MSFT's Magic Mouse Hitting Next Month for $70?
That's a mouse? Really?
Earlier this week, Microsoft teased us about a new product by posting hints and pictures on Twitter. Judging by the photos and the description of a 'flat and touchy' device, many assumed (guilty) that this was some sort of smartphone or tablet. However, recent reports suggest that it's nothing of the sort.
You might remember a few weeks back, when rumors of the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse first hit. The Arc is said to be very similar to Apple's multi-touch Magic Mouse and now there's more evidence than ever to suggest Microsoft will soon release a touch mouse.
istartedsomething reports that there's a connection between the rumors about the Arc and the mystery device that's been talked up on Twitter. They also point to a reseller's price list which tags the peripheral at $69.99.
Neowin reports that the device will only support basic touch functionality at first, with multi-touch being added later. According to the site's sources, Microsoft's Arc Touch Mouse is expected to launch in September.
Do you think the object in the picture could be a mouse? Let us know!
- 200,000 Android Phones Are Being Sold Each Day
- 40 Billionaires Pledge Away Half Their Wealth
- Google Announces Death of Google Wave
- Motorola DROID FRG01B (Froyo) Update Halted?
- Man Tries to Frame Coworker With Child Porn
- Your Cell Phone is Dirtier Than a Toilet Handle
- Halo Done As if it Were on the Atari 2600
- iPhone 4 Hacked for Jailbroken Carrier Unlock
- Feds Abused Privacy by Storing Body Scan
- Tied Up Woman Gets Help by Typing With Toes
- Rumor: iPhone 5, iPad Mini, New iPods Coming
- $1,500 System Can Intercept Your Cellphone Calls
- Gamers Spank Girls in Bizarre Upcoming PSP RPG
- Woman Finds Husband's Other Wife on Facebook
- Google Asking Surfers to Test ''Canary'' Build
- Textfree Now with iPad, Touch Phone Numbers
- LauncherPro for Android Cures HTC Sense Envy
- These Cases Make the iPhone More Palatable
- Cerevellum Add-On Promises Safer Bike Rides
I'd be interested depends on what kind of features it's got, 3ds max could benifit if i could use it to manipulate the camera and objects in the scene.
Its a picture of the kin3, that was put into production before micsoft realised the huge failure that was the kin. They are selling them for $70 because thats the cost of the mp3 player its being marketed as (sarcasm) but it does look like a phone
Doubt its the Arc. They have Arcs (or something that looks really close to them) attached to some demo laptops at the Microsoft store near here, and they look much more like the old Arc pics than this mystery product.
Provided to you by Apple's R&D dept. Your welcome MS fanboys!
A flat mouse is NOT comfy.
The magic mouse is cool because you can perform the expose functions easily without needing to move the mouse anywhere. What are the practical applications of touch on this mouse?
A flat mouse is NOT comfy.
I had one once... after 2 days I changed it.
Looks like a tiny speaker to me...
On the bright side, Microsoft is finally getting a hang of market buzz.
if this is in fact a mouse, its going to be a fail.
On the bright side, Microsoft is finally getting a hang of market buzz.
Excellent point! Can't remember this much interest/speculation since the Zune HD.
This is why Microsoft is always coming in behind the ball compared to their competitors as of late. When they finally do release a new product, the tech is already behind the times AND fails to interest even the smallest percentage of users in comparison to what's already out there. How about working harder in releasing the devices that would actually make an ounce of difference in the market at the moment, like, I dunno: YOUR TABLET! Better still, come up with something new and instead of sitting on it for 10 years, release it first and make a fanfare about it! I am sick of seeing Apple apparently "revolutionise" the industry with their crap, and Microsoft standing back and scratching their heads, despite having the tech, and the talent to come in first!
Microsoft, for the umpteenth time, following Apple.
What a disgusting trend. An arrogant, pretentious, overbearing company, being followed by a visionless, parasitic company that seems to only be able to copy ideas, create inferior versions of existing products, and sell them cheap enough for mass consumption.
Ballmer has to go. Since he's taken over, all Microsoft seems to do is follow ideas from Apple. That points to issues at the top. More than that, everything from them for the past five years, with the possible exception of Vista, has really sucked. Bad phones, Zune, Vista, RRoD, etc...
It's nice to be a monopoly.
You are seeing the back (not the front touch part) of a flat mouse that is called an 'arc mouse'. As in it must be able to form an arc when in use and go back to being flat for storage in your laptop bag.. Can you say 'bendy'?
I don't think its a mouse, but it can be some sort of a touchpad device. Maybe a device similar to a Wacom tablet, perhaps.
Oh, it's a mouse. It's flat and it's not flat.
