A New mouse that works in Air

'MX Air' has a polished Black semi-transparent top case, a Silver base, and a svelte contoured shape. The innovative air mouse uses Logitech's 2.4GHz Digital Cordless technology with a range of up to 30 feet, and comes with a sleek charging cradle. The 2.4GHz micro-receiver allows plugging it into a desktop or notebook PC.

Significantly, the new air mouse combines 3 technologies: freespace motion-control, gesture command, and wireless.

Freespace motion control technology attempts to provide accurate and responsive navigation sans the limitations of earlier in-air pointing devices. The technology is in itself a combination of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) sensors, DSP (digital signal processing) technology, and RF (radio frequency) wireless technology.

It also uses sophisticated algorithms to cancel the slight involuntary tremors that almost everyone experiences. With Freespace technology, users can hold the air mouse in any way, point it in any direction, and enjoy intuitive cursor control.

The air mouse integrates gesture-based commands; for instance, to change volume, users can press and hold the volume button, and simply gesture to the left to decrease volume, or to the right to increase volume.

The 'MX Air' features a touch-sensitive scroll panel instead of a traditional scroll wheel. So with a swipe of the finger across the surface, the scrolling mechanism is enabled. Besides, there are large, Orange backlighted buttons for media functions like Play/Pause, Volume/Mute, Back, and Select.

Rory Dooley, senior vice president and general manager of the control devices business unit, Logitech, said, "The MX Air mouse offers a radically new way for people to control their PC entertainment. It's for anyone who has listened to music on their PC and been frustrated by having to return to the desk to change songs or volume... It's for people with a living-room computer or media PC who want to navigate their media content on their terms."

Logitech's MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Mouse is expected to hit stores in the US and in Europe beginning August. It will be available for around $149.99 (Rs 6,750 approx).