Although I do my best not to let on and to suffer silently with it, I have a terrible physical disability that causes me to need to recline in a lounge chair whilst using a PC. (The disease from which I suffer is called TL (Terminal Laziness, pun intended)).

With that in mind, I've been looking for a good wireless input device to use instead of the traditional mouse.

I ran across this interesting fellow:

http://www.gyration.com/kore/catalog/products/gyro-pro/content.html

which, apparently, works like a mouse, but you can waive it around in the air while you're laying lazily on your backside. Apparently it uses gyroscopy to substitute for the usual ball function of the mouse.

Has anyone used this or similar doo-dahs?

Originally posted by Annette
That looks rather interesting. But what if you're a bit of a spaz? I can just see the cursor zipping around and the user cursing up a storm.

That's exactly what I'm worried about, and why I'm asking around a bit. I don't want to find my own cursor arrow stuck in my eyeball.

Originally posted by Annette
Actually, the wireless keyboards look pretty good to me... [but] a little too bulky for laptop driving...

I've got a Logitech wireless board, and I love it. As far as using it whilst driving, I've got my ol' Compaq Presario strapped to the hood in front of the windshield, and it works great -- right through the glass.

[Edited by etLux on 11-25-2000 at 02:34 AM]

Sounds like what you need is a modestly paid 'human' mouse to whom you can bark commands, eg up, left, little bit to the right etc etc

This would eliminate ANY need for moving your extremities thereby leaving your awesome brain to program with minimal interruption.

I work cheap. But if that's not cheap enough for you, simply have children (it has been discussed before that these types of remedial tasks are the primary reason for having children). Besides- they like it!!! My kids (classroom kids), seem to love helping out with even the most repetitive tasks: sorting and stapling 1,000's of papers daily, cleaning, fetching heavy boxes of books from other classrooms, etc.

I have indeed considered using children for these mundane tasks; and in fact, have conducted a trial program of the concept.

Alas, when left shackled to the workstation and otherwise untended, children tend to grow smelly after just a few days -- and at four or five days, they often fall down and stop moving.

This is not acceptable. Perhaps when they improve the durability of children -- technology is, as you know, ever advancing -- I shall consider this approach once again.

Originally posted by etLux

Alas, when left shackled to the workstation and otherwise untended, children tend to grow smelly after just a few days -- and at four or five days, they often fall down and stop moving.


Actually I've found small children an excellent source of automated labour. At first I had the same problem of them malfunctioning after a few days. Try as I might to re-power them with electric shocks nothing worked (and it left a rather pungent smell in the room).

Eventually I realised they are almost human, albeit smaller and prone to unexpected 'static' such as crying and fits. With some tight restraints, and 'drip feeding' via various needles placed into their little bodies squirting a nutritious combination of glucose, proteins and carbohydrates directly into their blood stream I've discovered they last a lot longer.

*evil grin*

Greg Moore

Uhm, this wouldn't be from personal experience, would it Greg? :D

Why do I get the feeling that Greg often makes late night trips to the dump? You won't believe it, but kids work for stickers! Yep, motivated by sticky paper. Ahhh, I remember when I was motivated by sticky paper. Them there was the days, them there was the days.

I still work for sticky paper. It's the only true currency of personal worth.

You guys need help :)

Hey, all I did was ask for opinions on an interesting new type of mouse.

The rest of these people?

I agree. I think there's something wrong with them.

back onto the mouse conversation, I would say it is for people who have nothing better to buy :stickout

finally, I get the simily I wanted :)

[Edited by Allyn on 11-26-2000 at 01:12 AM]

Originally posted by Chicken
Why do I get the feeling that Greg often makes late night trips to the dump

*looks side to side*

Umm, perhaps I've said too much... I'll be quiet now...

Hmm.. yeah.... quiet time.

Greg Moore :)

Seriously though, Chicken is right. Kids just love those little shiny treats for doing things. You can get thousands of them for a dollar at those cheap stores, and maybe a little book of blank pages where they they can store their stickers in (good way to keep them off the walls). It's also a good way for them to carry their stickers around and show them off to their siblings and friends. You just have to install the right notion that the book is the best thing in the world and that filling it will make them a wonderful human being everyone loves.

Oh, and doing things for mommy and daddy is a good thing :)

What I *really* want them to get right is that eye thing where you just place something over your eye that tracks where you're looking and directs the mouse pointer accordingly. If you're looking for the ultimate in lazy ass you couldn't go past that :)

Greg Moore

LOL @ Greg.

I think this was the smiley which would probably have described you before... :look: ;)

I'm getting really disappointed, here... other than the idea of shackling children to the workstation -- which I'd already thought of anyway -- nothing at all productive has resulted from this post.