Well, I got my Magic Mouse a few days ago, and I've been using it for my everyday tasks for a few days (and I'm still using it), and here are my impressions.

Packaging:



This packaging is clear, showing the actual Magic Mouse, just like the packaging that Apple has been using recently for the iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch and accessories.

Downloading the update:

As we posted earlier, you'll want to to download the Wireless Mouse Update to enable the new features of the Magic Mouse, which is available for Snow Leopard and Leopard.

Set Up:


Once you've installed the Wireless Mouse Update, you'll want to go to the Mouse Preference Pane in System Preferences and click the new "Set Up Bluetooth Mouse..." button. You no longer have to use the Bluetooth Setup Assistant to pair, which makes it a little simpler. It will then search for your Magic Mouse, and make sure it's turned on, which is done by a switch on the bottom of the Magic Mouse. Once it's paired, you'll be all ready to use your Magic Mouse.

Read on below to see the how it was using the Magic Mouse....

"Twenty five years after introducing the world to mouse-based computing, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is now hoping to deliver significant advances to the input device by applying the company's extensive research and development in multitouch technologies," AppleInsider reports.

In other words, "new mouse."

I own the often maligned Mighty Mouse, both wired and wireless. We have an on-again, off-again relationship. On one side, I like the feel of the thing. The extra weight added by the Bluetooth model's batteries is especially nice, as is the smooth surface. It travels well in my bag, absorbing bumps and jolts without complaint.

The little trackball nubbin is another issue. It requires more cleaning than I'd like to perform, and makes me wish for an old ADB mouse. Popping the ball out and cleaning the rollers was a quick and simple job. I've used the Mighty Mouse paper trick -- rub the ball on a sheet of paper or a few seconds -- with mixed results.

AppleInsider reports that the current model is back ordered across retailers, and that its replacement won't be white plastic, will ditch the trackball and feature "...expanded touch sensitive housing and 'multipoint touch detection mechanism' technologies."

The new mouse could ship with the rumored iMac update.

[Via Gizmodo]

Mac Life and Gizmodo are both reporting that Snow Leopard will add multi-touch gestures to all older MacBooks and MacBook Pros. This has gotten a lot of people's hopes up that three- and four-finger multi-touch gestures will be back-ported to all Apple portables that previously did not have them.

Unfortunately, this is incorrect. Apples own information on Snow Leopard's enhancements reads, "All Mac notebooks with Multi-Touch trackpads now support three- and four-finger gestures." (emphasis added)

This raises the question, what's the difference between a multi-touch trackpad and a regular one, and which models have it?

The multi-touch trackpad was introduced with the first MacBook Air in early 2008. Not only does it allow two-finger scrolling like older models, it also allows advanced three-finger gestures like swiping to go back in Safari.

One month later, the early 2008 MacBook Pro received the same trackpad, with the same gestures. The multi-touch trackpad gains this new functionality because it has an embedded controller chip, identical to the one in the iPhone and iPod Touch, which allows advanced input from more than two fingers at once.

Later, the unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros debuted with multi-touch trackpads, but also introduced new four-finger gestures, which will not be officially supported in the older MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros until Snow Leopard's release.

The original MacBook Air and early 2008 MacBook Pro are the only machines which will gain additional gestures via Snow Leopard. The only reason these notebook models are able to gain these gestures via software updates, while earlier MacBook Pros and all plastic MacBooks are not, is because they possess the multi-touch controller chip in their trackpads.

Just to break it down, this is a list of the only, and I mean only, notebooks that support multi-touch gestures, either now or after Snow Leopard:

MacBook Air (all models)
Early 2008 MacBook Pro
Late 2008 17" MacBook Pro
Unibody MacBook (all models)
Unibody MacBook Pro (all models)

If you have a MacBook Pro manufactured before early 2008 or any plastic MacBook, then Snow Leopard or not, multi-touch isn't coming your way...

AppleInsider claims that Snow Leopard will include developer hooks that will determine a Mac's geographical location and provide additional multi-touch support for Mac laptops with glass trackpads.

While Macs don't typically come with GPS built-in, the location determination feature will work similarly to the original iPhone and iPod touch: Using triangulation between several known WiFi locations, a technique introduced by a company called Skyhook. There are tools you can purchase to take advantage of Skyhook positioning today, but Snow Leopard will give developers the option of including them in any application.

Similarly, Cory mentioned some time ago that betas of Firefox 3 already take advantage of multi-touch gestures. AppleInsider's source claims the framework has been planned for inclusion since June.

