Building a Better Mouse

Optical mouses freed us from mouse pads and the chore of cleaning gunk from our mouse’s innards every few weeks. But they don’t work well on transparent or highly polished surfaces. With its Performance Mouse MX, Logitech solves this problem by borrowing a trick from microscopic imaging: dark-field microscopy, often employed by biologists examining low-contrast specimens such as live amoebas. Unlike other optical mouses, which track their position by looking at the direct reflection of a laser that illuminates the surface beneath the mouse, Logitech’s mouse ignores the reflection completely. Instead, it looks at the light scattered off minute imperfections and particles on the surface. This mouse works even on a glass desktop.
Product: Logitech Performance Mouse MX
Cost: $100
Source: www.logitech.com
Companies: Logitech
Keep Reading
Most Popular

The dark secret behind those cute AI-generated animal images
Google Brain has revealed its own image-making AI, called Imagen. But don't expect to see anything that isn't wholesome.

Inside Charm Industrial’s big bet on corn stalks for carbon removal
The startup used plant matter and bio-oil to sequester thousands of tons of carbon. The question now is how reliable, scalable, and economical this approach will prove.

The hype around DeepMind’s new AI model misses what’s actually cool about it
Some worry that the chatter about these tools is doing the whole field a disservice.

How Charm Industrial hopes to use crops to cut steel emissions
The startup believes its bio-oil, once converted into syngas, could help clean up the dirtiest industrial sector.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.