Bluetooth Mouse in Production?

[Lord Bodak]

Re: best of both worlds

Originally posted by dongmin
Firewire is overkill, me thinks. USB should provide enough power to charge a mouse.

What I'd like to see is a design like one of those retractable-corded mice that I saw at an Apple store. The cord retracts and tucks into a little compartment within the mouse. Pull it out and use it as a regular USB mouse when you need to recharge it. Otherwise, it's wireless. I hate the idea of carrying a separate charging cable. The idea of cordless is to simplify.

That's even better. The other thing that a wireless mouse desperately needs (Microsoft's bluetooth mouse does not have this, I hear) is an on/off switch! I don't want to toss my mouse in my laptop bag only to get to my destination and find a button was pressed in the bag and drained my batteries.

And you're right, USB should be plenty to charge a mouse-- it can charge my Palm after all.

 

[jettredmont]

Originally posted by ZildjianKX
Yeah, a bluetooth mouse would be sweet for the powerbook series. Personally, this is what I'd love to see:

Make it wired via firewire 400 so you can use it as a normal mouse (recharges the battery too).

Unplug the firewire cable and the bluetooth kicks in.

Scroll wheel and 2+ buttons would be very nice.

(1) Too much likelihood of accidental unplugging ... firewire connectors are not designed for devices that are to be jerked all about routinely.

(2) USB would generally provide enough power to charge a mouse battery, unless Apple is going to 2 weeks of unplugged usage ...

(3) Firewire will stop charging the moment the computer is turned off.

 

[redAPPLE]

Originally posted by cr2sh


Battery replacement sucks, lets get one of those cool recharging cradles while we're at it, eh?

i do not know, if i am the first to say this, but...

apple could actually use a kinetic wireless mouse, right?

i actually do not know, how good this would work. but i once had a kinetic-powered watch. with the motion my hand or hand for that matter, the watch gets recharged.

in theory, the mouse would store the mileage and use it (somehow) as energy.

maybe a physics genius could comment on this.

this feature would be vintage Apple. we would then be saying, how did i ever live without such a mouse...

 

[dietsoda]

i do not know, if i am the first to say this, but...

apple could actually use a kinetic wireless mouse, right?

Hoorah! I suggested this in another thread , but nobody wanted to know.

At last! Another!

Whether it's possible though? No idea.

 

[frozenstar]

Originally posted by dietsoda
Hoorah! I suggested this in another thread , but nobody wanted to know.

At last! Another!

Whether it's possible though? No idea.

Do we really want gears and levers clanking around in our mice?
Personally, I prefer my mouse to be solid-state.

 

[ethernet76]

What about a keyboard with bluetooth and an attached mouse that plugs into the keyboard?

 

[MacFan25]

I really would like to see Apple announce a bluetooth mouse. I can't stand to see cords lying on my desk, and bluetooth could really help me minimize my number of cords.

 

[redAPPLE]

Originally posted by frozenstar
Do we really want gears and levers clanking around in our mice?
Personally, I prefer my mouse to be solid-state.

I think there is a rolex watch that does this. a rolex is solid-state.

naturally, Apple would build one, which surely won't fall apart.

 

[BillyShears]

I was thinking about how cool this would be... when a new user unpacks their iMac, they don't have to plug anything in except the computer. The mouse, keyboard are wireless. They just plug in the computer and press the "on" button. Would be slick.

Except... there's no way to power the keyboard/mouse. If you want batteries, you've got a bunch of pissed off people swapping batteries. Not something new computer users would want to do, I would think. (Though they do it with TV remotes, but still).

The other option is a recharger... but then you have wires, anyway, so what's the point?

Mind you, there is a market for wireless mice. I have one. I mostly use mine, though, because it's a trackball mouse. I can sit it on my lap, or air rest of my chair, and "surf" comfortably.

 

[mproud]

More alternatives to wired mice

[total re-edit]

I find the more annoying thing is having a handy surface to use while relaxing in my chair. Even those who have armrests may find the need for a teflon pad or something similar.

