Monday, July 30, 2007
Mighty Mouse
No, not the muscular little rodent with the operatic voice, but Apple's hand-operated pointing device. To me, the mouse has always been one of Apple's weak points. I can remember trying to operate the round mouse. I couldn't get used to not have something to reference with a direction.
So we get this new iMac and it comes with something called Mighty Mouse - which is named after the cartoon dude. To me, there's two big disadvantages to it. One is the teeny scrolling ball on the top - which conversely is also one of the best points. The problem is that it seems very easy to get dirty and not so easy to get clean. This weekend the mouse scroll ball started to work erratically if at all. This after only six weeks or so of use. Now, I'm not the neatest guy around, in fact, I'm pretty messy, but clean, but I don't expect a mouse to get gummed up after only six months of use. To clean it, you have to press hard and rub it upside down on a moistened (I used some lens cleaner) paper towel. I'm wondering if this is going to be a monthly occurrence?
The other problem is that the side buttons are too sensitive and don't seem to give any feedback. All to often, Exposé pops up when I use the mouse. While Exposé is pretty cool, I don't need it that often. I don't seem to be pushing the side keys, but I'm obviously doing it. I wish they'd be buttons that actually clicked or seem to move instead of just working.
And while I'm on this subject, I'd like to be able to reprogram the home and end key to beginning and end of line - I'm sure there's a way, I just haven't found it yet. And once again, I'd like to say how much I miss my right-click sendto option.
Labels: apple, computers, tech
