Apple Files Patent For Display Mouse 156
astrodoom writes "AppleInsider has posted a story detailing a new patent application by Apple that hints at the possibility of adding a touchscreen to the company's magic mouse. At a basic level this could mean things like customizable colors or artwork displayed on the user's mouse, but the possibilities extend much further to fully customizable mouse layouts and program controls. Apple Insider comments on the possibilities: 'The display on the mouse would change according to what the user may be doing on their Mac. As an example, the application describes displaying a number of icons for quickly selectable options when a user is running Apple's Pages word processing application. Switching over to the spreadsheet software, Numbers would reconfigure the buttons on the screen to allow for commands in that respective application.'"
Link to PDF containing figures (images) (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Who uses Apple's crap devices anyway? (Score:2, Informative)
The Magic Mouse does not have a ball - the top surface is entirely a touch sensor. You're thinking of the Mighty Mouse, which did have a problem with the ball - it was too small and it gunked up too quickly and was hard to clean. The Magic Mouse is excellent though, and is what the Mighty Mouse should have been. The only time it falls down is as a gaming input device, but I have a regular Microsoft two button mouse with scrollwheel for that.