Double-duty mouse serves as remote controller

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 04 September 2007 09:26

Your IT - Entertainment

Looking for a wireless mouse that can double as a remote control for playing media? Logitech may have the product for you.

Now available in Australia, the $A229/$US149.99 MX Air mouse can be used conventionally on a desktop, or picked up and used as a motion-sensing controller.

Either way, the top-mounted scroll panel takes the place of the scroll wheels and balls that have become a standard feature of mouse design, and four extra buttons are provided.

When used in 'freespace' mode, the MX Air uses microelectromechanical sensors to detect motion, with software to filter unintentional hand movements. Certain gestures are translated into application commands - for example, a small circular motion to the right means 'skip track', while pressing the Volume button and gesturing left turns the sound down.

Supported applications include most popular music players (including iTunes and Windows Media Player) and browsers (including Internet Explorer and Firefox), as well as video players and photo albums.

A recharging cradle and a receiver are included in the package, along with Windows-compatible software. Operating range is up to 10m.

"The MX Air mouse offers a radically new way for people to control their PC entertainment," said Marco Manera, Logitech's managing director for Australia and New Zealand.

"It's for anyone who has listened to music on their PC and been frustrated by having to return to the desk to change songs or volume. It's for people who want to share vacation photos with friends and family without being tied to the desk. It's for any of the millions of people using the Internet to browse and watch videos on sites such as YouTube or Facebook. It is also for people with a living-room computer or media PC who want to navigate their media content on their terms."