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Apple may expand mouse support with iPadOS 14
It appears that Apple may bring mouse support to iPad OS 14. Apple added some compatibility for external mice as an Accessibility setting in iOS 13, but 9to5Mac has spotted code that suggests mouse-compatibility could be the norm beginning with iOS 14 (iPadOS 14).
Personal Energy Orb Arduino project knows you haven't been exercising, cripples your computer
Spending too much time indoors? You need a Personal Energy Orb, a glowing Arduino powered ball that allows you to trade physical exertion for a tolerable mouse speed. Developed by two students at the University of Munich for a physical computing course, the PEO connects to a bike-mounted revolution counter to note how far a user rides, counting the total distance toward usable time on a computer. A fully "charged" green orb will allow a user to use their PC unhindered -- but a spent red orb will drag Windows' cursor sensitivity settings to its lowest. The idea, the project's creators say, is to annoy the user off of the computer and back on to their bike. It sure sounds aggravating to us. Check out the full homework assignment at the source link below, complete with goals, follies and Python scripts.
Big Big Cursor: the tablet stylus that's also a fridge magnet
The stylus, as you might have noticed, is making a slight comeback this year, and it's now also moved into throwback territory with the Big Big Cursor. Available in both arrow and pointer varieties, the cursor is designed for use on capacitive touchscreens, and it packs some handy magnets that let you affix it to certain magnet-friendly tablets or cases -- or your fridge, for that matter. $13 and it's yours -- video is after the break.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: PinPoint
Have you ever lost your cursor on your screen? Do you do lots of screen-sharing demonstrations? How would you like an app that puts some customizable animations around your cursor to help you or your audience spot it? PinPoint is an app that does just that -- it puts a circling animated highlight around your cursor. The app comes with different animations, from circling lines to dog paw prints, each with a plethora of options. The full-screen crosshairs, for example, are particularly useful if you're trying to make precise adjustments to graphics or layouts. You can even create your own custom animation using an image file, something that could be great for branding presentations or screenshots. Several activation options are also available, whether you want it on all the time or just when the cursor is moved. PinPoint can also show your keystrokes in an on-screen pop-up with the option to limit it to just modifier keys. A menu bar icon acts as an indicator to show you whether PinPoint is turned on or off, which you can do with a keyboard shortcut. If you're prone to losing your cursor on the screen, waving the mouse around like a madman trying to spot where it is, PinPoint will certainly help. Likewise, if you're someone who does demonstrations of applications on the Mac, being able to highlight cursor and keyboard input could be a real boon. PinPoint is available in the Mac App Store for US$2.99.
Addon Spotlight: Never miss reputation with Auto Tabard
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week: Shackleford. It's Addon Spotlight time, ladies and gentlemen. As I sit here at death's door from the terrible PAX pox with which I have so unceremoniously been bestowed, I try to eek out words and phrases, maybe a quip or two, before death's cold embrace takes me. I feel as though my short time on this earth and in this existence was worth it, however, because I got to tell you about Auto Tabard.
Zyxio's 'sensawaft' tech lets you control a cursor with your breath, you lazy jerk
We never knew just how much work it was moving our mouse around our desktop until we blew ourself silly on Zyxio's breath-enabled sensawaft tech. The sensor detects the directionality of breathing, which sounds really easy in theory but took a bit of learning in practice. After a couple minutes of trying, however, we were "blowing with our mind" as the promotional materials suggest, and while we wouldn't call ourselves halfway accurate, we could see ourselves suggesting a mild amount of cursor direction with very little effort after a day or so of use. There's an obvious application for the disabled, but Zyxio also thinks it can talk gamers into using it as a "third hand," and envisions other applications such as controlling a mobile phone or zooming in and out of a GPS view in a car. We can't see it taking the industry by storm, but sensawaft is certainly an impressive and entertaining technology, and with devices in the projected $70 range in Q2 or Q3 of this year, it might not be too expensive for a novelty buy. Check out a video of it in action after the break.
'Clicking' cursor oven mitts let you mouseover baked ziti
It's pretty simple, really: these "clicking cursor" oven mitts (which aren't clicking, but whatever) would make a completely, mind-numbingly awesome addition to any gadget-lover's kitchen. We want them now. Too bad they're not available... yet.[Via OhGizmo!]
