31 Jul 2006 | Print  |

Wireless Mighty Mouse Debuts

by Adam C. Engst

The cartoon Mighty Mouse may have had a tail, but Apple has taken the carving knife to their Mighty Mouse's tail, replacing its USB cable with wireless connectivity via Bluetooth 2.0. Physically, the wireless Mighty Mouse is essentially the same as its cabled predecessor (other than the lack of a cable, of course), with up to four buttons that can be programmed independently: a pair of touch sensors on the upper right and left sides of the mouse, a multi-directional Scroll Ball that can also be pressed, and sensors that generate an action when the user squeezes the sides of the mouse. It runs on either one or two AA batteries, automatically switches to a low-power mode during periods of inactivity, and includes an off switch to eliminate battery drain when not in use. Apple isn't making any battery life claims at this point. The wireless Mighty Mouse is available immediately for $70; it requires Mac OS X 10.4.6 or later to customize the button actions. The wired Mighty Mouse remains available for $50, and as Apple somewhat oddly points out, works with PCs using Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

-

Top Articles in this Section

• Five iTunes 7.7.1 Bug Fixes Detailed (31 Jul 08)
• iTunes 7.7 Corrupts Accented Artist and Track Names (24 Jul 08)
• iTunes 7.7 Released in Preparation for iPhone 2.0 (10 Jul 08)

MARK/SPACE, INC: Take it with you! The Missing Sync makes
it easy to synchronize contacts, calendars, notes, photos
and more from your Mac to your BlackBerry, Palm OS, or
Windows Mobile phone. <http://www.markspace.com/bits>