I am diggin this, but think that the Griffin Powermate is a better looking device, plus not so big… But it is always good to have options. Check out my post on the Griffin Powermate that I use with Photoshop every single day.

http://paperflame.com/content/technology/get-a-grip-on-photoshop-too-cool-tool-control

Looks like a smoke detector.

I could see a similar device that is actually a ball with accelerometers/gyros inside, you use it like a ball mouse except the ball rotates inside your hand instead of inside the mouse. Rotate the ball in place to act like a trackball/scroll wheel, pick it up to act as a 3D manipulator. Clicks could be squeezing, or tapping the ball against the surface. The main problem would be letting go of the ball and it rolls off the table, your mouse moves and then it clicks somewhere on your screen when it bounces on the floor. :)

macegr, that would be a pretty interesting design idea, combine it with induction charging and you could make it fully symmetric.

Perhaps you had a faulty one, andrew. I’ve got a powermate sitting in front of me right now, and I’m estimating something like 3-5 degrees of resolution on max sensitivity. I’m using it on the windows volume control.

scott:

3-5 degrees? Wow, that’s crazy. Maybe mine is broken. I’ve gone through the settings and I can’t seem to change it – might have to do with bad OS X drivers too.

The best thing you can do with a Orbita mouse is to paint it black and use it as a Hockey Puck!

To answe the cursorkeys q.: I play FPS with the cursorkeys, I like it best because when I take my hand off I can quickly return to it unlike the WASD keys where I hit the wrong keys, plus my hand is more comfortable.
But yeah this mouse is definitely not good for FPS due to its design, the video merely shows it can even be controlled enough to play an FPS for a few seconds.
I’m sure it has its merits though, and the beauty is that you can connect several mice at the same time to computers, you just should not move them at the same simultaneously and get confused.

But yeah I like the powermate’s looks much better, and of course think the visitors here should build their own scroller. :)

Lasted 7 years and never let me down until it died in 2006, even with the 3-4 years of daily 16+ hour use:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/wingmanmouse/images/sideview.jpg

The Article:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/wingmanmouse/

I got a re-issue of the same mouse under the “compaq” branding as PS/2 connection type when the old one died for about $20.

What am I saying?
They really need to make a mouse that fits the hands better- big or small hands.

What would I change?
I would make the middle mouse button into a toggle switch that turned scrolling on and off, but have the scrolling distance be a factor of the mouse movement on the desktop, like regular mouse movement, rather than a varied constant speed like most toggle button to scroll mice are.

I would abandon tho puck design completely; mac failed at forcing people to like it, so how would they expect people to voluntarily like it?

This also reminds me of the a “joystick” that came out in 1999 which was more like a puck shaped handle. It was both used as a mouse that moved across surfaces entirely and a 4 (?) Axis joystick with typical dual axis functionality, twist and push pull. It failed.

edit. mouse not mounse.

Scott,

It sounds like your powermate is broken. I’ve got one too and 3-5 degrees is about right. I have a logitech trackball for my mac that I use with it. I keep the powermate right in front of the track ball(its one with the ball in the middle and buttons on each side) so all i have to do to scroll is extend my middle finger over top the ball and spin.

I saw this mouse at Cebit, Hannover earlier this year. The picture on the web does not do this product justice.

The entire top covering is made from rubber and it spins on a base of ball bearings. You also are not meant to hold it like a normal mouse but rather control it with your fingers. Regrettably, they don’t explain this very well. Very clever device.

Sorry mate, I was in the process of copy pasting your comments to respond to it by paragraph and then got to thinking about the powermate.

I lol at the mouse, i use cad and this thing looks worthless. I will keep my simple logitech wirless mouse, i don’t think someone could pay me to use this.

Hey I’m having issues with finding cheap marble flooring. Do you know of any websites to look?