The first computer mouse was made out of wood in 1963. It was, as you could probably imagine, not meant for the mass market, seeing as the personal computer didn’t become popular until 20 years later. Still, the basic design — buttons on the top, sensor on the bottom for tracking x and y coordinates — has remained the standard for decades.
Anyone with a smartphone or tablet, of course, can tell you that the end of the mouse is nigh. Consider Mycestro, the new Kickstarter-funded “3D mouse” from entrepreneurs David Greenspan and Nick Mastandrea. The Bluetooth-enabled device clips onto your index finger, letting you control your cursor with simple gestures. Imagine Tom Cruise in “Minority Report” flipping through screens with a flick of his hand; that’s essentially what you would look like giving a presentation on your laptop or an Internet-enabled TV. Setting up the Mycestro isn’t much harder than setting up a wireless mouse.
It’s also extremely mobile. Even people who prefer not using trackpads are loath to bring a mouse into their local coffee shop. The Mycestro, which weighs about as much as a wireless earpiece, solves this problem by fitting easily in your pocket. Yes, it’s convenient, but will consumers want to look like they’re conducting an invisible orchestra while web-browsing? Early signs are positive: the Kickstarter project looks poised to smash its goal of raising $100,000 by Friday, March 29. At only $79 during pre-order, it’s in the same ballpark as a high-end wireless mouse — not cheap, but easily affordable for the motivated early adopter.
Whether or not Mycestro becomes the next big thing, the overall trend is clear: the mouse is disappearing. That first mouse, developed by Douglas Englebart at the Stanford Research Institute, consisted of a wood casing filled with two wheels. In 1968, the wheels were replaced by a trackball and the wood with plastic by a German company called Telefunken, who designed it primarily for drawing vector graphics. In 1981, the first commercially available mouse hit the market. The two-button device came as part of the Xerox Star 8010, the first computer to come with a window-based GUI. Three years later Logitech released the first wireless mouse; in 2004 the company released the first laser mouse.
That’s about when things starting going south. The mouse, now unshackled by balls and wires, saw its fortunes fall with the rise of the laptop. People got so used to the multi-touch trackpads on their laptops that they are now using them for their desktops. Touchscreens, obviously, are everywhere: smartphones, tablets, hybrid laptops and desktops. We are moving quickly towards the immaterial. So what’s next?
Mycestro is only one of the many nails in the mouse’s coffin. The Kinect, a motion-sensing device originally sold as an accessory to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, has found robust demand among computer researchers and roboticists. It’s not hard to imagine a variation of it interpreting voice and motion commands for all PCs in the future. Tobii’s Gaze technology wowed reporters at CES as they controlled an asteroid-blasting spaceship — with their eyes. Just attach a small bar to the bottom of your Windows 8 PC monitor and shift your gaze, stopping to concentrate on whatever you want to open or enlarge. Currently selling for $995, the Tobii Rex is meant mainly for developers, but that doesn’t mean a more-affordable version isn’t on the horizon.
What’s next, you ask: telepathic devices? Don’t laugh. Philip Low of NeuroVigil is currently working with Stephen Hawking to perfect his iBrain, a helmet that can identify brain signals that are indicative of conscious intent, meaning Hawking could one day communicate with the outside world just by thinking. Don’t be surprised if your great-great grandchildren browse YouTube solely with their brains.
Keith Wagstaff is a contributing writer to Tech Page One. He has written for TIME, Details, VICE’s Motherboard and the Village Voice.
Cheers pal. I do aprpeciate the writing.
will Stephen hawking`s I brain only fit anti semitic heads?
Old fogey that I am (67) I just can`t seem to reconcile using my laptop by waving my hands in the air.
How do I buy one? Hello to Fogey
IMHO: So this device works well when you need accurate cursor control? I think not. It’s probably designed for those giant icons they use in the Metro interface. As usual another product dumbed down for the masses. Whether or not I like it I need a mouse.
Old fogey agrees with you 100%
I have a family of Mouse(s) and prefer to continue to rely on their assistance – waving arms around really sounds silly when less energy is expended by a tiny motion of a finger. Just another excuse to sell something new – and lots of naïve folks will fall for it.
