02
August
2006
|
01:12 AM
America/Los_Angeles

Logitech set to launch new types of computer mice and webcams


I met with Logitech on Tuesday to see their Fall lineup of mice, keyboards, speakers, headphones, and webcams. I cannot write about the specs and the prices of the products just yet - they are under embargo. But I can say that I was impressed by company's consistent ability to each year come up with many new products, and innovations, in categories that you might think were already well served.


There are a couple of flagship products coming from Logitech that are going to be well worth taking a look at. In particular, a high-end mouse with new types of controls, and also a high-end webcam that is bound to be a hit. Logitech manages to hit the sweet spot in pricing, too.


And every year I ask the same question: why don't you make a compact keyboard? I have used notebook computers as my main and only system for more than ten years because I like the form factor. My notebook sits tethered to the same power socket for much of the time, occasionally I take it with me. But it is the form factor that I love, (plus being able to use two screens) and it puzzles me why Logitech and others don't make compact keyboards without the numeric keypad.


Logitech says that people want the numeric keypad and that's why they make keyboards that would take up half my desk space. But surely they are missing the fact that many more people are now using their notebook computers as their main system and that this shows they are choosing a compact keyboard?


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BTW kudos to Logitech for helping to continue the work of the inventor of the mouse, (and much, much more) Doug Engelbart. Here is an account of my meeting with Doug Engelbart a year ago:


SVW: A tribute to one of Silicon Valley's most influential and forgotten researchers at Xerox Parc event


SVW: Exclusive interview with seminal 1960s computer visionary Doug Engelbart -- he's still here and looking for funding


SVW: What if Buckminster Fuller were still alive and looking for funding? I'm still in shock at Silicon Valley's blindness regarding Doug Engelbart