Nuggets: Sensitive mice bring feeling to the desktop

Computing will soon have a whole new feel to it, as Logitech's sensitive mice hit shops in the UK next month. The iFeel MouseMan and iFeel Mouse allow users to "sense" their way around Windows applications and Web pages, by vibrating as an application is dragged across the desktop or the cursor is placed over a hyperlink.

Being optical, these clever mice don't contain balls and use light sensors to detect movement instead. Logitech has stuffed a small motor inside the case that will cause the case to gently throb -- the upshot being a more responsive experience than we get from today's run-of-the-mill PC rodents.

There aren't exactly hundreds of applications that make use of this functionality at the moment, but Logitech hopes that software developers will jump on board soon. There's talk of e-commerce clothes shops letting users experience the feel of a garment before buying it, and that these mice will make it easier for computer novices to navigate around the Web and find hyperlinks.

It's certainly a step forward in interactivity, and you can't deny that the mice are well-designed little creatures. Both the iFeel Mouseman and the iFeel Mouse have curvaceous, translucent blue cases with see-through bottoms, and will also function as normal optical mice. The iFeel MouseMan will retail at £39.99 and the iFeel Mouse, which is ambidextrous, will cost £49.99.

Expect to see them in the shops and on sale from the Logitech Web site in September.

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