Jeff Chausse
Digital Strategy + Design
Usability Comics
Huh… Someone does an online comic strip about Human-Computer Interaction and usability, and it’s actually pretty funny… At least to us Human-Computer Interaction types. It’s called “OK/Cancel“. Check it out.
Logitech MX900 Bluetooth Mouse
Having recently gotten a 12″ PowerBook with built-in Bluetooth, I was anxious to try out Apple’s Bluetooth mouse, and experience wire- and dongle-free mousing. It was quite nice except, after a while, as a “power-user”, I sorely missed the scroll-wheel and right mouse button. Well, I put the Apple Mouse on eBay (go ahead, bid if you want it!) while I tried to figure out Plan B. Should I bite the bullet and go back to wired mousing? After all, no one else is making a Bluetooth mouse for the Mac.
Well, yes and no. It turns out that Logitech makes a Bluetooth mouse called the MX900. It’s not cheap, but boy is it a swell mouse. It’s got a scroll wheel, a total of EIGHT buttons (including clicking the scroll wheel), it has a charging stand that doubles as a Bluetooth hub, and it’s got a good feel to it. Only problem is, if you search high and low on Logitech’s web site, it makes no mention of this mouse working with Macs.
Except, well, it DOES.
I just started using it with the PowerBook, and it’s fantastic. Out of the box, I just had to use the regular Bluetooth Setup Assistant, and I was up and running. Without installing any drivers (because Logitech doesn’t make any), the right-click button worked, the scroll wheel worked, the “up” and “down” buttons work (though I think these are kind of silly, since all they do is simulate moving the scroll wheel one click at a time). The buttons which are clearly intended for “back” and “forward” actions on the web browser do nothing, and one final button (which I think is intended for app-switching) does nothing either.
All in all, still a drastic improvement over Apple’s no-button, no-frills mouse.
Now, about those “useless” buttons, here’s the interesting part. If you go into your “Exposé” settings, you will find that you can assign any of these buttons to Exposé actions without any trouble. Clearly, Panther has the ability to recognize all these buttons, but sadly, no other part of the OS exposes this capability. Hopefully this will change in the future. But, meanwhile, it’s really great having Exposé functionality right on my mouse (where it clearly belongs).
As for the included Bluetooth hub, I don’t really know if it will work on the Mac, but it’s kind of pointless to try anyway. I’ll be using it with my PC. Obviously, it will still function as a charger for the mouse (which conveniently uses AA-sized rechargable batteries so, in a pinch, you can just yank out the rechargables and put in normal ones).
All in all, I’m digging the mouse, and Logitech is stupid. I’m sure I’m not the only person out there who loves the convenience of Bluetooth, but needs more functionality than Apple’s Wireless Mouse offers. They could have a monopoly on Bluetooth “power-mice” for OS X, but they’re squandering it for some reason (for crying out loud, it ALREADY WORKS, they wouldn’t have to do a THING). A conspiracy theorist might wonder if Microsoft is paying them off to pretend they don’t work with OS X, or is Apple paying them off to avoid cutting into Apple Wireless Mouse sales? Hmmm…
Well, if you want one, it seems to go for about $100 in most places, but I found it for $79.99 at LiveWarehouse.com. Oddly, I could only find it via Yahoo Shopping. Otherwise I couldn’t find it on their site – Enjoy!
Cognex Defeats Lemelson in Landmark Court Ruling
Cognex, my previous company, just won a landmark case ruling against the Lemelson Foundation. The Lemelson Foundation, a supposed philanthropic organization earned its wealth almost entirely via “submarine patents”. Submarine patents are patents which are applied for, then slowly updated to reflect developments by others, over years or decades. When the technology in question becomes highly profitable, the patent holder sues the companies which have created the actual innovations — though the holder’s original patent was for something barely resembling the technology. This is what Lemelson tried to pull on Cognex, and if you’ve ever met Cognex’s CEO, Bob Shillman (and I have), you know he is not a guy to be messed with.
The story was on Slashdot yesterday. Pretty cool that a site I built got Slashdotted, albeit five years after I left. My whizbang Job Search page is still on there as I left it — built with the latest FrontPage/MS Access technology 
Desktop Terabyte Drive
Coming next month, the first desktop Terabyte hard drive. Conveniently, it’s stackable, so you can get a bunch of them, in case two years straight of MP3′s, or a month of non-stop MPEG2 video just isn’t quite enough… Wow. I remember begging my mom for a 2 MEGABYTE hard drive for my Amiga. That went for about $200 less than 15 years ago.
Now, for video creators and similar types, this is just a convenient device, but for the average Joe, the proliferation of such storage devices could usher in a new type of computing, in which one does not delete anything. Ever.
Bluetooth headphones for iPod… Sorta
This one has me confused.
“TEN Technology Introduces Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Adapter And Remote Control for the iPod“
If you read the press release, you learn that this is a gadget that you plug NORMAL 1/8″ jack headphones into. It has an LCD screen and remote controls, which connect wirelessly to your iPod, and transmit the audio over Bluetooth.
So, you’re still wearing normal headphones with dangly wires plugged into something small that you carry around. Except now, you can’t leave a 10 meter radius from the iPod sitting on your desk… and you have a less user-friendly interface.
Clearly I’m missing something here. How exactly does this make one’s life easier?
$249 iPods :(
Just got back from watching Steve Jobs’ MacWorld keynote. The big highlights for me: Drastically improved iPhoto (just saved me from ordering Adobe Photo Album) and new “GarageBand” music software (Worth WAY more than the $49 iLife price – definitely getting that). Big disappointment: the expected 4GB mini-iPods (or, officially, “iPod Minis”… “iPods Mini”?). Oh, they’re cute and everything – but they’re $249! Come on… Seeing as Apple just upped its $299 iPod proper to 15 gigabytes, who’s not going to mow a couple extra lawns and triple their storage space. Apple really blew it on this one… though it’s a safe bet the price will drop to $199 after the most rabid fans eat up the first shipment regardless of price.
All the new stuff is at Apple.com. Check it out.
Unrelated: Yes, I’m back from an extended absence. Hope you all had a swell holiday season. I did!