By Tikkler - July 22, 2000

In a time when everyone's into the craze of removing balls from mice and making everything out of funky-colored, translucent plastic, we sometimes forget some of the nice technologies that really do make our workplace (or playplace) more efficient and easier to manage. Introducing Logitech's iTouch Cordless Desktop keyboard and mouse combo. Logitech has been in the business of making peripherals for the PC for a long time, some might even argue that their name should be related to the mouse much like Ford is to the automobile or Sony is to the walkman or discman. They might not be very flashy in terms of marketing and advertising (none of that "Intelli" stuff) but their products are always at the top of the spectrum in terms of quality and innovation.

Let's face it everyone, who really needs a ball-less mouse? Sure, almost everyone who's bought one thinks they're great and says they're much more accurate than your everyday, run of the mill balled mouse, but how accurate can you get with a mouse!!?? I mean, any descent mouse that you buy these days will be accurate to the nearest pixel, so I ask you... how can a mouse without a ball make itself even more accurate? Sure, the glowing part is cool, but is a glowing mouse really going to make your work or play more efficient? The only use that I can find with a ball-less mouse would be if someone has no room for a mousepad and need to use their mouse on their lap all the time.

Now let's talk about something that actually might be useful to the most of us here. How many of you seem to have hundreds of cables dangling from the back of your computer? How many of you find that the cable for your mouse and keyboard always seem to be in the way when you're doing work? How many of you would like to be able to just toss aside the keyboard and mouse when you're cleaning that workspace of your's or when you're spilling the guts of your computer all over the floor? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then Logitech has something that will actually make things easier for you! They've created a technology that will allow your common peripherals such as your mouse and keyboard to be cordless! Don't get me wrong, though, as cordless technology for the mouse and keyboard have been around for a long time now, but they're all based on using infrared technology. Infrared involves having a beam of infrared light (duh!) being sent back and forth between the device and a receiver. This might sound pretty simple, but there's a lot more to it than that. The problem with infrared light is that it can not go through objects, which means that the receiver and the device must have a direct line of sight between each other. That means none of that plug it in and hide the receiver kinda stuff, as you must keep the receiver right in front of the keyboard or mouse. This really takes out the entire point of having a cordless peripheral as you don't have any freedom at all.

Logitech's solution does not involve infrared technology at all; however, their technology does involve something much like infrared. Instead of using infrared light, which can't travel through objects, they use a technology called "digital radio." As the name implies, their technology uses radio signals, which means that the receiver and device sends back and forth radio light (duh!) and, as radio light can go through objects, you get instant freedom! I'm not quite sure what the "digital" part of the name means, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with either a fancy name to make it sound cool or that the radio light is sent "digitally" or both. Either way, we'll find out how Logitech's technology stands against the competition, corded or not-corded alike.

On to: The Mouse