Neat, but I’m with Mr. Thomas “Fogey” Brown. Even I, at the relatively tender age of 22, don’t think I would be interested in navigating on my screen in the manner this is suggesting. It would be great if that were an option, but I’d be more interested in using this like a traditional mouse– against my work surface.
I got a kick out of reading this article with the help of my … drumroll … MOUSE! ;-}
Most of my issues were resolved when lasers replaced trackballs.
Asuuming our great, great, grandhcildren have brains.
Sorry, I don’t need or want 99.999999999% of all the new “bells & whistles” available. I do not upgrade anything just for the sake of upgrading (hear that Microsoft?)
Give me my laptop with the 15″ screen (so I can actually see the whole page AND be able to read it), my little wireless mouse (trackpads and touch screens do NOT work well with long fingernails) and my Clear plug-in modem and I am all set.
Sounds like someone after my own heart — I had my trackpad turned off and will never give up my mouse.
As a trained individual in Electronic Eng. and Computer Network Admin. I can say with certainty that the tech industry feels and justifies their newest technology every 2-3 yrs. as keeping up with Moore’s Law which states that technology should double every 2 yrs. as the price is reduced by half. The problem of course, is are we as the human beings we are, willing to accept such a rapid change and can we as a whole keep up? Why buy something that costs a small fortune at it’s inception and becomes yesterdays’ news and old hat as well dirt cheap before the initial offering bought at the higher price isn’t even broken in yet? As an IT Tech we are taught that to engage in this career we must be willing to go to school for the rest of our lives so we can keep up with the technological advances. And the people (who aren’t tech savvy) have to pay to move us forward.
As a trained proofreader, I suggest you spend a little more time with the English language if your desire is to clearly communicate your thoughts to others, and check your comment for sense and mistakes before clicking on ‘post’.
bmac: As a professional writer, I suggest you place the period following the word ‘post’ inside the closing apostrophe before clicking on ‘post.’
You are wrong. ‘post’. is correct because the period is meant to end the complete sentence. o
Is this really the place to use up space correcting grammar? How about just appreciating someone’s comment as it is and not being so O.C. about it.
Since I know for a fact that I am Me, you must be an imposter, i.e. You are pretending to be Me.
No, he’s right. The period goes inside of the closing apostrophe.
Also, the mouse is going nowhere anytime soon. Tech companies like to say ‘omg x is dying!’ while ignoring the fact that the corporate world won’t buy into most of the consumer idiot tech.
As a trained bullcrap detector, I suggest you spend a little more time reading comments for the content and intention, instead of ridiculing others who aren’t grammar Nazis. But since you seem to be, the period goes inside the quotes.
Thank you, G. Sometimes pompous jerks just need to be ratcheted down a few notches, you know?
Unless you’re a Brit. So I suppose either inside or outside the quotes is correct.
What does it have to do with being British? There is NO WAY that the period goes inside the quote marks! Why would it? Only a single word is being ‘quoted’ here, not a full sentence. Besides that, if the period goes inside the quotes, then that leaves the last sentence of the message just hanging there without a terminating period – and since when is that correct in any English-speaking country?
Since they’ve done away with teaching the English language in the schools of the USA, it is a wonder, indeed, that anyone uses any periods when trying to write what they believe to be a sentence.
My God, folks. You’re all on the Internet. Look things up before posting an idiotic statement.
What does it have to do with being British? Simple answer: British English and American English follow different conventions, one of which is where to place punctuation. In BE, the period goes outside the closing quotation mark; in AE, the period goes inside. This is not rocket science people.
At last! someone who thinks the understanding and use of the English language is important. As a side note, they could use a few proofreaders on sites such as Google news where the news postings are many times incomprehensible.
bmac, did somebody take a whiz in your cornflakes? Get over yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law
“…as keeping up with Moore’s Law which states that technology should double every 2 yrs. as the price is reduced by half”
FTFA – “Moore’s law is the observation that, over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years”
It’s specific to transistors-on-a-chip, not “technology”. And notice there’s nothing about pricing at all. I assume IT Tech is somewhat slack, or you didn’t internalize the info all that well.
