Mouse And HDD Combo Show Off Your Data Gluttony

databot_mouse

So we know you’ve got a lot of porn on your computer, but just how much is a lot? This concept mouse and hard drive combo aims to show you just how much digital junk you have acquired through physical feedback.

The DataBot mouse looks like a typical run of the mill scroll mouse that you might get with a new computer. Inside however, the designers have added a small servo which alters the ease with which the ball moves. The more files you have stuffed into the folder you are moving around, the more the mouse resists, giving you a sense of the physical “weight” of your computer’s contents.

The DataBot hard drive gives you a sense of how full your computer is by growing and shrinking based on space usage. During file transmissions the hard drive blinks its LEDs to indicate how fast or slowly your files are moving. When the inevitable file access error occurs, the LEDs switch to a bright red hue and the drive shakes to indicate there is a problem afoot.

With the price of data storage decreasing by the day, it’s easy to get lost in a glut of information without realizing just how much data you have. This is definitely an interesting way to get a different look at your data consumption.

Check out the videos below to see the pair in action.

[via Dvice]

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/24741148 w=470]

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/24744756 w=470]

24 thoughts on “Mouse And HDD Combo Show Off Your Data Gluttony

  1. Giving the mouse more resistance when you have a ton of files in a folder seems self-defeating because then it would be harder to scroll through all of them…unless you are trying to punish yourself or something.

  2. I would assume a later revision of the hard drive would move the electronics into the “stationary” end of the drive to prevent wire fatigue. The LEDs inside should be bright enough to light up the diffuser even when fully extended.

  3. Any sort of “Feedback” at a touch or glance can make our machines more an extension of “Us” and more intuitive. Haptics and related visuals all integrate our perceptions of what’s being interacted with.

    Perception *IS* a form of reality.

    These Hacks are a very good example of perception cues incarnated from the zeros and ones into tangible+visible reality not framed in the video output. That intentional focus expansion may be a Very Good Thing for training us in multiple reality immersions.

  4. I like the concept of haptics, but you must be careful about when and where you use it and think about if it isn’t a useless distraction.
    I in normal daily use tend to forget I hold a mouse and fear that if it constantly drew attention to itself it would annoy me, although I might get used to it I guess? And maybe a vibrating mouse relaxes the hand and mind in a beneficial way.

    Incidentally didn’t I see that HD concept already before, a few years ago?
    And various manufacturers already released mice that gave feedback over the years too.
    Not that something need to be all new, it just needs to be in the right time and done right to work. (but I don’t think these guys have any hope on trying to patent this)

  5. That ‘hard drive’ would be an USB flashkey, seeing how small the thing is when you see him remove the lid.
    I guess that’s some mac-user way of describing things then? Same way many women call hard drives ‘memory’

    Or maybe it’s 100% concept and it holds no data at all.

  6. When did Hack-A-Day’s readership become a bunch of killjoys? Oren Beck seems like the only guy here who gets it.

    It’s a hack. It doesn’t need a purpose, it doesn’t need polish, it doesn’t need a price, it’s done for the lulz.

    In this particular case, I think the mouse which gets “heavier” as your hard drive fills up is a cool idea. If it were for the rest of you guys, we’d still be using horse-carriages to get to work every day.

  7. “we’d still be using horse-carriages to get to work every day.”
    Only if we were pursuing some boneheaded pseudo-artistic commentary on the boring mundanity of human life. I, personally, am still holding out for the hover-car.

  8. @Volfram: Actually, we’re not still using horse carriages thanks to those lazy slackers ready to go to any length just to make doing stuff less tiresome (NOT thanks to those who make pointless stuff – nor those idiots who “design” stuff based on “I’m sure they’ll know how to do that Real Soon (R)” engineering).

    At least according to some guy called Heinlein.

    I believe him.

  9. What I’d find handy would be a physical slider on the desk of say 10 to 15cm (4 to 5″) that moved along with media I was playing/editing and that I could move to change the position in the audio or video file or timeline of an editor.

  10. Did anyone else think the title suggested a tiny HDD inside the mouse?

    Nice anyway, but I think the servo concept should be reversed.
    I’d like my mouse to move around, performing the repetitive movements on it’s own. Porn can be tiring.

  11. what I learned from this post is that the hackaday readership is mostly comprised of a bunch of vulcan-esque sperglords who don’t understand things like art and why something can be cool without being completely utilitarian

  12. That’s not completely fair octel, many a article on HaD are about design, and frequently people like it.
    Not that by-and-large hackers aren’t more utilitarian as you say, but why not eh.

    I myself like a nice design when it also has a function. Those kinetic art things made of cogs and stuff that do nothing always annoy me for example but a visually nicely designed device pleases me more than one that merely works.

  13. So are “sperglords” a good thing or not?

    As to appreciating art, show me some and I’ll appreciate it.

    Pretentious bullshit on the other hand goes directly to the trash bin, maybe with alittle derisive laughter and scorn attached for good measure.

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