What makes this mouse unique is that it has what Logitech calls Darkfield Laser Tracking. This feature enables it to track on glass. How often someone mouses on their windshield is uncertain, however.
The mouse is advertised to work anywhere, on anything, and with anything. Anywhere MX works with old and new systems from Windows XP through Vista – if anyone is still using this failed operating system – to Windows 7, 8 and RT. Mac compatibility wasn’t overlooked in the design either. The Unifying receiver connects up to 6 compatible devices.

Logitech offers several wireless Unifying mouse choices from $29.99 to the top Performance MX at $99.99. They have eight Unifying keyboards in various configurations including solar powered, touch, and illuminated.

Anywhere MX mouse moves smoothly on this rubber-based cat – uh mouse – pad.

The mouse glides across my cat-n-mouse pad and the scroll wheel moves like silk rolling the image quickly and smoothly. Here, the documentation is helpful. The wheel works as a toggle, pressing it down changes the scrolling from a smooth rolling action to a slower, jerky page up/down movement. If you have good coordination, you can press the wheel left or right within the web page to scroll the screen in those directions. It is not necessary to position the cursor on the horizontal scroll bar to do so.

The left click button is solid and effective for selecting items from a list and positioning the cursor within a document. Right click immediately displays the appropriate menu listing. Navigating forward and back between web pages is controlled by buttons beneath your thumb if you run the mouse right handed. The buttons are slightly stiff, but you can apply appropriate pressure without interference from buttons on the opposite side of the mouse since there are none.

Symbols beside the scroll wheel and on the side buttons indicate directional movement.

A little green light on top of the mouse comes on when you set the Darkfield slider at the bottom of the mouse to On. There is also a button above the Darkfield label which led me to think they functioned in tandem. However, the identifier in the documentation indicates the Middle button’s function varies by application.

The back-to-back, single page of documentation provides mostly graphic images rather than text. For example, Item 1 points to what are described as left and right buttons. Item 7 indicates back and forward buttons. It obviously is assumed the user has mouse experience and knows what these left/right, back/forward buttons do. Yes, there are still people out there who are computer novices and could use a little more guidance. I suppose it could be argued that they shouldn’t buy a computer until they’ve attended a few classes, but who does?

The Anywhere MX package includes two AA batteries, however documentation which is written in four languages – English, French, Spanish and Portuguese – claims it runs on either one or two batteries.

Get the picture? Can’t get more concise than this.

Step 2 of the documentation has a great graphic that indicates you can slide the Darkfield button On or Off, but oddly, it doesn’t explain what the Darkfield function is. Don’t throw the box away. That’s where you’ll find the explanation which as I mentioned earlier says you can use the mouse on glass.

The graphic in Step 3 indicates where the USB is inserted into a laptop and contains the most information of any step. It tips Mac OS X users that if the Keyboard Setup Assistant appears they need to close the window.
Step 4 directs you to the Logitech website to download the most recent software and review other configurations and features. Finally they ask you to go to the “ithink” website to tell them, well, what you think.

If the mouse is not working, a very brief Troubleshooting paragraph asks: Is the mouse turned on? Yes, the fundamental first “duh” question asked by every support department. Maybe the problem is related to the USB port, maybe the battery is in upside down or the mouse is too near a metallic object. Other than those tips, you must go to their support website for help. Phone numbers for the US, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Latin America and Mexico are listed. We can only assume they are direct lines to the support department and not the corporate president.

I’ve always been happy with mice from Logitech, but the assumptions evident in the documentation only makes one wonder what other assumptions might have gone into its design and operation. We all know what ASS-U-ME stands for.

The Important Information, read CYA, insert is more comprehensive and in smaller print than the quick start instruction page. It warns of potential carpal tunnel damage from repetitive mousing, although it doesn’t mention the disability by name. Keep the mouse away from water and heat. Now isn’t this one piece of information they could assume the user would already be aware of?
Radiation is mentioned as a concern – BTW, did they ever decide if cell phones caused brain cancer or not? Misuse of or using the wrong batteries can be harmful to you and/or the device. You are warned to keep the batteries [and fireworks] out of the reach of children. Just how dumbed down has the general public become?

Oh, did I mention they warned of possible interference with your TV or radio? A couple paragraphs regarding compliance with FCC and International Standards for laser products rounds out the Important Information insert.

