Before comparing the optical mice with laser mice and see which ones are better, we should find out what they actually consist of first and how they work.

An optical mouse it’s clear that it’s working with the optical technology, and they are independent of the surface underneath. An optoelectronic sensor is in charge with taking pictures of almost any type of surface, which are then processed by specialized chips. To take the successive pictures, the LED integrated at the bottom of the optical mouse illuminates the surface underneath and the image-processing chip analyzes the reflected light translating it into the movement on the X/Y axes using an optical flow algorithm. This algorithm involves a pattern of apparent motion of the surface in a virtual scene determined by the mouse and the surface.



In other words, optical mice are characterized by the integration of a very small camera capable to take 1,500 pictures per second while the LED light bounces light off that surface onto a CMOS sensor, which sends the images to the digital signal processor. The processor, having an operating speed of 18 million instructions per second, detects image patterns changes and establishes the distance the mouse has moved since the last change. The coordinates are sent to the computer, which translates the information into the cursor movement.

The optical mouse history started in 1999 when Agilent Technologies launched the world’s first model that proved to be very accurate providing an increased tracking resolution, dirt-resistant and to work with almost any type of surface without a mouse pad.

A laser mouse replaces the LED illumination with infrared laser diode light and it was introduced to the retail market in 2004 by Logitech and Agilent Technologies.
While the optical mouse uses a light emitting diode, a laser model uses a very similar technology, but in its case we have an invisible laser beam responding to the slightest hand movement with high precision. The laser beam comes out via the ring on the base and the reflected light from the surface reaches the sensor, which is capable of taking 5.8 megapixels of details per second.



In the battle of the laser mouse versus optical mouse it seems that the laser wins in most of the rounds. Featuring a laser beam it provides higher image resolution on more types of surfaces, even on tricky polished or wood-grain surfaces, glazed ceramic tile, untextured plastic, metal surfaces, photo paper, laminate countertops, and opaque glass, while enabling 20 times more surface tracking power compared to the optical sensor.

This is what Martin Reynolds, vice president of research firm Gartner, declared in 2004:
“Lasers are a natural evolution of the optical mouse, as their illumination enhances surface textures invisible under LED illumination. This is physics in action, and will become one of the top volume applications for lasers.”

(Sources Wikipedia ; Semiconductor ; Tom’s Hardware ; MegaGames ; wiseGeek ; PSYORG)

LOGISYS is a PC accessories manufacturer who was among the first to bring on the market CCFL and LED lighting in this industry. It has its corporate office in the United States and other offices in China, where it provides cool electronic gadgets.

Today I will show you 2 of its latest computer mouse models, the 4 Direction LED Gaming Mouse and the M-Coupe Optical Mouse.
Available in Orange, Jade and Blue, the 4 Direction LED Gaming Mouse allows you to scroll up, down, left and right and features a cool LED light in a curvy shape.
On the upper external side it has a cool glossy finish, while under it features a rubber material to prevent it from slippery.
It connects via a 7-foot cable which is retractable in the cord holder, and among its specifications there is a 30 line per scrolling, 800 dpi resolution, optical sensor, 3 keys, and USB connectivity.



The other mouse model from LOGISYS with cool LED lights is the M-Coupe Optical Mouse coming in Silver, Black, Red, Yellow and Blue.
It connects via USB, has 2 buttons and a button-wheel, but the cool aspect is its design – it looks like a glowing car with head lights, which is a nice effect during night. The resolution is of 800 dpi and comes with a 6-foot cord.

Mice are not vital computer accessories as long as you know how to use key combinations to open files, but what do you do if your keyboard breaks? In this case a mouse becomes the single device with which you can control your computer.
We’ve all seen different types of mice on Mouse Arena ranging from concepts and fashionable mice to high-end devices like gaming mice, but we didn’t know much about them besides their specifications. I think that now it’s time to go deeper into this subject and learn all about our personal computer mouse.

Mouse Definition
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A computer mouse is a pointing device that detects 2D motion relatively to a surface and translates it into the pointer’s motion on the display. You will tell me about the Logitech mouse that works in the air. We’ll get to that too, soon.

Computer Mouse History

The history of the computer mouse starts at the Stanford Research Institute in the United States, where many technologies and solutions that are the base of today’s products were invented, such as the Electronic Recording Machine Accounting, the magnetic ink character recognition, the first mobile robot to reason about its actions, the world's first all-magnetic digital computer, world's first electronic computer network, remote surgery, the speech recognition, and many, many others which you can read about on Wikipedia.




One of their innovations is, of course, the first computer mouse designed by Douglas Engelbart in 1963. The patent was published in 1970 and described a wooden shell with 2 metal wheels working as an X-Y position indicator for a display system. Its nickname was “mouse” because of the tail coming out the end. Unfortunately he never received great recognitions for inventing the computer mouse as the patent expired in 1987 and other came out with new designs and different configurations that did not infringe upon the original patent.



William Bill English worked together with Douglas Engelbart at the world’s first mouse design and he built the first prototype, while later, after moving to Xerox PARC, he developed the first mouse ball.

In 1981, the Xerox 8010 Star Information System brought the first computer mouse on the market as part of the Xerox Corporation’s system, which consisted of a bitmapped display, a window-based graphical user interface, mouse, icons, folders, Ethernet networking, file servers, print servers, and e-mail.
There were a few mouse designs which could be considered the world’s first but as they didn’t get the public’s attention and no patent, they just vanished in time. One interesting mouse came from Tom Cranston, Fred Longstaff and Kenyon Taylor, who designed the first trackball in 1952, but as it was included in a secret military project, it wasn’t patented.

