Apple's Mighty Mouse was one of the most loved and loathed rodents of all time. When it worked, it was a magnificent productivity booster for Mac users. Unfortunately, over time, even after hours and hours of vigorous rubbing, the top-mounted trackball would become so ensnared in hand-jam that owners were left with two options: delicately splay the mouse for a bit of X-acto home surgery... or smash it with a vengeance hammer until justice was served. So maybe now you can understand all the hopeful fuss made over its successor: the Magic Mouse. It's now shipping to those of you who ordered it separately from its iMac bundle. Snow Leopard (and Leopard) users can even download the software update now so that all those multi-touch and gestural features will be enabled once the bluetooth mouse arrives. Then we'll see if this is the mouse that rights all those wrongs.

Update: Added 10.5.8 Leopard download link.

Read -- Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0 (Snow Leopard)
Read -- Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0 (Leopard)
Read -- Magic Mouse now shipping

No matter how bad the global economy gets, you can always rely on there being a select few people with (a lot) more money than sense. Exclusively for them, Dutch outfit Intelligent Design has put together this handcrafted Bluetooth laser mouse, which boasts a neodymium scroll wheel, high quality plastic resin and a grade 1 titanium body. We didn't know you could handcraft titanium and we challenge anyone to explain what neodymium has to do with good input ergonomics, but then maybe that just shows how little we know about luxurious items like this. So, if you have $1,200 (or €800 in Old World money) to spare, why not add this unnamed mouse to your shopping list, just under the Mnemosyne USB drive? More snaps can be found after the break.

[Via HardOCP]

Were you expecting unicorn tears or something? iFixit keeps working to finish its list of teardown to-dos, this time with Apple's new Magic Mouse. It probably comes as no surprise, but just under the top surfaces lies a considerable number of capacitive sensors, and other than that, there really isn't a lot to gaze upon. Then again, if you tend to fancy the ins and outs if gears and gizmos, this should be right up your alley.

For those of you not paying attention in class, SplitFish is a peripherals maker that, true to its name (or half its name, anyway), offers PS3 controllers that split the left and right hand controls into separate parts. The Dual SFX Frag Pro, its latest, comes with a 2,000dpi laser mouse to tempt those last few PC gamer holdouts to the dark side of consoles, and a three shoulder button-equipped directional pad for navigation. What can we say, it looks weird as hell, but the more we thought about it, the more we wanted to get our hands on a set to see just how games played with this unorthodox control scheme. Should you share our interest, you'll also want to know that pre-orders are being taken now for a cent under $90 in the US or a penny short of £80 in the UK, and shipping starts November 10.

[Via SlashGear]

They're in the house! The brand new ultra-wide all-aluminum iMac has been unboxed inside the hallowed halls of the Engadget HQ, and inside was a real scarcity of wires, a keyboard (which now requires one less battery but otherwise looks exactly the same), and of course that brand new multitouch Magic Mouse. It feels much thinner than its predecessor, and the whole front of the unit provides a satisfying, unified click. The runners on the bottom make the mouse seem almost more appropriate for sledding than mousing, but it glides around just fine on a solid surface. Pics galore in the gallery below.

When we flicked the mouse on it was easy enough to spot it over Bluetooth on our regular Mac, but it only worked with tracking and single click -- none of this capacitive nonsense without a software update, naturally. On the iMac's first boot it was able to pick up the mouse and keyboard without a problem, even letting us use the capacitive scrolling to work through the setup wizard. We quickly spotted our first usability problem: coming from a trackpad heavy workflow, our fingers were expecting a capacitive tap-to-click action, instead of having to physically click the mouse. It's not a huge problem, but there's no 1:1 usability model between an Apple trackpad and this mouse. Scrolling is single finger, with a two finger left or right swipe doing back / forward in a browser or the finder. Right clicking requires a lifting of the left click finger, just like the Mighty Mouse, though all-in-all it feels much less frustrating to use than the Mighty Mouse, which almost seems to rage against the click at times. Like we said before: no pinch to zoom, but given the shape and texture of the surface, we're not sure we could pull it off even if the software allowed for it.

Ready for some more Apple news? Good. Say goodbye to the Mighty Mouse (for reasons beyond those legal entanglements) -- the Magic Mouse has arrived. Hate buttons or moving parts? So does Apple, and nothing exemplifies the company's march towards a buttonless future more than this "two button" laser mouse, which has one button and no scroll wheel -- just a multitouch surface (a hard acrylic) across the top. With the Magic Mouse you're able to do familiar gestures from the Mac trackpad playbook such as two-finger swipes, but you can also do single-finger horizontal and vertical scrolling, complete with a software-based inertia (see a video here). Sorry kids, no pinch zoom. The wireless device boasts a four-month battery life, and will be available today for $69. Full press release is after the break.

Update: Check out our hands-on!

And here we go: the Apple Store is down, presumably to update it with all the new gear we're expecting today. New iMacs, plastic MacBooks, multitouch input peripherals, maybe a new Airport Express -- we could get everything, we could get nothing. You'll know as soon as we do.

Update: Kasper from AppleInsider just hit us up with some last-minute leaked part numbers, which reveal a new iMac with a 21.5-inch display, some new mini configs including a server with two hard drives and no optical drive, new AirPort gear, and yes, a new 60W MacBook power supply. See? Dreams do come true. Oh, and that's apparently just part of the list, so we'll see what else happens when all this stuff actually hits.

