More Good Mouse Options
From André:
Hi,
I've seen your article about wireless alternatives for Mac (2 Wireless Alternatives to
Apple's Magic Mouse). In my opinion there are some important
alternatives missing :)
Wireless
- Logitech VX
Nano - Although not white, it is one of the best RF mice out there,
very good for people like me who doesn't get used to the shape of the
Mighty Mouse/other Apple mice. The bad about it, the price - although
it is turning cheaper.
- If you aren't concerned about size, you can get the VX
Revolution instead.
- iRocks
RF-7550A - This is one low-end mouse :) It costs about
20eur (Editor's note: Available from MacMall as the "PcUSA
2.4GHz FHSS RF Wireless 5 Button Optical Mouse" for $24.99); it makes
sense for people with low budget. It is an excellent mouse for the
price. The bad about it, the side keys only can be assigned for
Exposé or you must buy a 3rd party application like SteerMouse.
Bluetooth
- Logitech
V-470 - A "little" mouse with great OS X support, very clean lines,
with everything needed. It was my choice after putting down the iRocks
for my other PC :)
- RadTech
BT600 - It seems a good mouse, and I heard it is very well
supported in Windows and OS X. The down, never see it in a store.
(Editor's note: Available from
Power Max for $56.99.)
Wired
- Intellimouse
1,1A - The king of old school Windows mouse. It turns out to be a
good Mac mouse too! OS X support, very ergonomic, and, best of
all, cheap! The 3,0A may have all the hype about it, but it is much
worse in construction and it is only good for people who have big
hands.
You have lots of Logitech and Microsoft mice with support for
OS X, but I don't know it well, but they are worth a check. I only
mentioned these 2 brands because I know they offer OS X support
and they make very good mice.
Hope it helps :)
Thanks for the good articles
André,
Hi André,
Thanks for the report and the mouse profiles.
My wife uses an iRocks mouse (wired), which she is
very fond of. I have a RadTech BT600, and it is a good Bluetooth mouse,
although with more Bluetooth latency than some of the newer Bluetooth
models I've tested like the Targus for Mac Bluetooth
Mouse and the Razer Orochi.
Personally, my current favorites remain the Logitech
V550, the Targus For Mac Wireless (RF) and Bluetooth mice, and the
Razer Orochi gaming mouse (even though I'm not much of a gamer).
Charles
In Defense of Wireless Safety
From Stephen in response to Wireless Paranoia:
Dear Low End Mac,
I think it's absolutely up to any particular person whether or not
they expose themselves to anything in the environment - I think it's
perfectly reasonable to avoid seafood if you're worried about heavy
metals or other things for hazards. I think the issue to bear in mind
is magnitude, really the amount of energy involved. Electromagnetic
radiation can and does cause severe harm to people the world over, just
as heavy metal poisoning for seafood affects people the world over. I
don't think that should then lead to fearing your AirPort base
station.
The question has to be what causes the damage. The whole EMR
spectrum does not react with matter in the same way - for example, all
a radio wave has the energy to do is make charge carriers oscillate
(which is how antennas receive transmissions), whereas high energy
gamma radiation can react with matter to form particle/antiparticle
pairs. The main distinction between the bands is the effect they have
on matter, so I think that people should take home the point that, for
example, although UV is a type of EMR and UV is linked to skin cancers
in sunbathers, this does not mean that sitting beside an FM radio will
have the same effect, despite radio waves also being a form of EMR.
It also depends on how much energy is being directed at any
particular target - for example, commercial radio transmitters often
operate in the megawatt range, and standing too close to one of these
is probably unwise, despite radio waves being quite low energy in
themselves. I doubt you'd suffer DNA damage, because it's not ionising
radiation, but I do think getting in the path of a megawatt beam would
hurt for other reasons. There are reports of people being cooked by
standing between high power line-of-sight microwave dishes. That's
simply what large amounts of energy does to the human body.
Nothing you can buy from the Apple Store or PC World comes close to
that in terms of power output. The AirPort, for example, is limited by
EU law to 100 milliwatts, enough to let you share your Internet
connection around the house, but not nearly enough to cook your cat.
The limit exists to prevent unlicensed operators causing interference
for other people using their own equipment rather than for health
reasons.
