Q&A: Trackpads rise but mice live on
How does this trackpad differ from the touch capabilities that I get on my Apple laptop? For Windows 7 users, it emulates the same multi-touch experience that Apple users have on their trackpads. Touch technology is heading towards multi-gesture controls, with Windows 8, Microsoft's next operating system, offering touch-screen capabilities that will incorporate similar touch controls.
Is the computer mouse facing extinction? The computer mouse has survived in the technology world despite all the rapid change around it. Touch technology is becoming more widely available, but the computer mouse industry is keeping pace by releasing innovative products.
Touch technology has made its mark on our smartphones and tablets. But now it has come to one device that has not changed very much over the years: the computer mouse.
Apple led the way last year with its Magic Trackpad, which mimics the trackpad on its laptops, and Logitech has introduced a similar product. Logitech's Wireless Touchpad, which costs US$50 (Dhs180) lets users point, scroll and swipe with the taps and swipes that they have become used to on their touch-screen smartphones.
Users can use just one finger anywhere on the touchpad to control their cursor, scroll up or down with two fingers to move through a Web page or use three-finger horizontal swipe movements to flip through photos on their computers.
Logitech's latest product also uses a plug-and-forget receiver, a USB gadget that is attached to the computer via one of its USB ports to connect as many as five other Logitech compatible devices such as the company's wireless keyboard products.
The touchpad's wireless connection functions over a distance of nearly 10 metres, a feature that will be handy for those conducting presentations while seated or standing a distance from their computers.
Logitech claims that the device has a battery life of up to four months. An LED indicator tells you when the touchpad is on and whether the batteries are running low.
This device, however, is designed only for Windows 7 users who would like to get the same multi-touch experience they can get on Apple notebooks or even computers that will be equipped with the upcoming Windows 8 operating system.
But for those unfamiliar with the typical touch movements that can be performed on a device such as this, the touchpad does have traditional laptop trackpad buttons that allow for clicking instead of two or four-finger movements to perform functions. The product is mounted on four rubber feet to prevent it from sliding around while you're swiping.
Top 5: computer mouse devices
1 Razer Mamba (2012)
2 Razer Naga Epic
3 Gigabyte M8000 Xtreme
4 Microsoft Touch Mouse
5 Evoluent VerticalMouse 4 Small
Source: PCMag.com
The Quote: I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them. - Isaac Asimov, American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books.
