Microsoft's standing by its
BlueTrack technology with two new wireless numbers, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 and the Wireless Mouse 5000. The Mobile Mouse 6000 includes Microsoft's first "nano" transceiver, which sticks a mere 0.8 centimeters out from its USB port for continual ensconcement, but can also be stashed away under the mouse for safe keeping in the sake of a peripheral plugging emergency. The full-sized Wireless Mouse 5000 also features a snap-in transceiver, and like its mobile brother is ambidextrous in design. In June it'll be available in a Wireless Desktop 3000 package along with the Wireless Keyboard 3000 for $70, and both will be available separately for $40, with the Mobile Mouse 6000 bringing in the "high end" at $50. Microsoft is also announcing the LifeCam VX-2000, a $30 VGA webcam for all five of you who haven't bought a computer within the last five years with one built-in. You are loved.
posted May 19th 2009 6:08PM
No Web cam on my laptop, I feel like such a loser
Wait, why are these special?
They track better than laser. I picked up their first BlueTrack mouse and it's been the best mouse I've ever owned.
Something about the blue light being less susceptible to distortion... I dunno. I think I read that on Engadget a while back, actually.
Would be better if they had a bluetooth model as well. I can't afford to waste a usb port on a transceiver.
Huuuuuu precious usb ports! you got a mac air?
OMG, the unspeakable, a Microsoft computer accessory on a Mac. This never leaves the cave!!
@Kris
"The track better than laser,"on different surfaces. A laser mouse still has much higher DPI and refresh rates than Blue Track. On a solid color surface like say a Rocket Fish gaming pad the Laser mouse with the higher DPI will be far superior. However you can put a Blue Track mouse on just about any other surface ie. wood grain and it will track better. Microsoft doesn't seem to give a hoot about the DPI game though what with Logitech and Razer pushing them ever higher.
well I think it's fairly obvious that this isn't a gaming mouse...
I would prefer red to blue.. But hey, that's just me. :P
Nothing a little DIY can't solve ;)
I've heard purple is the way to go;-) (once you've taken both pills:-))
Yes, everyone has a computer with a webcam built in. Unfortunately for those of us with desktop computers, the camera does little good pointing at my feet, so I might have to pick that up.[/sarcasm]
As for bluetrack, are they ever going to start licensing the tech out to other companies? (read: logitech)
Very few Windows desktops come with a built in webcam
@wrs589, but the newer monitors are getting cheap webcams in them.
Yeah, more monitors are getting cams, but there's 2 problems:
1. I don't think built in webcams in monitors or computers is widespread enough for the snide "get with the times" style comment in the article.
2. Jack of all trades, master of none. The monitors you really want, with the quality picture, tend to focus on the quality picture, rather than trying to compete in the swiss army monitor competition
Oh I agree Joe, the idea of fixed cameras doesn't really make sense and can only add more bezel and no one wants that.
I wonder if these little buggers are compatible with Vista Ultimate Crap? I'm just saying because my MICROSOFT LifeCam (webcam) was not. After several dire warnings from Ultimate Crap that the 'new' hardward I was trying to install was untrustworthy and potentially very dangerous to my system, I found that neither Vista Ultimate Crap nor the LifeCam were shipped with drivers for the MICROSOFT LifeCam. Had to do some digging around MS website and buried way down deep I found the drivers.
I dont know why I would dare to expect Vista Ultimate Crap to recongnize the LifeCam, I mean, they are only both MICROSOFT products 'ya know.
Yes, we get it, you think that Vista is crap cause you had a bad experience with a webcam install. Big whoop. Everyone has trouble installing at least on piece of hardware with Vista, or any Microsoft OS. In fact, I use the Microsoft XBox 360 Webcam which is in essence the same thing as the MS Quickcam, and it installed flawlessly, without a driver CD. As far as HID goes, they are all plug-n-play. It may take a few seconds on first plug-in to work, but it will work.
On a side not, how the hell did you come up with a webcam discussion from a Bluetrack Mouse blog?
@DigDumb
You bought a camera that probably came out before Vista..
You had to dig around for drivers? It's the very first search result.. everywhere
As a matter of fact.. Feeling lucky?
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=Lifecam+drivers&l=1
Too curvy.
too stinky!
Once it has Bluetooth I'm sold... Dongles don't work for me, even if it's "micro" sized. Love Blue Track for the record, but needs BLUE tooth :P
Reading the name of the product, I figured for sure it would be Bluetooth. Very disappointing. I'm looking for a BT mouse for my laptop, and I really would have liked this to be the one.
Well, I agree they should make one with Bluetooth, but I definitely don't want one. It seems what you gain in tracking and precision you lose with Bluetooth's awful latency
The reason why manufacturers don't make too many Bluetooth mice is because of an inherent flaw in Windows (*nix are mostly unaffected). When you connect a USB or PS2 mouse, the drivers used are system device drivers. Therefore, nothing short of a freeze in the kernel will cause the driver to stop polling the mouse and updating the hardware cursor. However, on Windows, the Bluetooth stack is mostly in software. Therefore, if other software uses too many CPU cycles, your mouse will begin to miss its polls and cursor updates. You can probably imagine how this can screw up your favorite video game.
I feel your pain though. I too long for a great Bluetooth mouse to use on my Windows-based Eee PC.
