Well,
Art Lebedev seems to have let Pandora out of the box. There's been a recent wave of complete
redesigns of the tried and true keyboard and
mouse. Vive la revolution. The ergonomic
3DConnexion (now owned by Logitech) SpacePilot Pro is almost more of a keyboard than a mouse. Still retaining the same novel design of the original and
SpaceNavigator in adds a small LCD screen and a large amount of function keys to its chassis.
If you aren't familiar with the design controller functions as a twist-able joystick, basically adding the ability to scroll and rotate at the same time as you are mousing around in the X and Y-axis. Mainly for designers and artists, its intent is to become a left-hand mouse. This will allow for alternate controls to be more quickly located as well as shuttle type manipulations to be done with its knob/stick. The LCD screen displays software pushed information like RSS feeds, email or calendar events similar to a
mini-USB display. There's also a potential for mini apps to be written with the SDK they've released. Besides the LCD it contains a total of 24 buttons and a five-way D-pad. The only major roadblock for most users will be the price tag at $499 it's nearly double the minimalistic SpaceNavigator but for the wealthy it's available now at their online store.
Via Canadian Manufacturing & The Inquirer
USB Digital Scale Disguises as USB Mouse
By Ian Chiu on April 16th, 2009