This mouse comes with a 3 year limited hardware warranty. That could be a good thing because several user comments around the web since 2009 indicated they needed to replace the Anywhere mouse or fix its left click button. The mouse received 3.5 out of 5 stars and 70 percent said they’d recommend the device. I haven’t had their latest version long enough to vouch for the viability of the model I received, but so far so good.

The post Thoughts on Logitech’s Anywhere MX Mouse appeared first on VR World.

Steam has more than 15 million users worldwide and is to software distribution what World of Warcraft is in the world of MMO games. But probably the most interesting part of Steam is world famous “Steam Hardware Survey”. Every month, Valve collect data from 15 million users and lists what kind of hardware do people use. This is an invaluable process that gives developers golden information about platforms they should target. In my discussions with game developers, I had countless verbal battles with people who didn’t want to create a game for high-end hardware, because the adoption rate is too low. Well, think again.

In survey for November 2008, stats show that Intel leads the CPU share with 63.62%, while AMD owns the remaining 36.38%. Dual-core dominates with 49.04%, e.g. almost eight million people own a dual-core processor. Quad-core captured just 10.43%, which means quaddies have a mountain to climb. It is surprising to see that 40.19% still own a single-core processor, but multi-thread support is a must-have feature today, not tomorrow – 59.47% own a multi-thread capable computer.

CPU-wise, best sellers are Core 2 Duo E6600 and E6700 processors (2.4-2.66 GHz), while owners of AMD platform just cannot get enough of Athlon 64 X2 2.2 GHz (4400+). Graphics-wise, Nvidia captured 65.11% of all steam users, translated into more than 10 million gamers. Here comes the most interesting part of the survey. According to Steam, GeForce 8800 captured the hearts of no less than 32.35% of users. Out of 10 million Nvidia users, more than three million people own a high-performing GeForce 8800 card – it is almost incredible to see that amount of 3D horsepower taking more market share than numerous mainstream and low-end cards. 

API is a key decided in what platform to go with, and software developers will appreciate the fact that even though almost half of all Steam users use DirectX 10 hardware, only 21.43% of all steam users can actually use DX10 API. Windows XP is loved by more than massive majority of DX10 HW-owning users.

Numbers don't lie, and these are results from more than 15M people around the world. World's largest IT-related survey, that's for sure.

Summary

All in all, I would conclude that this survey proves just how popular Core 2 Duo and GeForce 8800 are. If you’re working on game code optimization today, and plan to launch the game on Steam in 2009, focus your efforts on following parts:

• Vista is a failure, gamers are waiting for Windows 7 to tell Good Bye to Windows XP
• Focus optimization on two cores, most likely in 2.5 GHz range
• 480.000 users overclocked their CPU beyond fastest shipping clock, additional 1.5 million moderately overclock their machines
• Users have around 100GB of free space on the hard drive
• Most of users have 512MB of video memory.
• Most popular resolution is 1024×768
• Most widescreen users use 27″ screens (surprised?), followed by 24″ ones. Thus, for widescreen focus on FullHD resolution
• Multi-GPU is esoteric at best, with 1.79% of overall share. Yes, only 280.000 people have multi-GPU configuration, with SLI dominating the share with 1.55% (240.000).
• Currently, nobody uses 4 GPUs with ATI chips and mere 4600 people own two 7950GX2 cards
• Valve currently makes world’s largest IT-based survey, and probably one of largest surveys in existence (does anybody know how many people Nielsen actually track?)  

All in all, Steam survey offered an interesting insight. I’ll follow-up on this one in our future monthly reports on Steam.

The post New Steam survey confirms Intel, Nvidia dominate the market share appeared first on VR World.

Nvidia's Quadro CX is getting a twin brother...

This is also the reason why Quadro CX and the upcoming 4800/5800 line-up feature a model geared to 32-bit and a model geared towards 64-bit users. If you want all the latest and greatest that 64-bit world can offer you, you will go for the Quadro FX 5800. If you need broadest compatibility, you will go with the CX/4800, and the problem is solved.

Thus, CX/4800 will be nothing else but a souped up GTX260 cards with 1536 MB of memory, while the FX5800 will be that monster with 4GB of memory.