Running a bluetooth stack in kernel mode sounds like pretty poor software design to me. The trend is moving things out of kernel mode for security and reliability reasons, especially things like drivers for peripherals.
The whole reason why windows driver architecture was changed mostly for this reason. To remove almost every driver out of the kernel. Drivers can crash now and it doesn't cause the whole system to crash. One of the reasons why it's basically impossible to bluescreen Windows 7. For instance I had windows 7 running on an ancient computer and when the video drivers would fail (probably a failing video card also), it would say video drivers are restarting).
/ot
Looks like a pretty nice mouse, although my G7 is flawless just needs one of those small usb connectors and glowing blue would be pretty nice.
Yup - no Bluetooth = no party. Why manufacturers consistently ignore Bluetooth in favour of annoying dongles that take up a USB port and you can loose is quite beyond me. Make something like the Logitech VX Revolution (I love the scroll wheel on those mice) but with a Bluetooth interface and I'll be very happy.
yes, i really want something to replace the mighty mouse, but as far as the bluetooth mouse world goes, there isn't much available
How is the latency on these wireless mouse? I've used two wireless mice and have always noticed a slight delay when compared to the wired USB mouse I have at home. Obviously, it's nothing major, but I notice it and am reluctant to buy these if they have the same latency. I love the design on these mice and that keyboard shown is great, too, so I am considering buying these.
another nice mouse
Paul Miller you forget the people with desktops do not usually have built in webcam unless they are the all-in-one type of desktops.
"a webcam for all five of you who haven't bought a computer within the last five years with one built-in. You are loved."
Tell me, how many desktop computers (monitors) have webcams built in?
FIRST!
You're totally missing the opportunity for stereoscopic webcammery here.
I think you guys are taking the 5 year comment too seriously.
But seriously though, how many desktops have a we....
Have they stopped neglecting the left handed community with this mouse? Its so disappointing that Logitech and MS seem to put their best technology into righty mice..I understand there are a lot more righties than lefties but its still frustrating for us lefties.
crap, i just read that its ambidextrous
Never mind
I'm a lefty myself, but I always use my right hand for the mouse. Maybe it's because I got used to it, but it's not a bad thing. I can jot stuff down with my left hand while using my right hand for clicking around.
sinister FTW
is there a reason the recent Microsoft Keyboards have dropped the Caps Lock light?
the MSFT blue track is better than the regular optical mouse in that optical mouse cannot be used on shiny surfaces. but blue track can. this is innovation, is it not?
hopefully the mobile one will have bluetooth. otherwise that stinks. I only have 2 usb so the little micro things dont do me any good
If they are going to require USB dongles, then the dongles should include an pass-through port so that you can still plug in other devices.
Just because I haven't bought a webcam-puter doesn't mean I'm behind the times. I just don't want the government watching me. even my cell phones have stickers over the cameras. *puts his aluminum foil hat back on*
Anybody else reacting to the crappy photoshop of the microsoft logo in totally wrong perspective in relation to the shape of the mouse?
I will need to get me one of those :)
Jennifer
http://www.videotrainingpro.com/index.html#
oh well, i thought they might make something comparable to the MX Air...lol, yeah right. i doubt there is anything as good.
Still not even half as good as the Logitech MX Revolution.
I would be great if they would put out another trackball like the explorer that they had a couple of years back.
bluetooth, blueray, blue mouse
with the blue carpet treatment
it doesnt get any better
"as real as it gets" -microsoft
WHY do they not make it bluetooth? is there something bad about bluetooth or better with wireless (USB)?
most laptops come with 2 or 3 usb ports, and a mice will constantly be using one.
there are no good bluetooth mice out there. the big companies microsoft, logitech, apple only have one each. and all of them are either too small or apples which is just horrible.
It seems to be pretty difficult to make BlueTooth mouses that work. Even Logitech has only 1 or two. The problems are performance and battery life.
The USB transceiver solution seems to work much better - the battery lasts forever, well 6 months or so, and performance is excellent.
Can anyone tell me if these mouses from Microsoft have tacky blue LEDs on the side or underneath, or if that shine in the press shot is just the sensor? These look pretty nice otherwise, particularly the all black one. As much as I dislike the garbage OSs Microsoft produces, its hardware division is great.
I have the Microsoft BlueTrack Explorer Mini mouse, and I believe the design is similar to these.
On the bottom of my mouse, there's a crescent shaped strip of plastic that runs along the back edge of the mouse that glows blue. There's also the standard hole in the middle for a blue optical light/sensor. I can only assume that the crescent helps the optical portion when using the mouse on something like glass, where the extra light from the crescent produces some extra calibration for the mouse to know what you're doing. That would be my guess though, as I don't know the specifics (if I did, I would think that those would be trade secrets). Otherwise, when using the mouse on an opaque surface, I don't see the glow underneath the mouse. This may have been changed for this series, though.
On a side note, I don't see much improvement on this mouse, other than its ambidextrous design and smaller USB dongle. To me, it seems like the smaller the USB dongle, the easier it is to lose it...
So what ever happened to Wireless USB? Why should these mice use even micro dongles when they can use WUSB? There is bluetooth, but frankly the mobile mouses that use bluetooth seem to be laggy.
Bring back the Trackball Explorer! For the love of God, please!
Hey Microsoft New Keyboard winkey+L = not lock screen but winkey + ;