TUAW Tip: Hiding the cursor when zoomed
RogueAmoeba just linked to Mark Johns' easy little app called Cursorceror. He loves the Ctrl/scroll wheel trick, just as I do (holding Ctrl and using the scroll wheel allows you to zoom in on any part of your desktop-- especially useful for watching Flash movies fullscreen very quickly), and he wanted to get the cursor out of the way quickly, so he wrote Cursorceror to attach hiding the cursor to a hotkey-- make it appear and disappear at will.The only problem is that he didn't have to do all of that. Turns out that when you're zoomed in (in most applications, including the major browsers), hitting any key at all will automatically hide the cursor for you. So if all you want to do is watch Flash videos fullscreen, just zoom in, tap a key, and watch your videos cursor-free.Johns' wittily-named app didn't completely go to waste though-- while hiding the cursor is easy most of the time, the keystrokes you hit will still be received by whatever program has focus, and so handing off the task to Cursorceror will keep you from making any mistakes while keying. Also, not all programs will apparently let the keystrokes through (I couldn't get the cursor to hide in iTunes or GraphicConverter in my quick tests), so Cursorceror will come in handly if you want instant hiding no matter what app has focus. It will also hide the cursor after a set time limit, which, as far as I know, OS X won't normally do.
Replace your mouse with a DS, eliminate work-related fanboy downtime
Adding to the list of questionably-useful ways to use your Nintendo gear, German hacker Dankredues posted up a little app that lets you use the DS screen as a mouse. While it's no MIDI keyboard or homebrew tilt sensor, the app seems like it could make an interesting and cheap tablet for you to knock out that Princess Peach fanime you keep talking about. Wacom's not going to be losing sleep over this anytime soon though -- right now the software is available only in German, requires you to hardcode your IP address into the source before compiling, and opens two ports on your machine: one each for X and Y coordinates. Ouch. Give the dude some credit, though, he's only 14. True fanboys can prove their mettle by nabbing the software at the Read link.[Via DS News]
WiebeTech's Mouse Jiggler USB stick prevents sleep
We've certainly seen crafty methods of keeping humans from dozing off when alertness matters most, but WiebeTech's latest actually does a number on your exhausted computer by refusing to let those power savings settings kick in. The admittedly clever Mouse Jiggler rocks a diminutive USB design, and once plugged into your Mac or PC, it takes over your motionless cursor and shakes it all across the screen, effectively denying the machine its heartfelt wish to fall asleep when idle. Of course, this may not do the average user a whole lot of good, but for those locked-down corporate workstations that frustrate IT heads on end by dozing off just before a download / installation is complete, here's your hero. Notably, the Mouse Jiggler comes in "Fast" and "Slow" flavors to suit your cursor-dementing needs, and each can be snapped up right now for $29.95.[Via MetaFilter]
Beware the cursor hack
Apparently there is a flaw in the way windows handles animated cursors that could enable people to hack into your WoW account. Now I'm not sure why anyone would want an animated cursor in the first place, but de gustibus non est disputandum. It seems that malicious cursor sites can install arbitrary code on your computer along with the cursor, where it sometimes lies in waiting until you log in to WoW. At this point it pounces, records your login info, and sends it back to the hacking group responsible.The good news is Microsoft already has a patch out to fix this vulnerability (released on April 3rd), so go download it (auto-update will get it) and you should be safe. One interesting factoid in the BBC article on this flaw is that the value of a WoW account is now greater than the value of a credit card, at $10 and $6 respectively. What's so useful about the average WoW account that it's worth $10 on the open market?Update: You can find the download link for Microsoft's patch in our previous article on this vulnerability. Please download the patch if you have not already.[via MMORPGDot]
Use Wiimote as Windows mouse, destroy all personal productivity
That "Wiimote acceleration values" vid was great and all, but those graphs get old after like 10 seconds. That's why we're glad to see somebody base an actual Windows cursor control on the snazzy technology from the Wii Linux folks behind that first tech demo. Unfortunately, the tilt sensing sensors of the controller just don't make for a great mouse, which leaves our intrepid hacker here floating across the screen in a rather frustrating manner. Nobody has managed to tap into the IR triangulating capabilities of the Wiimote over Bluetooth yet, which has the potential to improve such interfacing considerably, so we figure we'll hold out until such a time as that, or until the carpal tunnel becomes too great to bear -- whichever comes first.[Via Joystiq, Hack A Day]
Enable an advanced edit mode in iPhoto 6
Rob Griffiths at Macworld has stumbled upon an advanced edit mode in iPhoto 6 that offers some advanced functions when using the Retouch or Red-Eye tools. When using either of these tools, you can hit ctrl-caps lock-9 (yes, I said caps lock) to switch on these specialized cursors that allow you to fine-tune the affected areas and intensities that will be applied to your image.Check out the Macworld article for the full run-down on how these tools work and how you can customize them, as well as an example of their abilities.[via Daring Fireball, image via Macworld]
