Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: Here I Come To Save the Day

Despite the fact that I'm still obsessed with BlogHer, I have to get a few "regular" posts in, once in a while.

So Apple has finally put out a "multi-button" mouse. I use that term with some reservation because Apple, in its inimitable "I'll show YOU" style, has created a four-button mouse with no actual buttons on it.

They call it "Mighty Mouse". It's got a little scrolling ball on top, which moves both vertically and horizontally, so it works kind of like a trackball. You can "left-click" and "right-click" as if there were real buttons on top, and like magic, the Mighty Mouse knows what you're trying to do. (Okay, it's not magic. There's a touch-sensitive sensor on top that figures out which finger you're using.) You can click the scroll ball; that acts as button number three. And, you can squeeze the sides as if you were trying to make the beans squirt out the end of a burrito; that motion serves as the fourth button.

It seems pretty cool. Early reviewers have found it a little hard to get used to, but I think all of it seems logical. No physical buttons on top means nowhere for dirt and crumbs to accumulate. A two-axis scroll ball instead of a single axis scroll wheel? Why doesn't everyone do that? And the squeezing thing seems a little weird at first, but I think when programmers start figuring out that squeezing is a perfect analogy for drag-and-drop behavior, we'll see light bulbs going off over everyone's heads.

There's an uproar about Apple's decision to use DRM hardware in its upcoming Intel-based computers. Some pundits are predicting a future where documents could only be opened by specific applications; where Apple would be able to track your software usage, looking for pirated applications; and worst of all, where illegally downloaded porn movies would fail to play, thus depriving millions of pasty-faced teenage boys of their proper adult education.

All those fears are probably overblown. Apple's sole intention is probably to ensure that Mac OS X does not run on generic PCs. Apple's goal is still to sell computers, not to overtake Microsoft as the most hated tech company in the whole world.

The Apple iTunes Music Store in Japan is now open for business. I think I have two Japanese pop music CDs. They're both kind of weird. Imagine Britney Spears if she lived in the 1970s and was musically influenced by the chanting of monks... that's pretty much what Japanese pop singers seem like to me. But I'm sure every country finds every other country's music to be weird. After all, in the U.S., we have the actual Britney Spears.

I'm still thinking about buying one of those new iBooks... especially with North Carolina's sales tax holiday coming up this weekend. (Thanks to Nicholas for that heads-up.) I wonder if they'll have enough in stock at the Apple Store at Southpoint...

Permalink 1 Comment

Posted by Ken in: techwatch

Comments

Comment #1 from Nicholas (Guest)
2005 Aug 4 - 6:08 pm : #

Good luck fighting the crowds. We went to Best Buy and had some odd lines set up to serve everyone. But it worked pretty well. Maybe go at an odd time.

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