New Logitech mice track on glass and shiny surfaces

Jake Widman
Thursday, 20 August 2009 07:11

Your IT - Home IT

Logitech has introduced two new mice featuring its Darkfield Laser Tracking technology, which enable them to be used on glass surfaces. The mice also work with the tiny wireless receiver Logitech introduced earlier this month.

Logitech developed the Darkfield tracking technology in response to what it says was a demand from its customers for the ability to use a mouse on glass.

In a video, product marketing manager Greg Dizac said that 40% of Logitech's customers report having a glass table in their house, and half of that group use their laptops on the glass table at least once a week.

The problem, Dizac explains, is that glass doesn't provide the surface imperfections that a standard laser mouse can use for tracking.

The Darkfield technology can read the dust specs and other minor imperfections on a glass surface to enable a mouse to locate itself.

The surface, according to the video, ends up looking like a field of white, starlike dots in a dark field -- hence the name.

The technology is also supposed to enable the mice to work better on countertops and other shiny surfaces.

For a closer look at the mice, see Page 2.