Both let you choose among four separate radio channels, so using more than one wireless device in an office should not cause interference. If the designers had added an eraser-tip pointing device like the ones on IBM and Toshiba laptops, they could have kept the numeric keypad.īoth these devices have faults, but their underlying technology is sound. The SurfBoard keys have no real key-click and feel mushy. Like the SurfMouse, the SurfBoard requires four batteries, but of the AA type. You can work where it's most comfortable and not be tethered by a short keyboard cord. The SurfBoard could also be a special boon in work style: You don't have to type right at your computer. This can be useful for presenters, trainers, software demonstrators and, as I discovered, product testers.įor example, a trainer could walk around a classroom to check students' progress while still transmitting commands. It has a standard-size keyboard with a touchpad in place of a numeric keypad, so you can do wireless keyboarding as well as mousing with one device. The Wireless SurfBoard works a little better. It has no off switch - perhaps the designers did not keep power consumption in mind. The SurfMouse takes four AAA batteries, which are included. In front of an audience, I wouldn't like to have to keep reminding myself how to hold the pointing device.Īnother problem: The SurfMouse's cursor control is sluggish, so you have to be prepared to accelerate it with the standard mouse driver software. But when I went around the office and asked co-workers how they would hold the device, nine out of 10 chose a position with the buttons below the touchpad and the antenna pointing away. The SurfMouse's antenna, properly oriented, should point back at the user. It's a little large for small or medium-size hands, and it's strangely arranged - the buttons are above the touchpad rather than below it. I found several ergonomic problems with the SurfMouse. You run a presentation holding the device in one hand, which leaves the other free to hold notes or gesture for emphasis.īecause the signals travel by radio, not infrared light, you don't have the problems of keeping open a clear line of sight between the device and the computer. Wireless Computing Inc.'s SurfMouse is not really a mouse but rather a simple two-button touchpad. This works, but use them in the midst of a presentation and it can look as if you are swatting at flies. Some wireless mice have gyroscopes to broadcast position information. The demand has increased as PC presentations have become more common, replacing the slides or transparencies of former days. This bit of magic is accomplished by use of radio rather than a wire to get signals to a computer.Įver since the days of the IBM PC Jr., some people have wanted wireless input devices. The Wireless SurfMouse and Wireless SurfBoard let you give computer presentations without the awkward pauses and cable tangles that can result from using a mouse or regular keyboard.
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