Apple “Magic” mouse kicks the crap out of it’s predecessor

Absolutely everyone I have talked to hates Apple’s  mighty-mouse. Even my friend with a Mac ditched his for, ironically, a Microsoft brand one. Paraphrasing Philip Defranco, “Apple could have released a block of wood and it would have been better then the Mighty Mouse.” But today, Apple showed us all that they can do better. What they have done is combined the iPod Touch’s multi-touch screen with a mouse, basically creating a mouse with no buttons, that supports gestures. Here’s what Apple has to say:

“The same Multi-Touch technology first introduced on the revolutionary iPhone comes to the mouse. It’s called Magic Mouse, and it’s the world’s first Multi-Touch mouse. Click anywhere, scroll in any direction, and swipe through images on its smooth, seamless top shell. It works wirelessly using Bluetooth, so you don’t have to worry about cables or adapters cluttering your workspace. And built-in software lets you configure Magic Mouse any way you want.”

I can really only see one problem: Bluetooth. I don’t mind syncing my phone to my computer via Bluetooth, but I have this thing against  Bluetooth mice. My first wireless mouse was Bluetooth. Whenever I booted up I had to pick up my mouse, press connect, wait 30 seconds, wait for it to tell me the connection failed and try again three or four times until it connected. The next day I ditched it for a WiFi mouse (I don’t think they are actually called WiFi mice, but they opperate on a 2.4Ghz channel, so that’s what I’ll call them). Vista sp2 fixed the connectivity problems, but I still think WiFi is much more convenient.  I boot up and it’s connected without me having to do anything. So I have a dongle sticking out of my laptop? Who cares? I don’t see why they couldn’t have made it WiFi.

On the flip-side, this thing is sleek, light and awesome looking. I assume it is as precise as my BlueTrack Microsoft mouse, if not even more. The multi-touch gestures are easy to understand and seem very natural. It seems a little flat-and-wide, but I guess that just take a little getting used to. It will run you down $69.00 at retail, but it’s free with a new iMac. A lot less than the $3600.00 I was predicting.

I really have to give Apple credit for this thing, thought I won’t buy it just yet, it doesn’t look perfected. Id doesn’t look very ergonomic. I also can’t imagine seeing it work on a carpet or my laptop keyboard like mine does. It seems really cool, but I can’t imagine it aiding my productivity at all. Knowing Apple, it won’t work with Windows anyways, just to slap Microsoft for the Zune HD compatibility problem.

For more info visit Lifehacker and Gizmodo.

Getting the Desktop Of Your Dreams: Custom Themes (part 3)

Now that your desktop has a new theme, Windows needs an overhaul too. Normally, Windows blocks all 3rd party themes, but with a patcher, like VistaGlazz, you can bypass this limitation. Follow the steps here to install and use VistaGlazz.

I really couldn’t have said it better myself, but I will try, as sometimes a different perspective can help. (credit for the instructions in the link goes to SweatyFish).

1)Create a restore point.

2) Disable UAC.

3) Install VistaGlazz.

4) Restart.

5) Patch by clicking only on the computer button.

6) Restart.

7) Download a custom theme.

8 ) Find the folder entitled #ThemeName#

9) Make sure the contents are: en-US, Shell and #ThemeName#.

10) Put the folder #ThemeName#, containing said files into C:/windows/resources    /themes

11) Apply the theme by right clicking>Personalize>Colour & appearance>Classic menu for more colour options.

12)Apply your theme of choice.

The best places to find themes are DeviantArt and VistaThemes.

A similar process applies for XP, but with a different Patcher.

WARNING: Do not use TuneUp Utilities to apply custom themes, it might mess up your computer.

This marks the end of my customization series. I have a bunch of other ideas that I will save for other series, as they don’t fit as well together as the other 3 did.

I will defiantly be going into more depth about Rainmeter, including a segment on skin-making. If you did all of this right, you will have geeks asking “What Linux distro is that?” and non-geeks asking “How did you do that?” Who said Windows isn’t customizable?

Getting the Desktop of Your Dreams: Launchy and Docks (Part 2)

So, I know it’s been a while since my last post, but here is the second part of my series on customization.

We are all familiar with desktop icons, but if you want another way to arrange them, here are a few things to try:

Launchy: Are you a keyboard person? Then this is the applet for you. Type in what you want and it launches it. Even if you don’t want to use it as a full-on launcher, it makes a great search-utility. it is also 100% customizable. You can use skins from Deviant Art or even make your own! Get it here (if you don’t like it at first, give it time, it will grow on you).

Docks: I must admit, one of the best features of Macs are the docks. If you only have a few desktop icons, or want a more (or less) minimalistic look, a dock might just be     the answer to your prayers. Having a dock doesn’t mean you have to give up your taskbar though, if you do it right, they might just compliment each other. My absolute favourite is ObjectDock, but there are many others, such as RocketDock, or CircleDock. If you don’t like those annoying pop-up effects you can turn them off. For more insight on docks, visit TalkingPyjamas under “Boating in Windows Vista”

Fences: If your desktop is very cluttered, then Fences is what you want. it lets you organize your icons into self-contained groups, that you can then move around, or ever auto-hide. Fences.

All of the above apps will work well with Rainmeter.