Crap.
So, im on a bit of a mouse hunt.
Thats because i dont have a mouse.
Well... i guess i actually do have a mouse - shoot, i might even have two.
But the one that i directly own is in a bag. In England.
And i used to own another, a wicked one, that i loaned to my dad but he threw it away because it didnt dependably work with his computer. Not every computer, his computer.
So, anyways, back to square one, i have no mice. Well, here, that is.
And the two mice were not just mice - they were awesome mice!
And, knowing how ridiculously picky i am about buying anything, these things take time and research - cant just buy any mouse, that'd be silly! So, with these two factoids combined (their awesomeness and my pickyness) i pretty much set my self an indescribably high standard - and thus totally energizing challenge - of getting just the right mouse. But first, lets get to know the incumbents.
--
ELECOM MAPP Mouse by Masamune Shirow
Some Manga fans prostrate to this demigod, whose real fame comes from creating the Ghost in the Shell & Appleseed franchises. How Elecom got him to do a mouse is anyones guess, but there is another - just one other - in the series, which i assume to be from an individual of similar class (rumored to be from the Gundam franchise). Either way, it was a thoughtful thing that he did, blessing our reality with some of his "virtual" design taste. Why his mice are not wireless / bluetooth / actually fancy is anyones wonder (considering that it really only has two buttons and a clickable wheel, while Elecom has many other wireless mice and could simply have speced different guts), but these wired designs are just as swell. For a few years i actually contemplated surgically frankensteining mine to be wireless (using the guts from a similar button-ed / sized bluetooth mouse), but never got around to it... hrmm.
Of the 2 mice in this line originally released by Elecom, this was the other model, which never really grabbed my fancy, but was still cool if not simply for the individualist form factor.
--
IBM 19K2002 Mouse
Not the stunning-future-mouse, but still a well sized, well button-positioned optical mouse, that apparently had lots of driver issues - this is the one my dad threw away. Sadly, this model is discontinued, and can only be found in the deepest darkest depths of online-warehouses world wide. Its probably worth it to note that my parents household actually had two of them - the one i got for myself and, because i loved it so much, the one i got for my dad. Now, i have no idea which one he threw away (probly my, use-worn specimen) but one is still working and dependably so.
--
NOW. I had initially intended to simply re-find ye olde Intre-National Business Machine Mouse (which is truly rarified), then i thought to maybe hunt down the best designer-specific mouse (which, it turns out, seem to all be suffering from the same, high-button-count-inducing std), and then i thought to find out what them ol' japanese import sites had going (where i ordered my MAPP mouse from). Boy was in in for a shock.
(Why does Cheap Stereo = Many Buttons, but Expensive Stereo= 4 Buttons?)
Basically, i discovered a few things; first, that IBM released a slightly newer version of the 19k2002 (but with a 70's-style-selector thingy instead of a wheel) called the ScrollPoint 31p8700. And then they released it in "i might be inspired by shirow masamune" white. Still sexy in my book - and findable!
--
Shirow V Elecom, Round 2 - Plight of the Fanboy.
And then i discovered these bad boys.
Like their predecessors, they come in three color ways, and (now) two models - wired and wireless. Essentially an evolution of Shirows original theme, these bad boys look even badder (and even boyer...?). Retailing for 80 us bucks wired and 140 for less wires (ouch!), they sure are lookers. They are, also, supposed to feature pen-like usability with a semi-penlike holding position, slightly relocated optics, and a "laser" (instead of, what, the LED of yesteryear?) that is supposed to be like "really good" or something. I dont buy any of it - otherwise its innovations would be sweeping the industry and we would know about it (instead, we get Logitech and Kensington coming out with these 85-button mega-mouses, and no real improvement).
I do, however, agree with its design language. An opportunity to design something that addresses its necessary requirements (hand sized, fairly comfortable, has main buttons + clickable wheel) while transcending traditional guidelines (as long as it works, it doesnt have to look like every other model) is always refreshing.
Generally, i am a big fan of that kind of mentality, but it never really takes much more than a bit of whimsy; heres a few usb sticks that caught my eye today...
--
For purely comparative purposes, here are a few top-of-the-line mice which are, mostly, designed for gamers and (im guessing here) the Maxim crowd.
This ones got a tattoo.
And this one has exhaust ports!
--
Moral: Although i have no idea where in mouse-land im headed, at least i know there are a fare number of options to choose from.
