AshleyMills.com

A while ago I was banging on about my new trackball, the Logitech Marble Mouse:

Well, not long after, I also bough the Kensington Orbit Optical Trackball for a different location:

BTW the latter has a rubber extender that makes it longer so as to provide more palm support.

Well, I want to tell you that the latter trackball is better. Mainly because it has a scrollwheel (that is a dream to use btw). After using the Kensington for a while and then switching to the Logitech, my mind was screaming for the scrollwheel.

The Logitech is still way better than a smartphone, an incredible experience!! (I couldn't resist: Star Wars I-Pad Briefing). No really, the Logitech is still better than a mouse because of the RSI thing, but you have to get used to either using PgDn and PgUp or using the scroll bar for scrolling.

With the Kensington, the scrollwheel is totally natural and just makes it great to use. I think the logitech shape might be slightly more comfortable, but overall the scrollwheel pushes the Kensington into the lead by quite a bit IMO.

NOTE: Just found this program: http://simans.net/marble/, which can be used to simulate scrolling on the Marbleman

I bought a trackball mouse recently, for the first time in my life.

I was getting sick of wrist and shoulder problems from using the mouse too much. I don't know why, but it occurred to me to try a trackball. I'd never tried one before.

I bought the Logitech Marble Mouse:

I bought this from Ebuyer on next day delivery, because I was impatient. But I am going to take this one to work and buy a different one for home. I'm going to buy the Kensington Orbit Optical Trackball for home, because it has a scrollwheel:

Now I really cannot evangelize about this technology enough. I've only been using the thing for 2 weeks, but all my mouse induced RSI has dissapeared!  May the marble mouse be praised! (Hopefully I am not just wearing out a different set of muscles).

It is as if my eyes have been opened, and now I can't believe what a shit device the mouse is. I mean think about it, how many miles of mousemat are you covering per year? What a stupid device. With the mouse, you move your entire arm around to move the ball below it, with the trackball, you just move the ball directly. No pissing about.

The ball can also be spun so you can whizz it off instantly to the start menu in the bottom left, or the show desktop button in the bottom right (in Windows 7). Yes yes I know about keyboards, I did use FreeBSD for 5 years as my main OS, so don't start on me about shortcuts and speed. But when you have to use GUI, and who doesn't? Well then the trackball is my new best friend.

How about gaming? Well I tried it out in the original Unreal Tournament, for research purposes (heh), and it seemed fine but I was worse than with a mouse. I think with practice however it could be awesome, because it allows one to rotate very quickly and gives much better precision to turning. Also it seems easier to keep stable.

OK enough evangelizing. I'll update in 6 months or so, if I remember, to see if I still love the trackball.

A couple of my friends who are themselves a couple, make a living by designing and making custom Jewelry. It's funny. I've known these friends for a long time, and see them all the time, since they live with my girlfriend. But I never really paid that much attention to their business.

Well, I just checked it out, and turns out their stuff is actually pretty cool. Which is to be expected since they are pretty cool themselves. So, if you are into Jewelry, why not check it out, here is the link:

http://www.sugarandvicedesigns.com

If you think it's cool, I'd be happy to pass your comments on to the authors in person.

Cheers

Ash