What I truly want is a surface-less mouse - of course, there could be problems with that, and if you're going surface-less, then you probably want something that will recognize hand motions - most likely sensors - but again, this would be difficult since you would have to mount something or wear something on the finger.

Perhaps we need a small, roll-out trackpad (would almost have to be wireless) that you could lie or attach onto anything, such as the arm of a chair or your thigh... or, if you want to go cyborg, put it on your opposing arm - heh-heh...

The only other alternative (again, these are crude and primarily impractical) that I can think is a wireless pen/pointer onto a touch-like screen. Maybe these exist. The annoying thing, unless you can manipulate the laser, is the color from it might reflect or obstruct use, expecially on small screens. (And we'll forget about the personal danger with lasers!)

 

[AppleMatt]

The watches rely on movement in three dimensions to allow the weight to rotate (and thus power the watch). As a mouse only moves on a horizontal plane, it would not work.

Sorry guys!

AppleMatt

 

[mproud]

-> USB - Gotta say no to FireWire

Upon further review, I'd have to concur. It would have to connect somehow through USB. It's only natural for the mouse to connect through the keyboard. This is how all of Apple's mice EVER MADE (exception?: MacPlus and earlier) have connected. It is true that Firewire is now on the front of desktop machines... but I think this is dedicated more for digital cameras.

Through the keyboard, and also allowing normal mouse recharging use with the cord connected. A cord would have to be supplied, perhaps 5 to 10 feet in length, that would adapt the mouse to the keyboard.

 

[jaedreth]

Wireless Mouse

Apple would only do this in certain ways.

Apple *could* make a mouse/keyboard docking station connected via usb/usb2/firewire (with a short cord per normal) that can be charged by ac as well. Sell more. Sell separately from wireless mouse and keyboard...

Apparently the designation is Apple Mouse (Wireless) and Apple Keyboard (Wireless) so for these two devices, there won't be retractible cables, no cables at all.

They could use a small high powered battery that also works with the aforementioned docking station.

Hopefully they have a tiny usb port on each where you can plug in the included cable to the computer for charging.

In fact, I don't see how Apple could make a wireless mouse or keyboard that doesn't use either batteries or rechargable batteries without making them even more expensive than they are.

If they did make these devices with firewire connections, they would be the new style ones on the iPod, which can communicate FW and USB2. Much smaller connections. It would make sense for those on the front of the mouse and the back of the keyboard.

With powered mouse and keyboard, they would be able to do things with it they couldn't before, such as some of the rumored mouse designed posted various places, 2 button, scroll circle, highly programmable, and a way to store your custom function assignments on the mouse itself so if you unplug it and take it to a different mac, all your settings are still there despite what user in OS X. Now that would be sweet.

Jaedreth

 

[gunnmjk]

Wouldn't it be cool if...

All they need is a wireless keyboard. That'd be tight cause you could still plug the USB mouse into it, but the signal would all be sent via bluetooth. Tight or what?

 

[redAPPLE]

Originally posted by AppleMatt
The watches rely on movement in three dimensions to allow the weight to rotate (and thus power the watch). As a mouse only moves on a horizontal plane, it would not work.

Sorry guys!

AppleMatt

very interesting. thx for the info. if a kinetic-powered mouse is not possible, then a "cool" Apple wireless mouse may not be possible.

people here, would hate wasting money on batteries (although some here says the batteries last until 2 years), or having a recharger (dock, hub) sitting on the desk. id rather use a mouse with a wire, than having a dock clutter my desk.

 

[Lord Bodak]

Originally posted by AppleMatt
The watches rely on movement in three dimensions to allow the weight to rotate (and thus power the watch). As a mouse only moves on a horizontal plane, it would not work.

I know there are new watches that work this way, but the old ones used to just use the swinging of your arm as you walked, like a pendulum. The idea was to eliminate winding of a mechanical watch rather than charging a battery with the energy of the motion, like the new ones.