Happy Mousing.
Thats because i dont have a mouse.
Well... i guess i actually do have a mouse - shoot, i might even have two.
But the one that i directly own is in a bag. In England.
And i used to own another, a wicked one, that i loaned to my dad but he threw it away because it didnt dependably work with his computer. Not every computer, his computer.
So, anyways, back to square one, i have no mice. Well, here, that is.
And the two mice were not just mice - they were awesome mice!
And, knowing how ridiculously picky i am about buying anything, these things take time and research - cant just buy any mouse, that'd be silly! So, with these two factoids combined (their awesomeness and my pickyness) i pretty much set my self an indescribably high standard - and thus totally energizing challenge - of getting just the right mouse. But first, lets get to know the incumbents.
--
ELECOM MAPP Mouse by Masamune Shirow
Some Manga fans prostrate to this demigod, whose real fame comes from creating the Ghost in the Shell & Appleseed franchises. How Elecom got him to do a mouse is anyones guess, but there is another - just one other - in the series, which i assume to be from an individual of similar class (rumored to be from the Gundam franchise). Either way, it was a thoughtful thing that he did, blessing our reality with some of his "virtual" design taste. Why his mice are not wireless / bluetooth / actually fancy is anyones wonder (considering that it really only has two buttons and a clickable wheel, while Elecom has many other wireless mice and could simply have speced different guts), but these wired designs are just as swell. For a few years i actually contemplated surgically frankensteining mine to be wireless (using the guts from a similar button-ed / sized bluetooth mouse), but never got around to it... hrmm.
Of the 2 mice in this line originally released by Elecom, this was the other model, which never really grabbed my fancy, but was still cool if not simply for the individualist form factor.
--
IBM 19K2002 Mouse
Not the stunning-future-mouse, but still a well sized, well button-positioned optical mouse, that apparently had lots of driver issues - this is the one my dad threw away. Sadly, this model is discontinued, and can only be found in the deepest darkest depths of online-warehouses world wide. Its probably worth it to note that my parents household actually had two of them - the one i got for myself and, because i loved it so much, the one i got for my dad. Now, i have no idea which one he threw away (probly my, use-worn specimen) but one is still working and dependably so.
--
NOW. I had initially intended to simply re-find ye olde Intre-National Business Machine Mouse (which is truly rarified), then i thought to maybe hunt down the best designer-specific mouse (which, it turns out, seem to all be suffering from the same, high-button-count-inducing std), and then i thought to find out what them ol' japanese import sites had going (where i ordered my MAPP mouse from). Boy was in in for a shock.
(Why does Cheap Stereo = Many Buttons, but Expensive Stereo= 4 Buttons?)
Basically, i discovered a few things; first, that IBM released a slightly newer version of the 19k2002 (but with a 70's-style-selector thingy instead of a wheel) called the ScrollPoint 31p8700. And then they released it in "i might be inspired by shirow masamune" white. Still sexy in my book - and findable!
--
Shirow V Elecom, Round 2 - Plight of the Fanboy.
And then i discovered these bad boys.
Like their predecessors, they come in three color ways, and (now) two models - wired and wireless. Essentially an evolution of Shirows original theme, these bad boys look even badder (and even boyer...?). Retailing for 80 us bucks wired and 140 for less wires (ouch!), they sure are lookers. They are, also, supposed to feature pen-like usability with a semi-penlike holding position, slightly relocated optics, and a "laser" (instead of, what, the LED of yesteryear?) that is supposed to be like "really good" or something. I dont buy any of it - otherwise its innovations would be sweeping the industry and we would know about it (instead, we get Logitech and Kensington coming out with these 85-button mega-mouses, and no real improvement).
I do, however, agree with its design language. An opportunity to design something that addresses its necessary requirements (hand sized, fairly comfortable, has main buttons + clickable wheel) while transcending traditional guidelines (as long as it works, it doesnt have to look like every other model) is always refreshing.
Generally, i am a big fan of that kind of mentality, but it never really takes much more than a bit of whimsy; heres a few usb sticks that caught my eye today...
--
For purely comparative purposes, here are a few top-of-the-line mice which are, mostly, designed for gamers and (im guessing here) the Maxim crowd.
This ones got a tattoo.
And this one has exhaust ports!
--
Moral: Although i have no idea where in mouse-land im headed, at least i know there are a fare number of options to choose from.
Happy Mousing.
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