The mouse is not going anywhere. Why must all these articles be framed as “The death of the PC” or “The death of the mouse” etc…? Is it a ratings thing or page hits thing? The logic being more people will click on the story?
In any case, it’s a cool gadget, but I could not see using it for much else than large presentations. But most projectors these days already come with “wireless mouse gadgets.” So I am not sure that it is much of an improvement over existing technology.
I agree. Sensationalism to get someone to read an article is annoying. I doubt that the mouse is going away anytime soon. Yeah, lots of folks have touchscreen devices, but the mouse, even after all these years is still a very viable device. Cars have been around a long time too, but I doubt they will be going away anytime soon either. Just because a device has been around a long time doesn’t mean it isn’t valid anymore because new fancy devices are invented.
this is a nice ad. I’ll still be using a mouse though.
If you do not create anything, then a mouse is unnecessary.
I have a laptop and use a mouse! I like the control it gives me.
Ditto
I loved those DOS days before a mouse became necessary.
Sitting here in the (open) office, which is pretty much dead quiet despite having dozens of people, I was chuckling at the part about the voice activated computer. I can’t see sitting here, in “public” talking to my computer. I’d prefer to quietly tap the keys and move the mouse. Nor can I see us all wildly flailing about with the motion activated part.
It seems that technology is forgetting how much “boring” stuff we do with our computers all day that works best with a mouse and keyboard (I’m talking to you, Windows 8 and the touch screen interface).
If you want speed and graphics, the desktop is still the Bentley of the fleet that sores far above the mindless tablets and phones. The mouse is superior to a messy touch screen with oil marks from fingers. When a new technology is made viable, it doesn’t necessarily void the previous, superior technologies.
I agree.
Bluetooth controllers are way too flaky for me, especially around usb3 devices. Also, this thing looks like it would be hard to use while eating a sandwich.
first 2 those who R concerned about language(,)understand why we have phonetic. R older computers dead? and my newest is an HP dv6 3230 us and the touch pad never worked from out of the box, in what i saw as justice i purchase a Chinese knock off of an HP presenter mouse for $10 and it fits in my pocket along with the adapter for charging it. the mouse will live as long as the baby boomers along with XP. i’m going to upgrade soon and donate my mouse to a museum.
“Don’t be surprised if your great-great grandchildren browse YouTube solely with their brains.”
Yeah, at the rate we’re going…my great-great-granchildren will be working in a Chinese sweatshop to pay off the interest on the national debt.
I always get a kick out of these articles that think the future’s bright just because Apple crapped out a neat toy for their hardware.
I love my mouse. I use it as easily as breathing. I don’t like the track pad. I also want my hard drive. I don’t want to put my valuable info on some “cloud.” Not everyone uses their computer just for the Internet. Some of us work on them. Progress isn’t always progress.
This is all good and fine for the masses. But for those remaining 5% in our society who still work and do the majority of it on a computer, a laptop and mouse are the only way to create.
As one engineering friend of mine said about working on computers: “There are makers and there are takers”.
Makers (creators) still need a laptop and a mouse.
Love my 4 button thumb ball mouse.
How presumptuous to claim that this is the future of the mouse! Just another tiny thing to lose or misplace. The existing mouse is more ergonomic. It doesn’t improve upon the moouse. It’s basically a mouse with a different design, but the same concept – no net change.
I have a lap top with a touch pad and use an external mouse. I can’t see myself using something else that I will click unintentionally. Perhaps I am wrong but it seams the cursor would bounce all over the screen as i type???
Eschew obfuscation!
Watching the video, your thumb would have to touch the device on your index finger for it to activate the device – so it would not bounce around as you type. I really like this concept and think this would be a great way to more accurately / organically control the pointer function. For designers, it seems like it would be a big improvement on current stylus type devices…great article!
