10 years of practice to do on anything above happy birthday, but I've never had a problem using a mouse with my right hand =\ actually, it feels off trying to use my left hand, I keep clicking the wrong buttons when I do...
That being said, I assume that aiming this towards travelers was better. At home, on a desktop, I assume you all use a solid surface any optical mouse or laser mouse can handle, and something like this is more useful for business presentations, and doing things on the go, you know? Making a home version seems somewhat silly, are we all using our desktops on our laps?
Jason @ Aug 27th 2008 11:04AM
Kaveman, I'd be happy to control your neurons for you.
bob sakamano @ Aug 27th 2008 9:45AM
new surfaces? from what i heard osama bin laden was not satisfied when his optical mouse did not work on the surfaces of his cave so he contracted microsoft to come up with something more sand-worthy?
mewyn @ Aug 27th 2008 9:49AM
I hate blue LEDs. Sure they were neat when they were unique and expensive. I even managed to wrangle up some engineering samples for a cooler/heater project back when they were $20 each. But now they are in *everything* and are becoming quite obnoxious.
Plus, if they are using the same Cypress Semiconductor mouse chips as everyone else in the world, these devices work better at lower wavelengths of light than higher, and actually work best in the near IR range. (Most CMOS optical sensors are this way.) I'd like to see if they are using a different chip for this that responds better to higher wavelengths, or if this is as I suspect marketing drivel.
sola @ Aug 27th 2008 1:26PM
You're bitching about... the overuse of a color of tiny little light? Really?
As far as i know, blinkies neither have nor need an NAACP. Don't bring that day down upon us.
mewyn @ Aug 27th 2008 3:04PM
Indeed I am. They are overused, especially superbright LEDs in general for indicators. For example, my DirecTV receiver has a ring of superbright blue LEDs that do nothing but just shine. The only other purpose I've seen is that they spin when it's booting. That's it. It's a horrible distraction when trying to watch a movie, thank god they can be disabled.
On a computer, especially laptops, I don't want some extremely bright indicator light shining in the corner of my eye, it's just irritating. Any indicator should be a normal brightness LED.
And, yes, blue is overused. It's in everything these days, just because it's the in thing. Not everything needs a dozen blue LEDs, you know.
Plus, my biggest grievance with this is the performance curves of blue light with a CMOS sensor. CMOS light sensors have always been more sensitive to the longer wavelengths of light, and this, if using a normal CMOS sensor will not be as good as it could be if they were using a red light instead of blue. I'm not discounting, though, that they may be using a different technique than CMOS, but CMOS is pretty much the standard out there for most semiconductors.
I did also make a mistake of my last post, it should have been longer, not lower wavelengths. I hate mornings... and messing up the energy vs wavelength (red light has lower energy, longer wavelength (I do know what I'm talking about, I just have a case of what my old music teacher, Mrs. Mellenger, calls "stupid fingers")).