The 3Style company has created a mouse with a jogwheel that allows the user to provide input in 3 axes, as opposed to only two supported by conventional mice. If you’re unfamiliar with what a “jogwheel” is, like I was prior to learning about this mouse, it is a wheel that rests parallel to the surface of your desk that can be rotated in a circular motion. It is comparable to the iPod’s circular input wheel, except it rotates freely as opposed to detecting touch only. Usually jogwheels are used by professional video editors for precise video scrolling.
If my description wasn’t up to par, check out this video of the mouse in action:
I haven’t seen anything like it. My concern, though, is that it seems like it would be difficult to rotate the jogwheel while simultaneously moving the mouse. In the video, the user had to stop mouse movement in order to switch to jogwheel input for both the 3d modeling software and Quake 3 (yes, I recognize the game). Perhaps this was only to demonstrate the functionality.
There are no conventional mouse buttons. Instead, the entire top of the mouse is a button and the other button constitutes a squeeze of the sides.
[via Engadget]