The mouse will never die, nor will laptop or desktop computers. I have a top-of-the-line Android tablet, a couple of Droid phones and the last thing I can imagine wanting to do is try to do real work on a touch interface. iOS is no different. As anyone who works for a living on computers can tell you, doing anything on a touch interface other than very simple tasks that don’t require a complex UI is way more trouble than it’s worth. The same goes for every flavor of gyro mouse ever made or conceived of. Arms get tired of holding themselves up pretty quick and gravitate toward sitting on a horizontal surface anyway. And fingers are way better at pressing buttons that all stay in one place and give tactile response than they are at manipulating touch interfaces that give little to no feedback. In all but a very, very small handful of computer activities, anything you can do with a touch interface and/or a gyro-mouse, I can do an order of magnitude faster and with less effort with a mouse and keyboard. That includes programming, video editing, audio production, fragging my foes, or just typing up a document. Anyone who thinks the PC or mouse is going away is just a dreamer or a marketer. The same people who believe we’ll get jetpacks or flying cars in our lifetime. It’s nice in theory, but reality doesn’t work that way. Rather than try to force crappy touch interfaces and 3-d mice down our throats, I wish laptop manufacturers would ignore the hype, get off the touch-screen and HD video resolution bandwagon, and start making laptops with REAL non-touch-enable high-def displays again instead of this crap HDTV resolution they are pushing on everyone. Apple MacBookPro lovers will say, “hey look at my amazing resolution”, but then I say, yeah get me a magnifying glass because I can’t read anything on the puny 15″ screen and they’ve discontinued the 17″ models. Sigh. Real power users these days are left with fewer and fewer options as everyone jumps on the bandwagon of the technology flavor of the week. I applaud anyone for getting a tech project funded, but the Mycestro 3d-mouse is just another example of s*#! I don’t need in a niche that is already filled with other low-cost options. What we really need is a Kickstarter project for a 17″ MacBook Pro alternative – that is — a laptop with a nice-ass 17″ screen, gaming-quality video card, top-of the line processors and BATTERY LIFE. I can get all kinds of 17″ laptops with great specs (none with a great display like the old 17″ macbook pro), but nothing out there with comparable specs comes close with the battery life. The whole laptop market needs to standardize like the desktop market so people can buy standardized laptop parts and build their own just like with desktop pcs. But I could go on about this forever and I have work to do fixing problems with an effing touch interface. Sigh.
At Last! A response by someone who actually uses a computer. I’m with you 100%.
I am amazed that no comments make reference to trackballs. I am an audio engineer who has consistently used a trackball for nearly 20 years, and I have yet to see a device that is more ergonomic and efficient. My Kensington Expert Mouse trackball sits on my desk and does not move, no need to. With a flick of the large (nearly the size of a cue ball) ball, I can send the cursor anywhere on the screen, and with a scroll ring around the ball, I can scroll easily and precisely. I notice that most people who work in my industry (or in graphics) seem to use trackballs as well. Nearly everyone I demonstrate my trackball to is impressed with the ease of use and accuracy of the interface, and are often confused and irritated that this option was (is) not brought to their attention.
You can’t do everything on a phone or a tablet, or even a laptop with a tiny screen.
So….if I’m playing the guitar and recording through my pc, and I need to interact witht he software, I have to stop, attach something to my finger, use the computer for 2 seconds, then remove the thing from my finger?
Stop being overdramatic. Will other pointing devices be developed for computers? Yes. Does that automatically meant that the mouse will disappear? No.
PCs won’t go away either. Sometimes a full blown PC with expansion slots and a big display, and a REAL keyboard is needed.
Amen
I would prefer to use a mouse and desktop rather then that or any type of phone or tablet type device. I’m relatively old at the age of 22 but I just can not see me using it without getting frustrated. Also it seems it might be a bit more difficult to use for people with arthritis.
When I was introduced to computers in High School, in 1980, the keyboards were tiny and so was the memory capacity. Cassette tapes were the best high volume storage around. In short order the “Tech” industry sorted out that just because they could make something small didn’t mean they should. Humans have fat fingers.
