The Mouse, Sometimes It Is Your Best Friend and Sometimes It Is the Carpal Tunnel Inducing

EVOMOUSE

The mouse, sometimes it is your best friend and sometimes it is the carpal tunnel inducing, hand cramping pain in the buttocks, but what if it didn’t have to give you those cramps? What if instead of forcing your hand to conform to the position it wants you in, it would let you use your natural hand, in whatever way you want?

With the plethora of mouse alternatives available or in development you’d be forgiven for thinking the humble computer mouse was some kind of torturous device inflicted upon computer users. But despite challengers such as thetrackball, the WOW-PEN Joy, theErgo Slider Plus, theOrbita Mouseand theAir Mouse– just to name a few – the mouse has maintained its dominance while remaining largely unchanged since itsunveiling in 1968. Now there’s another alternative cursor relocation device set to hit the market called the evoMouse that turns just about any flat surface into a virtual track pad with your finger as the pointer.

The evoMouse is the evolution of the computer mouse. With the evoMouse, your finger is your pointer and there is no more pushing around a physical mouse.Two infrared sensors that form the eyes of the small animal-shaped device track the user’s finger movements to provide the full gamut of mouse functionality such as click and select, double-click, right-click, drag and drop and even multi-touch functionality such as rotate and pinch to zoom.

The evoMouse Pet looks like a small box with legs, almost like a crouching animal. The mouse then projects are area in which your hands can function as if you really were using a mouse. Your fingers movements are then similar to the mouse that you already use, allowing you to move the cursor, click, double-click, right-click and drag. It also supports the pinch-to-zoom and rotate functions in Windows 7.

The evoMouse can even be used for drawing – or is that finger painting? – while a handwriting recognition feature lets you write with your finger or a pen. There’s also an optional keymat that allows the evoMouse to be used as a portable, full-sized QWERTY keyboard.

The device works on nearly any flat surface and requires only a small amount of space, with the size of the unit itself also making it a good option for taking on the road. It can be operated wirelessly via a Bluetooth connection or wired via USB, which will also charge the unit’s battery to provide around two hours of wireless running time. It is compatible with PCs or laptops running Windows XP, Vista or 7, and Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian devices.