gyration air mouse - neat gadget
Posted: June 5, 2007, 11:33 am
http://www.gyration.com/en-US/Products.html
I got one of these things around a year ago so I could use a mouse in my music room where the computer desk is not very accessible. I dont think its anything groundbreakingly new technically, its just a mouse with a gyroscope and an accelerometer afaik. But its a pretty fun toy at the basic level, and I've found some useful purpose for it in my day-to-day.
It has a trigger on the underside that lets you "grab" the cursor, at that point any movement you make with your hand makes the mouse move with you. Double-clicking the trigger makes you grab the mouse until the next time you push the trigger. It calibrates/centralizes itself whenever you push the trigger, so if you point the thing at the mouse cursor it will seem like youre actually grabbing and dragging the mouse, but if you were to point it at the ground, push the trigger, and make a circle, the mouse will still make a circle on the screen. It also has optical hardware so if you place it on a flat surface it automatically switches into tabletop mode, making it work like a normal mouse
I've found some other uses for it, its a godsend on long flights because I can't stand much of the awkward retarded arm-crossing that I have to do to use my touchpad. With this thing I can just rest my hand anywhere and still use the mouse. I also use one at work as just a normal wireless mouse which it handles just fine, but what I like about it is that any time I start to get wrist cramps I can just pick it up and stretch my wrists out for 15 minutes or so while still using the mouse. And of course its fun to show it off to co-workers
Its hard to get accustomed to using it in the air for normal mouse functions, and even after a year I'm still much slower with it compared to tabletop mode.. but ever since the beginning of this year I've been having progressively worse wrist problems and switching to this mouse at work is definitely helping.
I got one of these things around a year ago so I could use a mouse in my music room where the computer desk is not very accessible. I dont think its anything groundbreakingly new technically, its just a mouse with a gyroscope and an accelerometer afaik. But its a pretty fun toy at the basic level, and I've found some useful purpose for it in my day-to-day.
It has a trigger on the underside that lets you "grab" the cursor, at that point any movement you make with your hand makes the mouse move with you. Double-clicking the trigger makes you grab the mouse until the next time you push the trigger. It calibrates/centralizes itself whenever you push the trigger, so if you point the thing at the mouse cursor it will seem like youre actually grabbing and dragging the mouse, but if you were to point it at the ground, push the trigger, and make a circle, the mouse will still make a circle on the screen. It also has optical hardware so if you place it on a flat surface it automatically switches into tabletop mode, making it work like a normal mouse
I've found some other uses for it, its a godsend on long flights because I can't stand much of the awkward retarded arm-crossing that I have to do to use my touchpad. With this thing I can just rest my hand anywhere and still use the mouse. I also use one at work as just a normal wireless mouse which it handles just fine, but what I like about it is that any time I start to get wrist cramps I can just pick it up and stretch my wrists out for 15 minutes or so while still using the mouse. And of course its fun to show it off to co-workers
Its hard to get accustomed to using it in the air for normal mouse functions, and even after a year I'm still much slower with it compared to tabletop mode.. but ever since the beginning of this year I've been having progressively worse wrist problems and switching to this mouse at work is definitely helping.