My suspicion is that this will go the same way. The venerable, great and powerful “mouse” will always have a place at our desks…with or without wires. I also suspect the “wireless” trends will slow as the security issues continue to grow. Real business saving, professional grade security will be provided by hardline access.
But thats just IMHO…I keep a Smartphone with both touch and keypad. My touch-only experience was that the screens cannot tolerate an abusive or abrasive environment. Industrial/outdoor settings will need a keypad/board/mouse just due to pure physical requirements of operating in those environments.
I’m left-handed (very left-handed) and use a regular mouse without switch the buttons. Looks like this will not work for me.
Ever so often these so-called “tech” journalists decide to run a “the mouse is gone!!” articles. Seen about 500 of them in the last few years…. the mouse is not going anywhere for the masses.
I chuckle at the comments by others about everyone waving their hands around to direct their mouse. I saw an ad yesterday for an AT&T phone that can be answered by waving your hand over it. That brought similar pictures to mind. But then my over-active imagination went too far. I imagined that I would be setting up different hand gestures for different people. I, of course, can’t be bothered with the immense physical exertion required to pick up my phone to see who is calling, so instead I set up an intricate pattern of gestures that I can blindly perform over my phone, all the while not even looking at it. Periodically, I would yell out the word ‘hello’ to check if I had answered my phone.
In the end, I am placed in an insane asylum because I look and sound like a lunatic ….. or ….. I wind up at the tail end of some horrible beating because my intricate hand gestures have said something intolerable to someone else.
I’m very happy with my touchpad.
Since all my computers from junior high until college didn’t really have a HARD DRIVE (TRS-80, Apple II and III up to Hewlett-Packard 3000 which was a minimainframe) and THEN I first encountered the PC (1986!) and had to learn to create a DOS SHELL…
Oh yeah…I had a used 386 with Oregon Trail and a really fun version of Wheel Of Fortunes in DOS.
I’m an old guy, not tech savvy, waaaay behind the tech-curve, using a laptop for the last 8 years. I haven’t used a mouse in that long. With the 2, 3 and 4 finger wipes on the trackpad, I haven’t even used the up/down arrows in years, either.
I am, quite simply,an unqualified doofus with those darned pads. The cursor jerks about madly or not much at all and I figured there was a good reason CAD/CAM needed a good mouse, therefore me and my ham hands will never bother as long as I have a mouse to attach.
I had a 286 with a dead hard drive and it’s mouse made it past 22 years!
I am an artist and do computer graphics for medical reports which has to be exacting. Will always prefer a mouse. I love my mouse.
I just tried waving my hand to simulate moving a 3-d mouse but I found that fatigue was quickly apparent, especially if trying to make accurate cursor moves. I use a wireless mouse but I find a wrist rest almost essential.
You are right about wireless devices compromising security. But what about the “security” of the very cells that make up our bodies being irradiated unecessarily by devices that should have had wires on them. I have noticed that those exposed to microwaves a lot are scatterbrained.
It’s not using infrared? If that makes you scatterbrained does it explain why relatively little TV programming seems intelligent?
I thought I wasn’t buying a phone because I was BROKE! Seriously, they’re only that way from detachment from their environment.
Touchscreens are certainly intuitive, but with bigger screens I don’t like the big hand movements needed to navigate – think Minority Report! I don’t have the strength or stamina to wave my arms around all day to get my work done! A mouse is MUCH more efficient and friendly from that standpoint. Touch pads are fine but some laptops I’ve used have such poor sensitivity they are frustrating.
I’m an old retired guy who taught myself about computers when DOS 3.1 was the latest thing on the block. I’ve progressed up to using my Desktop computer hooked to my Hi-Def Samsung Tv. I use a Logitech Laser Mouse and Keyboard and that is all I need now or for the future. I don’t have Smartphones and only have a Tracphone for emergency using when driving. I guess progress is fine if you have a use for it but sure hope I don’t ever have to buy a Laptop computer because A Desktop is easier to work with for my purposes.
This is the same type of baloney that was put out when Accutron digital watches came out. Analog watches ruled until cell phones took their place. Hardly anyone wears a watch anymore.
