Mouse uses gyroscope to perform in midair

March 20, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

I remember as a kid my fascination with the gyroscope. My dad bought me one of those little toy models that you’d wind up with a string. I’d pull the string as hard as I could to spin the heavy little gyroscopic wheel inside its metal frame, and the magic would begin.

One end had a recessed dimple in which you could insert a pencil point. I placed the gyroscope on the tip of a pencil and watched it balance perfectly.

Even if I moved the pencil or changed the angle to an impossibly precarious one, the little gyroscope wouldn’t fall off. It would even sway in a rhythmic oscillation but balanced it would remain.

On the other end was a small slot so that you could balance the gyroscope on a length of string. The little whirling device became the ultimate tightrope walker as it traveled back and forth between my hands.

Most of all, I remember how the gyroscope would resist any change when I held it in my hand. Twisting it in midair while spinning at full speed was difficult at best.

That resistance to change in midair is the underlying bit of physics that makes Gyration’s latest Air Mouse Elite Cordless Mouse work.

Most of today’s gyroscopes, especially like the ones inside the Air Mouse Elite, don’t spin like my old toy did. Instead, they use tiny micro-vibrations along with micro sensors that react to that resistance to change.

Add all of that with additional sophisticated electronics that keep track of those movements, and you have a mouse that works in midair. The Air Mouse Elite works just like any other cordless optical mouse when it’s placed on a desk’s surface. Left and right buttons along with a clickable scroll-wheel let you work as usual. But that’s when the similarity ends.

Moving the Air Mouse Elite in midair in any direction will cause the mouse pointer to move in the corresponding direction. Normally you would glide a mouse forward and back to move the mouse cursor up and down. With the Air Mouse Elite, you actually do move the mouse up and down for those directions. It’s very intuitive.

There’s even a mode that makes it act like a red laser pointer and another mode that lets you spotlight a larger area on the screen if you need it.

Your thumb now becomes the presser of the buttons instead of your index finger as it is naturally positioned to reach any of them at the top. I found that pressing the buttons and scrolling the wheel with my thumb really didn’t take any additional adjustment time.

The included MotionTools software enables you to deliver more compelling lectures and presentations. MotionTools recognizes your gestures and uses them to control applications and to activate a rich set of tools with which you can interact with your content.

The Air Mouse Elite is also ideal for presentations where a desk may not be practical or handy.

This latest model operates up to 30 feet away from the computer into which you insert the mouse’s USB receiver. If you plan to use more than one of them in the same room, there’s no need to worry; the Air Mouse Elite’s auto frequency hopping insures that one mouse won’t interfere with another.

Even if you don’t have any gyroscope memories as a kid, you’re still going to like what the Air Mouse Elite has to offer.

The Air Mouse Elite works on both Windows and Macintosh and sells for $79.95. For more details, go to www.gyration.com.

Craig Crossman hosts “Computer America,” heard on Business TalkRadio Monday through Friday, 10 p.m. to midnight. For more information, visit his website at www.computeramerica.com.

2011, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services