AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Mouse Envy - Apple's new squeeze "Mighty Mouse".
Apple's Low-end Macs are upgraded

Hell froze over for the second time in three months at Apple Computer. In May, Apple announced that it was going to switch to Intel processors, with an implication that its Intel based computers would also run Windows. Now Apple has announced a fancy two-button mouse, throwing away 25 years of one-button dogma. As always, Apple has done it with style and with a twist.

The mouse is called Mighty Mouse. The two buttons aren't really buttons. They are touch sensitive areas on the mouse. The mouse actually looks like a no-button mouse. You can trigger functions by squeezing the sides. There's a little roller ball the size of a pencil eraser, and the touch-sensitive areas at the top of the mouse can be used to scroll like the touchpads on a modern laptop.

There's a price for this innovation, and it's $49.00. If you're having trouble with the nerves in your hand arm and wrist, you might want to try this mouse, because it seems like it has a good chance at eliminating a lot of the repetitive motion that is inherent in mousing.



Apple - Mighty Mouse

In other Apple news, last week Apple finally updated two of its lowest cost product lines, the mac mini and the iBook laptops. The updates were minor on paper but major for usability. Both computer lines had been handicapped by an unrealistic 256 mb of installed memory. The new upgrades double the onboard memory to 512 mb, making the computers viable right out of the box.

The mini gets built-in Bluetooth and wifi wireless capability, which is very important to its role as a home entertainment hub. Put the 2 lb. mini on top of your high-definition television. Put a wireless keyboard and mouse on your coffee table, and surf the web on your big-screen. The new mini is exactly what it should have been to begin with, a take-it-out-of-the-box-and-it-just-works appliance.

The iBook got the same upgrades as the mini plus a modest speedbump and a video-chip upgrade that will allow the iBook to run the "eye candy" features of the "Core Image" graphics that are part of the OS-X 10.4 "Tiger" operating system.

In the most recent issue of Consumer Reports, Apple computers rated very highly, particularly due to their relative immunity to spyware, viruses, etc. According to Consumer Reports, these software infections can be expected to cost the typical Windows PC owner the equivalent of hundreds of dollars. The macs rated by Consumer Reports are the outgoing models. The new models introduced last week, as well as the imacs introduced in May, bolster add even more weight to the case for leaving the Windows world.

Apple - Mighty Mouse<">