Your hands (and desk) will fall in LOVE with Logitech’s new ergonomic mouse!

What if you could move your cursor without moving your mouse?

Designed as an upgrade to the 10-year old Ergo M570, the Logitech Ergo M575 is a small, feature-loaded, ergonomically designed mouse that’s made to go places… without going anywhere. Located right under the thumb is a large trackball that lets you control the cursor without moving your mouse around. This gives you the same level of precision without all that hand and wrist movement – a feature that doesn’t just save you energy, it gives you extra desk-space too, because you don’t need to move your mouse around everywhere.

Following the design direction set by Logitech’s Ergo series, the mouse comes at a slight tilt, offering less wrist-strain, while the ridged surface (also seen in the MX Vertical) feels great against your palm. The mouse comes with your standard left and right-click buttons, with a scroll wheel in between, along with two extra programmable buttons right within the reach of your index finger. Other upgrades to the design include an increased battery life of 24 months if you use the USB receiver (or 20, if you use Bluetooth Low Energy), and a body that’s made out of as much as 50% recycled plastic!

Designer: Logitech

Dream Arcades Vision 32: 140 Classic Games + 32″ Display = 1 Nostalgia Totem

It’s becoming increasingly cheaper to make your own arcade machine, but if you’d rather leave it to the pros check out Dream Arcades’ latest offering, the Vision 32. The machine gets its name from its 32″ LCD display. It’s loaded with 140 classic games, but as an introductory offer Dream Machines is giving away more games and other freebies to early buyers.

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The Vision 32 is based on a Windows XP computer with a 3.0GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, CD-ROM drive and Ethernet port. Its buttons and 2.25″ trackball are backlit. It also has side pinball buttons and a hidden keyboard shelf. Dream Arcades didn’t specify the resolution of the display, only that it’s high definition.

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The list below ticks off some of the games pre-loaded into the Vision 32. Early buyers will also get a over two dozen casino and slots games, seven clone games – including a Donkey Kong clone, a Freeway clone and a Frogger clone – plus a DVD-ROM drive. You can also add your own games, play music and videos and go online on the machine.

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Insert a coin in your browser and order the Vision 32 for $2,699 (USD) – $500 off from its regular price. The sale ends on 5/26. You can check out custom made Vision 32 units on Dream Arcades’ Facebook page.

[via Gotham News]

Ask Engadget: best wireless trackball mouse?

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, then here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Andrew, who loves his trackball and needs to help find a wireless replacement. If you're looking to ask one of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"I'm a huge fan of trackball mice, and I've been using a Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman since 2002. They can't be popular, because the company no longer makes them, and I haven't been able to source one except at ridiculous prices on eBay. I've even tried the Logitech M570, but I simply can't use it. I've looked at Kensington's offerings, but they are geared towards thumb-ballers rather than index-finger ballers, so what I want to know is: is any company making a wireless trackball mouse that offers the same experience as my beloved Optical Trackman? Thanks!"

Now, if we're honest, we did some digging and we really do feel your pain. In our searches, it looks as if the wireless trackball world has collapsed down to the Kensington Orbit or the M570, which you've already discounted. So, do any of you, out there in the ether, use a suitable trackball from a niche manufacturer? Heck, are you a niche manufacturer looking for an audience? The comments section below is where you need to go.

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Retro Space Arcade Cabinets: Beautifully Retro, Crazy Expensive

I know it’s a total luxury item that I have no business spending my hard-earned money on, but I’ve always wanted an arcade cabinet that I could load up with MAME and all of my favorite arcade games. But up until now, most of the cabinets out there were a little too tacky for me to actually have in my home. Now that I’ve seen these Retro Space arcade cabinets, I’ve got no excuse – except the money, of course.

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These awesome retro-modern arcade cabinets come from designer Martijn Koch in The Netherlands. They each have a gorgeous 27-inch 1920×1200 LCD screen in the middle, as well as two arcade-grade Sanwa 8-way joysticks, real arcade buttons for each player, as well as a 6cm Sanwa arcade trackball and a single analog joystick for those games that support one.

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Or if you’re a fan of games Arkanoid and Tempest like me, you’ll opt for the version with the Ultimarc SpinTrac spinner instead of the analog stick. Yes, please.

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The cabinet has also got a pair of Canton speakers and a stereo T-amp. Keep in mind that this cabinet doesn’t include a computer – though they’ll be happy to custom fit it with a Mac Mini or Raspberry Pi for an added cost.

Prices range from €2,099 (~$2822 USD) for a slightly distressed yellow unit shown here to €2,499 (~$3360 USD) for the lovely anthracite grey model, so this definitely isn’t a cheap system. Never mind the fact that it may be cost-prohibitive to ship one of these outside of Europe.

I know Christmas is 11-1/2 months away, but I’m putting this on my list now.

Trackball Game Controller: Stuck Between a PC and a Console

When it comes to FPS gaming, I don’t think anything can top the ol’ mouse and keyboard combo if we’re looking at functionality. The sheer number of keys plus the accuracy of the mouse just can’t be beat. But if we’re talking about comfort, you can’t beat the console’s sidekick, the gamepad. What if there was a controller that combined the best of both worlds?

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Sadly, Peter Von Buskirk’s Trackball PC Game Controller is not that perfect amalgam. But it is a compromise with potential.  If you’ve used either a gamepad or a trackball then you know what to expect from this concept.

I like the controller a lot, but I have two complaints about it. First of all, why is this only being made for the PC and not for consoles? I think this will benefit not only the fans of the annual Shoot of Shooty: Men of Shooting fps games, but also strategy games and other games that require lots of pointing and browsing, games which are hard to implement on the console partly because of the lack of a mouse.

My second complaint is the location of the trackball. By placing it on the right, it exacerbates the weakness of gamepads – now you’ll have access to even less buttons because your right thumb is making sweet love to that sexy trackball. It would be fine if the left half of the controller had buttons, but there’s still a D-pad there.

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Von Buskirk setup a Kickstarter fundraiser for the controller; unfortunately as of this writing he’s only managed to raise about $12,000 (USD) out of his $125,000 goal, with only 8 days remaining to fulfill the quota. You can still pledge for the controller if you want – $36 is enough to reserve a unit – you won’t be charged if the fundraiser doesn’t meet it’s quota anyway so you don’t have anything to lose. I hope Von Buskirk keeps working on his controller even if his fundraiser fails. Maybe he’ll find the perfect compromise someday.


iKey DP-TB-50 Rugged Trackball

iKey DP-TB-50 Rugged Trackball

iKey has proudly introduced the DP-TB-50 50mm rugged trackball. Designed for the most demanding cursor control applications, the trackball uses the latest and most advanced laser tracking technology, which provides accurate cursor motion at all speeds. The iKey DP-TB-50 features a rugged ABS polycarbonate enclosure, a phenolic resin ball and a high performance shielded cable. What’s more, it is fully sealed to NEMA 4X specifications. No word on pricing at this time. [Press Release]