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When is a mouse not a mouse?

Some time ago in another blog I commented on the Sony VAIO Mouse Talk. Rather than simply talking about this innovative little device I now own one and can offer some real world experience of it. For those that haven't seen or heard of it this mouse from Sony doubles as an Internet phone using Skype. One of the problems that continues to plague me with Skype is the echo effect that seems to occur mostly with laptops when using the inbuilt speakers and microphones (at least, in my experience). Often this will make some conversations ineligible. Using a Skype phone (in this case, the Sony one) seems to have removed this problem completely and has improved my Skype experience dramatically. The audio quality is excellent. Having a device that performs more than one (useful) function that is not overburdened with feature bloat also helps keep the weight of my 'digital backpack' down (a little). One thing that would transform this device from being quite useful to really good would be if it were wireless. It connects to the computer by USB. I can't help thinking that Bluetooth connectivity would really transform it. As it is, the USB ports on my laptop are on the left hand side and I use the mouse right-handed. The cable seems to be quite short and really gets in the way when 'on the phone'. Formwise, it is not as ergonomic as other 'mice' however it looks quite cool if thats an important factor. The surface is very smooth and doesn't seem to 'breathe' as well as other more coarse surfaces so it feels a bit 'sweaty' after a while. Overall though, I think this is a great little innovation and should provide plenty of stimulation for other ideas.

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