When the mouse goes extinct, it won’t because touch of touch screens. It will because of something entirely new. Enjoy your mouse.
It’s a mouse stuck on your finger.
I’ve always wondered if an alternative to the mouse might be created that makes use of thumbs and avoid moving my hand to the mouse…say, some thin, flat 3×2-ish inch surface sitting at or attached to the bottom edge of my bluetooth keyboard at mid-line. Single point touch to move the cursor, left thumb touch & right thumb swipes for multi-directional scroll, single point double tap to zoom in and zoom back out, left thumb touch with right thumb double tap-and-hold then swipe to highlight, etc., etc.
C’mon makers! I’d be happy to be a taker for something like that.
This looks like a useless piece of junk if you have to use very precise programs like Visio.
The mouse is a great design. They will still be around when we get AI.
Buncha damned kids on here….I’ve got email accounts older than most of you. They’ll take my mouse when they pry it from my cold, dead hands…….. <:0)
Nope, not extinct. I have 3 of them.
Every time a new technology emerges and starts to take market share away from an older technology, it is predicted to be the older technology’s demise. The notebook (laptop) was destined to kill off desktops, tablets and smart phones were destined to kill off desktops and notebooks, etc.
I don’t think the market only has room for one technology. It is diversifying, not turning upside-down. Notebooks tend to have a good deal more power than tablets for better graphics rendering, better sound (particularly if there is a subwoofer involved), better gaming, precision pointing with a trackpad, multicore processing, more storage capacity, more memory, more expandability, and the availability of an optical drive. And the trusty, ol’ desktop remains very much at home in the office environment, and as the backbone of a home network. Whereas notebooks average 3-5 years lifespan, desktops usually exceed five years, and possibly ten before a motherboard failure tolls the bell, and a replacement makes more sense than a repair.
There has been ongoing disagreement as to which pointing technology is the best. A lot of people favor trackballs; I can’t stand them (only thing I like less is the trackpoint). Even amongst notebook users, some of whose machines now come with touch screens, it is my understanding that neither the touch screen nor the trackpad have kept users from purchasing a wireless mouse.
I predict this new, 3D mouse may take some market share away from the traditional mouse. But it won’t come close to killing off traditional mice; I’d be surprised if it overtakes the trackball.
I went back to using a desktop after years of using laptops. I tried both trackpads and trackpoints, but a full-size regular (optical) mouse with a pad underneath it can’t be beat.
For precision work not involving illustration (which uses a tablet and pen), the mouse is the best game in town and BILLIONS of humans know how to use it!
It will still be used by those who want to move a object very, very precisely on screen. Those working in 3D and 2D like architectural drafting, graphic design, typesetting, typeface designers, etc.
Oh man, this will kill anybody with RSI’s.
End of the mouse? I believe that is premature for the same reason my wireless mouse and keyboard is sitting in a drawer and I am still using a tailed mouse and keyboard.
Power. Wireless take up a lot of power so such so that the batteries don’t last long. Could be solve by having USB recharges…but won’t that defeat the whole tailless mouse idea.
Trackpads and touchscreens and the waving of hands in the air are all well and good for people who like them. There’s no reason, however, for the mouse to ever go away. It’s 10 times more functional for most uses, and doesn’t leave fingerprints all over your screen.
This sounds very much like the argument made back in the ’80s about VCR’s: people will opt for the new tech because of sheer convenience.
Similar to the movie theatre, the mouse represents the need for a very human interaction in association with modern technology. The mouse ‘feels right’ in my hands.
I’ll give you my mouse when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!
For the record I just bought a portable and it was a 17″ laptop. Small screens are for trendy folks who want to do simple tasks. Instead of a hobbyist or professional who actually wants to accomplish something. For instance read several different web pages on an interesting subject.
I need a large laptop with its mouse, and a small mobile device as a backup. Like buying a bicycle or scooter to compliment the family automobile.
This is the funniest thread I’ve read in a long time… FINALLY the real computer users came to the defense of working (i.e. getting something accomplished) in an organized, realistic environment.