How Does a Computer Mouse Work?

Types of Mice

In the history of the computer mouse are several types of mice and I will provide you a brief description.
Mechanical mice like the ball mouse invented by Bill English had a single rotatable ball instead of the external wheels, and as you moved the mouse the ball was turned. It used X and Y rollers, optical encoding disks with light holes, infrared LEDs illuminating the disks, and sensors in charge with gathering light pulses to convert to X and Y velocities.

One of the rollers was detecting the horizontal motion and the other one the vertical motion, which was rotating the encoder wheels to interrupt the optical beams, generating this way electrical signals. The generated signals were then sent to the system via the connection wires, and converted into the cursor’s motion with the help of driver software.
An analog mouse, which is mechanical, uses potentiometers instead of encoder wheels and is compatible with analog joysticks.



The opto-mechanical mice were an improved version of the incremental rotary encoder-based mechanical mice, and use the ball or closed wheels, but they can detect the shaft rotation with the help of an optical encoder, for more reliability.
Optical mice have the LED technology and photo diodes which detect the movement on a surface, replacing the need for moving parts.

At the beginning, optical mice used either infrared LED and a 4-quadrant infrared sensor to detect grid lines printed with infrared absorbing ink on a special metallic surface, while algorithms in the processing unit were calculating the speed and direction, or were based on a 16-pixel visible-light image sensor with integrated motion detection on the same chip, tracking the light dots’ motion on a dark field or printed paper. The first concept couldn’t work perfect if the user moved the pad, and the second one was based on mechanical mice’s system.



Later these optical mice were improved and the modern mouse was created. It is independent of the surface and uses an optoelectronic sensor to take successive pictures of the surface. Optical mice work by illuminating this surface with a LED, while frames changes are processed by the image processing unit from the chip, and then translated into movement on the X/Y axes using an algorithm.

Laser mice replace the LED with an infrared laser diode to illuminate the surface and track 20 times more surface than the optical mice, being more sensitive and increasing the resolution.
Cordless mice used at first a tuning fork to detect movement and featured a switch to deactivate the movement circuitry between uses. Advanced cordless mice were transmitting the data through infrared radiation or radio.




3D mice work with ultrasound and the first model released on the market was the 3D RingMouse. It is wireless and to use it you would have to use a ring on your finger. The ring permitted you to access 3 buttons while keeping it in the air, and the tracking happened in a base station. It disappeared on the market because it didn’t provide enough resolution.
Later the double mice systems appeared and were operable by 2 users in the same time on the same system.

I was saying earlier that the coolest mouse of the moment, in my opinion, is the Logitech MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Air, featured in one of our previous articles. You can use it in the air and this is possible thanks to the unique Freespace motion sensing technology developed by Hillcrest Labs, which consists of a 3D motion sensor capable of translating human natural motions into screen cursor movement.

It is based on several new technologies such as Orientation Compensation for the natural motion control via Micro–Electrical–Mechanical Systems sensors mixed with special designed algorithms for strong control from any position and regardless of the device’s orientation. The Tremor Cancellation permits the mouse to make differences between the intentional and unintentional human movements so that the device will always respond to those intentional only.
According to tests’ results, Freespace motion technology is producing 50% fewer pointing errors than mechanical gyroscope–based devices, improving the pointing speed with up to 20%.
You can read more about it here.



In the present day you can find different types of mice and unique designs on the market including washable mice, foldable mice with calculator, phone-mice, mice with fingerprint reader, cool trackball mice, wireless mice, and mice created with best ergonomics in mind.

We talked about standard mice, gaming mice, fashionable mice and the famous moldable mouse. Now let’s check the new foldable mouse from Canon!

You’ve seen a similar gadget before, in the shape of the Mouse Skype Phone from Chinavasion, but Canon’s model replaces the phone functionality with 2 other, a numeric pad and a calculator with 10-digit LCD display.
Canon LS-100TKM is the world’s first model of this type and will be released later this month in Japan.
It comes in white and black, measuring 186 x 65 x 65 when open at 116.8 grams, and being designed to save space on your office desk, delivering 3 devices in one.
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It is a PC optical mouse model functioning via USB connectivity and featuring 1000 dpi resolution, scroll wheel, and a Li-Ion battery. Also, if your computer is running the Windows operating system up to Vista, you won’t encounter compatibility problems, while working on accounting.
The price will be of approximately $30.

(Source: Coolest Gadgets)

Well this should not be a problem if you purchase a Washable Mouse from Belkin. You can simply put it in the water and wash it with the hands or a piece of cloth. It won’t affect the mouse at all because it is water resistant.
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Belkin Washable Mouse was launched in the summer of 2007 and was a real success because of the high-quality all Belkin products offer, and it also works perfect on all surfaces including wood, that’s because it is based on the optical sensor technology featuring 1200 dpi capability.



You can control it using the two buttons and the nice-designed scroll pad for vertical and horizontal scrolling with one finger touch.
It powers via USB.

With it computer mouse cleaning is not a problem anymore and you can forget about toothpicks with which many of us try to clean the dirt inside the mouse, and about the special cleaning substances that leave traces behind the cloth.



When the model was released on the market it came at a price of $30 with 3-year warranty, but now, after one year it is available at large stores such as Buy.com at just $19.45.