Computer Column-1

I think it's fair to say that throughout the many years I've been using a computer, I've laid my hands on a lot of mice. The first one I ever used was in Cherry Hill, N.J., where Apple unveiled its Lisa computer. It was, for the most part, a corded little beige-colored rectangular brick with a flush-mounted single button at its upper center and a rubber ball underneath.

The computer mouse has certainly come a long way, Minnie. I remember the excitement it generated when we all got to try one out. And I also remember leaving that seminar knowing that the personal computing world would be forever changed by it.

The mouse has seen many technological improvements, but I maintain that there are three that really stand out.

The first was the use of light to replace the clumsy little rubber ball that would deposit dirt and other foreign matter into the friction wheels so that they would eventually stick and cause your mouse cursor to move erratically on the screen. The first optical mouse required a grid mouse pad, but thankfully today's models work on most any desktop and the better ones use lasers for more accurate tracking on a wider variety of surfaces.

The second significant advancement was losing its tail. While corded mice still exist, the cordless ones offer the best mousing experience.

The third was the addition of more than one button. Today, the two-button mouse is pretty much the industry standard with Apple ironically being the last one to embrace it. Today's mice come with all kinds of buttons located in different places, doing all sorts of things, many of them user-definable. Finally, the scroll wheel was added. Usually positioned between the two buttons, you can roll it to scroll the contents of any open window up and down. Try going back to a mouse without one and watch your productivity plummet as you have to move to the scroll bars and arrows.

Logitech has taken all of these milestones and improved on them even more in their newest mouse, but they've also come up with what I believe is truly a revolution in this new computer mouse's scroll wheel. It's called SmartShift Technology, and you can find it as well as the other good things in their brand new MX Revolution mouse.

Talking to Logitech, I discovered that the scroll wheel mechanism took a team of engineers about a year and a half to perfect. After using it for just a day, I say their development effort was worth every moment. The wheel is actually part of a sophisticated drive mechanism that's part mechanical and part electronic. The wheel is weighted and balanced so that if you give it a good flick with your finger, it will spin for around seven seconds. The included software translates that movement into a super-smooth vertical panning that lets you accelerate through multiple pages in a word processing document or hundreds, even thousands, of lines in a spreadsheet in only a few moments. Logitech calls this their Hyper-Fast scrolling mode. But that's just the beginning.

Momentarily depressing the scroll wheel puts it into an ordinary ratchet mode where you feel little bumps as you rotate it. In this mode, each tactile bump moves the window's contents a defined number of steps in the corresponding direction.

And now here's where Logitech puts it all together. The software can detect which application the active window belongs to when the mouse cursor passes over it. At that moment, the little USB transceiver sends a signal to the MX Revolution and puts it into the scroll mode you want to use within that application. So, for example, you may want to use the Hyper-Fast mode to whiz through your spreadsheet, and the ratchet mode in Photoshop for a more precise movement. After setting it up, all you do is your work and the MX Revolution will automatically switch scroll modes as you switch application windows. In fact, if you listen closely enough, you can hear the mouse switching modes. It's very cool.

I think Logitech pulled out all the stops with this mouse. It has lithium-ion rechargeable batteries so when you place it in its matching stand, the segmented green battery display animates to show it's charging as well as indicates how much power it has. The segments slowly brighten when you use it and dim when it isn't being used after a few moments. It's a nice touch. You'll find a lot of those in this mouse. A new button prompts a search of any word or phrase that's highlighted when pressed. On the Mac, it can be configured to summon Spotlight or use a search Web site of your choosing. There's a second momentary scroll wheel button positioned next to the thumb that can be used for application switching or can also be user-defined.

And finally, there's the look. The MX Revolution has come a long way from that beige-colored brick. If it had been a car, it would be in the exotic class, yet I can tell you that it's a lot more comfortable that sitting in a Lamborghini. Ergonomics never looked so good. If you've been holding out for a better mouse, the time has arrived. Logitech bills their MX Revolution as the world's most advanced mouse and I'd say I agree with them. The MX Revolution works on both Windows and Macintosh and sells for $99.99.