I'd be interested depends on what kind of features it's got, 3ds max could benifit if i could use it to manipulate the camera and objects in the scene.
there arealready sever devices that are mouse like made just for 3ds max maya and auto cad , but thier pricing in kind of high , stil though i don't see where this item would be any betterthan anormal mouse for max. however teh devices designed for auto cad adn max are awsome , and i'mhoping to get one some time if i can save teh bucks for it heresa link to the store my school uses for one such device http://www.journeyed.com/item/3Dco [...] show=specs
I completely agree with ta152h. I'm a Linux guy so am fairly impartial being that I don't care much for Apple or MS. It used to be a trend to hate MS mostly because they were all there was to hate, but now Apple's shifting into more of a driver's seat with turning technology and even old flops by Microsoft (as in - the tablet notebook is far from a new idea). I think Vista is the worst product they've made since ME, and I actually like Windows 7 as the first MS product in ages from them that I care for aside from the gaming front. But even Win7 is again mostly a collection of technology for Apple and Linux they put a slightly different spin on and threw a new label on it.
But as far as Ballmer goes - I could never stand him. He made Windows 2.0 seem like a ripoff infomercial (I'm sure the old commercials are on youtube). I hated Bill Gates until he left the day-to-day of MS, and now I even follow him on Twitter because regardless of how much blood money he got from truly Apple's idea, Apple just found a way around the same legal loophole system from Xerox, and Xerox grabbed it from UNICS and MULTICS - so it's not like one is morally better than the other. But since Ballmer took the reigns MS put out Win7 that was obviously mostly developed under the Gates era, and since then they've all had a bunch of "Kindles." Promises of big numbers and revolutionary vision and selling what was it? Like 118 phones between the 2 models?
They have some truly innovative ideas. Look at MS Surface and tell me that's not only really cool, but does it remind anybody but me of a big tablet pc? Maybe they're called tablet because they're mini replicas of the table sized one...
They've got the tools, talent, and definitely money - but when Ballmer's plan is throwing millions into a department and saying "Take down Google" then they will continue to lose the market. Their old method of buying up all the competition is at an end, and they're going to have to either learn to swim with the competition, find a new pond, or be eaten piece by piece.
As far as this touchpad type device - I don't particularly find anything truly new about this or the magic mouse. I would lean toward getting one if it were comfortable, but until it comes with multi-touch I will not take MS' word for it.. for all I know they may impliment multi-touch for the device in 10 years after I've burned through 2 of them waiting...
here are two other variants they make of that product
http://www.journeyed.com/item/3Dco [...] /55826423N
http://www.journeyed.com/item/3Dco [...] /55826423N
oops double posted same link here is the other device variant sorry bout that
http://www.journeyed.com/item/3Dco [...] /76826423N
I would say it is some sort of object constructed of man-made materials. Upon first glance I would have to deduce that a small rodent mammal it is not.
"similar to Apple's multi-touch Magic Mouse"
Behind a little, Apple has a new input device out, for Mac's but I am sure it can be hacked to run on Winblows.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/ [...] Tg1ODA3NDY
Windows 7 has been freaking brilliant, so I don't know where all of the "bad ideas only copied" come from. I use both Macs and PC's at work, and I sigh relief whenever I use Windows 7 instead of the Mac OS. W7 is smarter, lighter, and far more flexible. It's also customizable, unlike the Mac OS which tells the user what it can and can't do.
Furthermore, Microsoft released their XBox 360 before the PS3 and the Wii, and they are crushing both in that market.
You people need to get off of the water-cooler, over-generalized diatribe and do a little research. Microsoft is intuitive and ahead of the game in so many respects it isn't even fair. They wouldn't have a borderline monopoly if they didn't. It's not like they were given some unfair head start and just rolled with it. No business could survive that way; no matter how big. Not only are they surviving, but they are way ahead of the others.
Haters gonna hate
Could be a new Zune?
Could it be a new Zune?
Ahh, tech spec(ulation)... I feel right @ home!
It could have (multi-)touch pad functionality too, but Ill surmise that its a 3d mouse, to compete with the Logitech MX air.
My first guess is that its still a smartphone. My second guess is a mp3 player. Im going with the smartphone more based on the image.
I don't think that is a mouse in the pic. I still think it's like a windows phone of some kind.
Provided to you by Apple's R&D dept. Your welcome MS fanboys!
I hope you mean Logitech....or was it Kensington? I can't remember which it is that actually designs Apple's mouse..
Apple develops mice from the ones they pull out of steve jobs anus. I have been told that richard gere head of their user interface devices research and development team puts them in originally. I have not heard who retrieves them.