Metal mouse breaks the mold
A Denver design company wants you to “click” with style. Zed Inc., which specializes in metal architecture and interior-designed accents, is introducing an all-aluminum mouse, the Zspire.
The computer accessory is slimmer – three-quarters of an inch tall – but heavier than a regular mouse. The Zspire is wireless, using Bluetooth technology to transmit movements to the screen. Its optical motion lens appears on the side of the mouse, versus the bottom.
“We wanted something that broke the conventions, and this design did that,” said Casey Medina, Zed’s chief engineer. “The design is based on an aerospace theme. It’s a radical new shape, something that has not been seen on the market.”
Medina said he personally developed the mouse and has graphic design professionals in mind, as a heavier mouse allows for more control and smoother motions. The slimmer body also helps to prevent cramping, he said.
Zspire is expected to be on the market in October. The suggested retail price is $119, as the company says it’s more expensive to produce a metal mouse than a plastic one. It’s being marketed to clients looking for a high-end, aesthetically pleasing, hand-finished, desktop accessory.
“It’s the equivalent of going out and buying a car,” Medina said. “You can buy a car off the line or you can buy a Bentley. I have designed Zspire to be the Bentley of the mouse world.”
– Kimberly S. Johnson, Denver Post staff writer
Home movies on PlayStation
A handy new program helps you watch home movies and recorded TV shows on your Sony PlayStation Portable. X-OOM Movies on PSP uses your Windows computer to convert DVDs and digital video files into a format that you can watch on the PSP’s wide-screen display.
You can save the converted video on a PC or Sony Memory Stick, and transfer it to a PSP via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port. The $30 program can handle a variety of formats, including DivX, WMV, AVI and MPEG files. A free trial is available for download at the company’s site. www.x-oom.us
– Gannett News Service
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