So - take home lesson is just this: avoid high energy, high
frequency electromagnetic radiation like the plague, because it really
is bad for you - but the sort of deliberately low power, relatively low
frequency radios people can buy for walkie talkies, WiFi, Bluetooth,
etc. are a different beast and, as far as anyone knows since Marconi
and Morse started to work with them, are quite safe. That doesn't stop
anyone avoiding them for their own peace of mind, but I think it's
worth reassuring those who are trapped with their Blackberry that
they're probably going to be okay.
Regards,
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
Thank you for that well-reasoned, thoughtful, and very
plausible analysis. I suspect that you're probably right, at least for
most of us. There are some people who appear to be hypersensitive to
EMR, just as there are a few, including myself, who have extreme
sensitivity to certain common chemical substances at environmental
levels hundreds or even thousands of times lower than what is
conventionally deemed to be toxic. However, that's another movie,
except for the analogical thought that the same sort of dynamic may
apply in the case of EMR.
In general, though, I think your argument is plausible
and well-reasoned, and while I still wouldn't want to live near a cell
tower and will not keep my wireless router too near my office, bedroom,
or anywhere I spend a lot of time, I may be being hyper-cautious. I
hope I am.
Charles
Addressing Pismo WiFi Problems
From Scott in response to Buffalo
WiFi Problem with Pismo:
Have you considered installing an internal Apple AirPort card? I've
had several of them, and they've all worked perfectly, except one I
bought from eBay that died after an hour of use. I got a refund on that
one though. AirPort cards were very expensive for a while, but nowadays
they're affordable. Anyway, that's what I did with my Pismo, and it
works great wirelessly with OS X 10.4.11.
Scott
Hi Scott,
I would definitely consider it, and an internal
AirPort card would probably be the ideal solution, if I can find one at
a reasonable price.
Charles
Switching to ClipMenu
From Brett, following up on Using
Jumpcut on Snow Leopard:
Actually, I read one of your other readers' recommendations for ClipMenu and decided
to switch to it instead of Jumpcut. Once I figured out how to create a
snippet (the documentation is pretty poor), I liked having that option,
which Jumpcut doesn't offer. Another benefit of reading your
column!
Brett
Hi Brett,
Delighted to be of service, and thanks for the
ClipMenu report. I must get around to checking out this
application.
Charles
Color It 4.5 Now Working with Snow Leopard
From Jim, following up on Color
It 4.5 Won't Work with My Intel Mac:
Hello Charles,
Thank you for your reply.
Just to be fair, I completely erased a drive. I installed OS X 10.6
and Color It!. Nothing else.
It is working, although it crashes occasionally. It's not a deal
breaker.
I had written to Digimage Arts asking if we could expect an upgrade
to Color It!, since it's been over 3 years since the last one.
I received a reply saying that they were working on a new
version.
Regards
Jim
Hi Jim,
Glad to hear that Color It! still works with 10.6, and
lets hope that they get that new version out soon.
Charles
Thoughts on Apple's Magic Mouse
From Jacub, following up on Magic
Mouse Is Clickable:
Charles
I have not tried the mouse myself either, as they are hard to get in
my country. I worry about the ergonomy, as it seems to be pretty flat,
and I am used also to Logitech mouse.
But the real gain will be if Apple implements the pinch-to-zoom
gesture and 3-finger swipe for Exposé (or just more personal
settings for each gesture).
It will be nice to stop thinking about these in every Adobe app
different key shortcuts for zoom. :-)
Have a nice day
Jakub Wagner
Later Revision OS X Install Discs
From Chris, following up on Leopard 10.5.4 Install Discs Exist:
Hey Charles,
I am not surprised that you didn't know - I only found out as I do
tech support for elderly relatives, who I generally move to the latest
ones at a later date (i.e. 10.3.5, 10.4.4, and 10.5.2). It seems to be
that they are revised 2-3 months after launch, so you may be wise to
hold off for either a 10.6.2 or 10.6.3 disc to appear (even though you
have broadband now - it's still a pain to update, isn't it!)
Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks. I'll take it under advisement. I see on
MacFixIt that version 10.6.2 has apparently induced some problems with
POP3 email for some users, which would be bad news for me.
My general observation is that the last three versions
of OS X have finally settled down and become solidly reliable (or
facsimile thereof) somewhere around the fourth or fifth revision. For
Panther, in my recollection, it was version 10.3.7; for Tiger, 10.4.6,
and for Leopard, 10.4.4, so I'm not in any big rush to upgrade to Snow
Leopard. My general point of view is that early adopters of software
(and indeed many other things) are essentially late beta testers.
;-)
Charles
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