The Mighty Stick - LD36 Mac OS

Here I Come to Save the Day (or, 'Hands on with Mighty Mouse')

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Bob 'Dr. Mac' LeVitusEpisode 43

THE MIGHTY MACS tells the remarkable true story of Cathy Rush (Carla Gugino) who, as a woman in her early twenties and with no coaching experience, in 1972 became the head coach of Immaculata's struggling women's basketball team, and never mind that she was the only one to. Get more done with the new Google Chrome. A more simple, secure, and faster web browser than ever, with Google’s smarts built-in. Enter ABC Family’s “Mighty Sweepstakes” for a chance to win $1000 that you could contribute to an after school program of your choice! You could also win The Mighty Macs on DVD! Enter for your chance to win $1,000! No purchase necessary. See official rules. Truck tuning is something that is close to the heart of all truckers. If you have ever been to a truck show, you would see that the amount of love and effort that some drivers are willing to devote to their vehicles is unbelievable. UTV, ATV, S x S, 3-Wheelers and off-road motorcycle enthusiasts are invited to participate in the 7th Annual Trek The Mighty Mac. Join the growing number of “Trekkers” who gather in St. Ignace every year to enjoy food and gear vendors at Friday staging, a one of a kind parade across the Mackinac Bridge Saturday followed by Saturday evening.

August 5th, 2005

I woke up Tuesday morning to find a package from Apple, boldly labeled Mighty Mouse, on my front porch. I had only been awake for a few minutes and I hadn't yet had coffee or surfed the Web, so my first though was, 'Why the heck is Apple sending me a cartoon character?'

I soon figured out that it wasn't that Mighty Mouse…but rather, it was Apple's brand spankin' new input device, announced and introduced earlier Tuesday morning for US$49 at the Apple Store. As I ripped open the box, my phone began to ring; it was Apple calling to brief me on their latest, greatest rodent. So before I downed even one cup of java, I had a box containing a Mighty Mouse of my very own and had been briefed, albeit briefly, by the Apple product team.

After ingesting sufficient quantities of a highly caffeinated beverage, I managed to rip open the package, install the Mighty Mouse software, and get that handsome little sucker up and running.

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Figure 2: The Keyboard & Mouse System Preference pane after installing the Mighty Mouse software.
(Click the thumbnail for a full-sized image)

If you use an earlier version of Mac OS X, or choose to use Mighty Mouse with Windows, you can use it as a two-button scrolling mouse, but you'll lose the ability to configure your third (Scroll Ball) and fourth (side squeeze) buttons.

Of course, this being its inaugural release, I have a couple of quibbles…

First and foremost, I am dismayed that it won't allow me to configure any of its buttons to send a keystroke. You can configure any button to invoke Expose, Dashboard, Spotlight, or the Application Switcher, or to launch a specific program, but that's it. You can't configure any of them to send a keystroke such as Command-[ or Command-], which are my favorite shortcuts (for Back and Forward in both the Finder and Safari).

That could be the deal-breaker for me… You see, my previous mouse, the Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 2, lets me use two of its buttons to send the keystrokes for Forward (Command-]) and Back (Command-[) as shown below:

The mighty stick - ld36 mac os x


Figure 3: My IntelliMouse Explorer lets me use any button I like to send keystrokes like Command-] (Forward) or Command-[ (Back) while Mighty Mouse doesn't allow any of its buttons to send keystrokes. Bummer!
(Click the thumbnail for a full-sized image)

I've been missing that feature a lot since I switched to the Mighty Mouse.

Another issue for me is that the fourth button-the one you invoke by squeezing the sides of your Mighty Mouse-is awkward to use. I have to reposition my hand on the mouse to make it work. That's not good. For what it's worth, I'd prefer two independent programmable buttons that you press over one button that requires a squeeze.

Finally, I've grown used to the freedom of a wireless mouse, so I am not thrilled about being tethered to my Mac by a USB cable.

Still, I love the Scroll Ball to death and will stick with Mighty Mouse for a while, hoping Apple adds support for keystrokes and/or allows the left and right side buttons to operate independently of each other without squeezing. But I'll almost certainly switch back to my Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0 unless the Mighty Mouse software gains one or both of those features. While I definitely prefer Mighty Mouse's Scroll Ball to the IntelliMouse tilting scroll wheel, I prefer having Forward and Back buttons on my mouse even more.

And that's all he wrote…

Mighty Mouse
Apple Computer, Inc.
S.R.P. $49

Mighty Mouse works with all versions of Mac OS X, Windows 2000, and Windows XP; Mac OS X 10.4.2 or higher required for full four-button functionality. Compatible with both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ports.

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Bob 'Dr. Mac' LeVitus has been a Macintosh user for a long, long time and has written 49 computer books including Mac OS X Tiger For Dummies and GarageBand for Dummies. He also offers expert technical help and training to Mac users, in real time and at reasonable prices, via telephone, e-mail, and/or unique Internet-enabled remote control software. For more information on Bob and his services, visit www.boblevitus.com.

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Mighty Mouse works with all versions of Mac OS X, Windows 2000, and Windows XP; Mac OS X 10.4.2 or higher required for full four-button functionality. Compatible with both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ports.

Bob 'Dr. Mac' LeVitus has been a Macintosh user for a long, long time and has written 49 computer books including Mac OS X Tiger For Dummies and GarageBand for Dummies. He also offers expert technical help and training to Mac users, in real time and at reasonable prices, via telephone, e-mail, and/or unique Internet-enabled remote control software. For more information on Bob and his services, visit www.boblevitus.com.

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