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Still weird: The mouse is more accurate than a finger

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TaoPhoenix:
good points.
The more I think about it, the more impressed I am by the mouse.  Tough to say, but it's one of very few inventions that was basically perfect right from the start, what, over 50 years ago?  Pretty amazing feat.

i really have no idea what the next input device breakthrough will be, especially in relation to touchscreens.
-superboyac (November 19, 2014, 09:41 AM)
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I'm guessing a data glove of various kinds.

For example, if I turn my optical mouse upside down, because it doesn't need the old trackball-in-a-cage, the only "useful" part of the mouse is a 0.5 by 1 inch little visual window, and maybe the buttons. The rest is this big battery-and-mysterious-mouserey stuff that prob doesn't need to be there if they use smartphone miniturization (spelling?) level of tech.

So imagine a (pair?) of gloves where the sensor is under a finger. Then you just slide your finger around on the table/pad/armchair.

As for the mouse-typing switch, just figure out a way to toggle between data-finger and typing-finger for the keyboard.

Think for a moment how much movement is wasted to move the cursor to type a post, then back up top to close the tab, then somewhere else.

Question: Is it possible with current Win XP tech to create TWO mice pointers, color coded? Then you leave one up near the top for that stuff, the other does regular stuff? I'm guessing not, but then I wouldn't have guessed virtual desktops either! (Or any of a million other things!)

SeraphimLabs:
Question: Is it possible with current Win XP tech to create TWO mice pointers, color coded? Then you leave one up near the top for that stuff, the other does regular stuff? I'm guessing not, but then I wouldn't have guessed virtual desktops either! (Or any of a million other things!)

-TaoPhoenix (November 19, 2014, 10:11 AM)
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Seen it, but not using two locally-attached mice. Some of the remote control and conferencing software I've worked with has two visually-different mouse pointers present during a remote session. One is the standard-issue Windows default mouse, which is controlled by the local user operating the mouse like normal.

The other cursor was a different shape and color, and controlled by the person on the remote end of the session. This cursor could operate the computer's controls as easily as the local user cursor could, but usually during a session was simply used as a pointer to indicate where the local user should click due to latency of the remote link making it tricky to doubleclick.

40hz:
As for the mouse-typing switch, just figure out a way to toggle between data-finger and typing-finger for the keyboard.
-TaoPhoenix (November 19, 2014, 10:11 AM)
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Isn't that what already happens when you plug a mouse into a laptop and don't disable the trackpad - or tell it to defer to the keyboard when typing? :huh:

Looks like OS support is 90% in place - or already there. All you'd need is the glove and the driver.

40hz:
I still find it weird that the mouse is still more accurate to use than a finger.  I've been using a touchscreen for a while now, and it's not even close.  Touching the screen with a finger should be intuitively more better...I mean, you're just touching the actual thing you want to touch.  Yet doing it with the mouse is far easier, faster, accurate.  Is it because of the finger-pad being too big?  Would it be different if my finger ended in a needle-tip?  I don't think so.
-superboyac (November 18, 2014, 05:59 PM)
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"Thick fingers" is a known issue with smartphone touchscreens, so yes finger size and the degree of callusing or "pad thickening" might be a major factor. There's also the varying conductivity, capacitance, and temperature of different fingertips. So depending on how you're tracking them, that can also be an issue. Musicians frequently have problems with touchscreens because the pads on their fingers tend to be thicker from playing. I have occasional problems on my iPhone with either hand. I have to use more of the ball of my finger rather than the tip to get good response. My GF has trouble using her fretting hand on hers.

Besides, what's more precise than a laser beam? Definitely not a fingertip. 8)

Target:
not to forget that the mouse is 'controlled' so you can amplify or mute the commands, change speeds and/or resolutions etc

try doing that with your finger :o

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