All in all, I have to agree with Tim Sweeney when he announced his disappointment with Microsoft Vista – we had the ideal chance to bring 64-bit operating system to life and get rid of this duality that only drives application engineers to the ground. I guess we’ll have to wait for Windows 7 to finally wave goodbye to graphics cards that can’t have 2GB of memory or more…

The post Nvidia plans to bridge the 32-bit and 64-bit divide appeared first on VR World.

Just like during PDC 2008 conference, Microsoft will be giving away pre-beta build of Windows 7. What makes this conference announcement important is the following tagline:

WinHEC is the only chance for you to engage with the team at this level – there is not another WinHEC planned before Windows 7 is released.

This statement confirms that Microsoft is dead-set on releasing Windows 7 before November 2009, and contacting moles at Microsoft was a given. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get a hold of my otherwise down-right reliable moles within Windows group, but one mole surfaced at Redmond campus and told me that product planning meetings are constantly taking place at accelerated pace when compared to the 2006 and 2007. The source contributed this to Ray Ozzie and the way how the team reshuffled. This mole was filled with praise for Ray, citing his eternal dedication and enthusiasm. People are highly motivated and want to send the message that Microsoft is not “dead in the water”, but “show who’s the boss”. But guys, without compelling experience, forget it.

What makes the matters interesting are things learned from development of Vista – it seems that Microsoft gave too much to the Hollywood mob, MPAAfia and others, and the “cost of hardware passed to the consumer” was never compensated. DRM mechanisms included things such as 5 read/write checks whenever video overlay is included (as well as specific game scenes – cut scenes, for example), which killed the performance of already limited integrated graphics.

When it comes to the release date, Long Zheng caught the message first. However, we might have conflicting sources, since my source is much more optimistic when it comes to release dates. His ninjas are talking about Windows 7 in Q4’09, but my mole claims that the target is – shipping a quarter earlier!

We should see a launch of official beta in Q1’09, followed by first public beta (B2) in Q2 and RTM version in time for Back-to-School shopping spree in 2009. If all things fall into place, of course. If they fall into place, Windows 7 are August go-go. If not, shipping in October is a must in order to get into systems for Black Friday/Cyber Monday (Thanksgiving) and Christmas shopping sprees.

Given the DirectX 11 hardware that both ATI and Nvidia are preparing for end of Q2’09, you don’t need to be a wizard to understand that big things will happen in 2009.

The post Microsoft to release Windows 7 in August ’09 for “Back-2-School”!? appeared first on VR World.

Two blue label notebooks represent a good value... or do they?

First two Blue label products are HP Pavilion dv3510nr and Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402. Both notebooks come with similar features and boast more than four hours of battery life. Personally, I like HP more due to integrated GeForce graphics card. Intel’s integrated graphics just gives me shivers. When Intel comes out with Larrabee, we can talk graphics. Until then, avoid like the plague.
Best part of these notebooks is something that we haven’t seen before: both notebooks come with 64-bit Vista Home Premium. Finally, after two years in the market, OEMs are offering 64-bit operating system as the standard.
Since 64-bit CPUs came around five years ago, I thought it was about “gollydarn time” that 64-bit OS became pervasive solution. Just for the record, I am much more happier with 64-bit Vista than I am with the 32-bit one… which really and trully sucks.
Kudos to Best Buy for offering these notebooks, they sound like a really good value ($1199).

The post Best buy introduces custom design notebooks from HP, Toshiba appeared first on VR World.

Welcome Windows 7

This name was confirmed by Mike Nash, VP for Windows Product Management. You can read more on TG Daily.

The post Microsoft abandons Vista name, welcome Windows 7 appeared first on VR World.

The device is so good that it leaves a lasting impression... but you have to use it to build your profile. It only gets better as the time passes by...

Starting today, NIA finally has 64-bit driver support. According to Dr. Michael Schuette, “The migration to the Vista 64 environment with the unified ver. 2.0 software suite required a complete recoding of the human interface device library”. The company decided to add the 64-bit executable into brand new unified driver package, supporting 32-bit Windows XP and both versions of Vista.
You can download drivers from here. Given the fact that my old review never saw the light of day on previous publications, I am working on a new review, hopefully done by next week.
If you have NIA device, you can grab the drivers here. If you don’t have the device, I wholeheartedly advise you to reconsider your shopping list – the device now sells for only $116.99 (after  $20.00 MIR) over at Newegg.

The post OCZ’s brain thingie is going 64-bit… finally appeared first on VR World.