Either way, not much help for a mouse. If we wanted to go back to wheel mice, you could probably use the spinning of the rollers to help recharge a battery, but nobody would want to do that.

 

[Lord Bodak]

Re: Wouldn't it be cool if...

Originally posted by gunnmjk
All they need is a wireless keyboard. That'd be tight cause you could still plug the USB mouse into it, but the signal would all be sent via bluetooth. Tight or what?

What about laptops?

I still think a bluetooth mouse with USB recharging would be the best solution. If it's plugged in, it recharges the batteries over USB and works like a normal corded mouse. Unplug the cord and it's a Bluetooth mouse.

You could do a wireless keyboard and have the mouse connect to it, but they would want to stick with standard USB so you could use the mouse with or without the keyboard, plus the mouse would be running off the keyboard's batteries, which would hurt battery life.

 

[tmornini]

Originally posted by AppleMatt
The watches rely on movement in three dimensions to allow the weight to rotate (and thus power the watch). As a mouse only moves on a horizontal plane, it would not work.

OK, so you're either claiming:

1) The ONLY way to capture kinetic energy is in 3 dimensions.
2) It MUST be done the same way watches do it.

Either way, you're wrong.

There's NOTHING TECHNICAL preventing Apple from using energy captured from your hand movements to power a mouse.

There may well be PRACTICALITY issues, however.

 

[AppleMatt]

Originally posted by tmornini
OK, so you're either claiming:

1) The ONLY way to capture kinetic energy is in 3 dimensions.
2) It MUST be done the same way watches do it.

Either way, you're wrong.

There's NOTHING TECHNICAL preventing Apple from using energy captured from your hand movements to power a mouse.

There may well be PRACTICALITY issues, however.

What? I'm claiming neither. Put it into context. We were talking about watches, so my reply stated how watches convert kinetic to electrical energy. I did not say the only way to capture energy was in 3 dimensions (inductor coils anyone?), nor did I say that the watch mechanism was the only way to do it.

Read my posts before you reply.

Suggest a method of capturing enough energy from movement in two dimensions that would power the mouse, and the transmitter in it. (inductor coils not allowed)

AppleMatt

 

[snofseth]

if you have to plug something into the computer it defeats the perpouse of having the bluetooth mouse so you dont need any wires. All you need is a dock that plugs into a wall outlet. and if your spended the extra money for a wireless mouse why would you want any option to have a wire for it. I hope its a bluetooth mouse with a dock that does not connect to the computer just to the wall outlet. It would be great for my 12" powerbook

 

[Spock]

All I want is a ERGO style keyboard like the one on my Color Classic. It would also go better with th iMac if it were curved like the front of the iMac.

 

[Lord Bodak]

Originally posted by snofseth
if you have to plug something into the computer it defeats the perpouse of having the bluetooth mouse so you dont need any wires. All you need is a dock that plugs into a wall outlet. and if your spended the extra money for a wireless mouse why would you want any option to have a wire for it. I hope its a bluetooth mouse with a dock that does not connect to the computer just to the wall outlet. It would be great for my 12" powerbook

I see a few problems with this.
First is the size issue. If it plugs into the wall, you're going to need a transformer, which means carrying yet another brick in your laptop bag. Charging via USB would be a small cable and if it directly connected to the mouse (no dock) that makes it even easier to carry.

Second, if you require AC power, what happens when you're on a plane and your mouse dies? With a USB charge cable, you'd just have to plug it into the computer.

There is a happy medium here though. No dock (power cord plugs directly into mouse), and let us use USB or an AC adapter. Works great for my PDA!

 

[amnesiac1984]

Originally posted by redAPPLE
I think there is a rolex watch that does this. a rolex is solid-state.

naturally, Apple would build one, which surely won't fall apart.

I'm sorry but how on earth can a rolex that has hands ticking around in a circular motion be solid state?

 

[RGunner]

Rolex - no electronics (at least some models)

they use a rotating dial on a cam which self winds the watch.