MC207LL/A - K84 BEST BTR- USA
MC238LL/A - MAC MINI 2.26/2x1GB/160/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC239LL/A- MAC MINI 2.53/2x2GB/320GB/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC340LL/A - AIRPORT EXTREME (SIM DUALBAND) - USA
MC343LL/A - TIME CAPSULE 1TB (SIM DUALBAND) -USA
MC344LL/A - TIME CAPSULE 2TB (SIM DUALBAND) - USA
MC408LL/A - MAC MINI 2.53/2x2GB/1TB/NO ODD/AP-BT-USA
MC413LL/A - IMAC 21.5"/3.06/2x2GB/1TB/4670-256MB-USA
MC434LL/A - APPLE VESA MOUNT ADAPTER
MC461LL/A - MACBOOK 60W MAGSAFE POWER ADAPTER - USA

We're not sure why John Gruber and Dan Lyons are having some sort of megalomaniacal Apple super-pundit standoff, but we'll sit here and take the spoils: Gruber's just one-upped Lyons's earlier vague tease of new Apple gear tomorrow with a pretty specific list of things he's apparently heard we'll see, including new iMacs and plastic MacBooks, revved Mac Minis (including one that runs OS X Server), a new multitouch "Magic Mouse" (ha!) and some sort of multitouch desktop trackpad accessory. That pretty much covers every rumor and vague whisper we've heard over the past few months, so it's actually a fairly conservative set of predictions, outside of that trackpad -- which itself may or may not be related to this multitouch input device patent from a couple weeks ago. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning -- at this point we're half expecting a tablet, a pony, and some sort of multitouch waffle maker as well.

Want to know just how prevalent technology has become in our lives? Now even lab mice get Quake-derived virtual reality playgrounds to navigate instead of their old school wooden mazes. In all honesty, this appears a significant and praiseworthy advancement, as the Princeton team have succeeded in mapping brain activity right down to the cellular level, with real-time tracking of single neurons now possible. The Orwellian-looking setup above is necessary in order to keep the mouse's head immobile, and thus capable of being studied, while the animal moves around and its brain performs motion-related tasks. Go past the break to see a schematic of the scanner and a quite unmissable video of it in action.

[Via Switched]

Logitech, the company that's dropped more than a billion mice in our laps, is back with a glossy, gold-accented new laptop accessory kit. There's not an overwhelming amount we can tell you that you can't already see above, so we'll go ahead and point out that the laser mouse (M505) and keyboard duo are controlled wirelessly via Logitech's teeny tiny Unifying Receiver (which comes as part of the package), and the laptop stand is capable of accommodating machines with screens up to 15.6 inches diagonally. The riser also has three elevation levels, while the keyboard packs a full numeric pad -- something at least Excel-loving accountants should appreciate. Expect the set to show up in Europe and the US this November with a price around $100.

[Via Electronista]

Remember when Razer introduced its first-ever mobile gaming mouse? No worries -- July was indeed a long, long time ago. At any rate, the Bluetooth 2.0 / USB Orochi, which was engineered to fit within knapsacks and backpacks of road warriors the world over, is now shipping to both US and EU customers... on a limited basis, anyway. Razer claims that stock is arriving in spurts, and if you're greeted with a "sold out" message, there's a special sign-up page to be notified of when the next batch comes in. So, why the fuss?

Elecom's USB-powered numeric touch keypad is pretty simple. You plug it into your machine, tap your digits on the board and watch the numbers appear in your calculator app. Once that gets boring, you can also use this as a secondary trackpad. And given that it supports a variety of multi gesture functions (zoom in / out, shift up / down, etc.), we'd say the secondary features here may just be more enticing than the primary. Suddenly overcome with a feeling of want? Get yours later this month for ¥6,500 ($72).

[Via Akihabara News]

Trademark registration number 3691042, you just made someone very happy. This week, the US Patent and Trademark Offices awarded Man & Machine with the rights to the name "Mighty Mouse" when it comes to computer mice / "cursor control devices." So of the two peripherals shown above, it seems the beaut on the right is the one with legal claim to the moniker. Good thing, too, since its claims on "Cool Mouse" and "Really Cool [Mouse]" died just before Christmas last year. We gotta say, it looks as good of a time as any to replace the old point-and-click, eh Apple?

Update: Nilay here, with some trademark law nerdery for you. This trademark has a long and convoluted history, as you'd expect. CBS and Man & Machine actually both filed for the Mighty Mouse mark as it relates to computer mice in 2007 -- and CBS actually filed for it first, in May. Here's the kicker, though -- Man & Machine not only filed for this particular trademark in December of that year, but it also simultaneously sued Apple and CBS over their use of the name. Saucy! Both trademark applications were then put on hold while that case was sorted out -- and after two years of bickering, they finally settled the case and CBS abandoned its registration in June of this year, allowing Man & Machine to resume its registration. Since Apple and CBS were essentially precluded from opposing that renewed registration, it more or less sailed right through, and here we are. Simple, innit?

Oh, and for our occasionally misguided friends in the media: it's important to note that CBS and Man & Machine were the involved parties here, and they ultimately settled their dispute out of court. Apple was simply along for the ride, since its agreement was with CBS. If you're going to run with any sensational version of this, we'd suggest something along the lines of Apple screwing this up by not just buying Man & Machine for this mark years ago -- we're certain it would have been cheaper than the millions everyone's undoubtedly spent litigating this since. Got that? Good.

[Via TechCrunch]

Read - USPTO database entry for Man & Machine's "Mighty Mouse" registration
Read - Man & Machine's Mighty Mouse product page