The two sets of developer hooks will bring Mac OS X closer to its sibling platform, the iPhone. MacDailyNews claims it's a union that will produce a "MacBook touch," for which prototypes they claim exist today.

[Via MacDailyNews.]

Talk about being slightly touched. Arik Hesseldahl's BusinessWeek article, published today, says "...as of Nov. 19, Hewlett-Packard has beaten Apple to the punch, announcing the first multi-touch-enabled notebook PC, the tx2. I can't help but wonder whether Apple just lost an important race."

Not only did Apple not lose an important race, the tx2 isn't the first multi-touch notebook. Engadget points out that the Dell Latitude XT, which offered multi-touch technology, came on the scene back in July of '08. But even that wasn't first, because the MacBook Air was introduced on January 15th of 2008 with a multi-touch trackpad.

"Well," you say, "there's a difference between a touchable trackpad and a touchable display." You're right: one's meant to be touched and one isn't. The reason the trackpad on the MacBook Pro and he MacBook has gotten larger, smoother and glassier is because Apple is (and will continue to) inviting you to do more with it than tap and click. Multi-touch gestures on a notebook ought to be delivered via the surface that's made to be touched, not the surface made to be viewed. On the iPhone those surfaces are one & the same because there's no other option.

But really, the notion that Apple "lost an important race" by not being first is the biggest error here. Apple wasn't the first to release jukebox software, a portable music player or a mobile phone. Yet, iTunes, the iPod and the iPhone are the most successful examples of each. Apple's greatest strength is patience.

The designers and developers at Apple know you want a fully touch-enabled laptop. So do the folks at HP. The difference is that Apple's staff are patient and careful enough to execute it in exactly the right way, not just the most obvious way.

[Via MacDailyNews]

Lux is an experimental framework that brings full screen multi-touch to OS X. As you can see in the video above it allows a quasi-iPhone like experience in OS X. The project is scheduled to go live in June. Over at Gizmodo they have an interview with the developer, Christian Moore, who talks about the project and how it was built.

If you're a Del.icio.us fanactic like I am, then you have hundreds, going on thousands of bookmarks. How do you view your 1,000+ bookmarks? If you use a web browser, then you're living in the dark ages. I am going to show you a better way to view your bookmarks that may leave you speechless.

Delish is a completely new way to view your Del.icio.us bookmarks. You may ask, "What's so special about this. Can you not do this with other applications"? Well, no, because Delish is a way to view your bookmarks similar to the way you view your iPhoto images; as a matter of fact, the user interface is almost identical to that of iPhoto. When you load your bookmarks, Delish will automatically download a new snapshot of the page and use it as a thumbnail which can be enlarged for your viewing pleasure. You can also search through your bookmarks and view all of your tags in the left sidebar.

Another killer feature is reserved for those of you with one of those fancy new MacBook Pros or MacBook Airs, because you can zoom into your bookmarks by "pinching" the Multi-touch trackpad -- the very same way you can in iPhoto. The only thing missing from the application is the ability to add bookmarks directly from it, although this software is currently in beta and definitely has time to add this support later on.

Delish is currently free while in beta and can be downloaded from the Pine Point Software website.

The multi-touch feature that's been added to the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air is pretty cool, but rather limited (for now, at least). Wouldn't it be cool to have gestures across applications, like Safari and iChat?

Check out MultiClutch. It's a preference pane that lets you assign your own keyboard shortcuts to a given gesture across applications. Switch Safari tabs with a flick. Zoom in on email with a pinch. That kind of thing.

MultiClutch lets you bind gestures to a Cocoa app, including swipe, zoom and rotate. If you want to test this out, understand that it's beta. With that in mind, have fun!

Apple has already stolen the multitouch interface from the iPhone for the MacBook Air and the new MacBooks, but they haven't yet borrowed that other scrolling "feature," known here as "kinetic scrolling." If you'd like to steal it for your own Mac, however, jkOnTheRun has just the thing: a tip about Smart Scroll X, a program that lets you use your mouse to do some kinetic scrolling in any Mac app you want.

We've actually posted about Smart Scroll before, but the video is a pretty good demonstration of what's happening here. I'm not quite sure this is something Apple will want to implement in the OS, however -- it feels right enough on the iPhone, but I kind of like that my scroll wheel stops when I tell it to. If you'd rather have the iPhone experience on your usual Mac, however, the app is available as a free trial, or a complete license for $19.

[Via Nathan M]

In the iPhone Google Maps application, it's pretty obvious how to zoom into maps. You double tap the screen. The map readjusts, zooming further in. So how do you zoom out? Sure you can pinch your way back but there's a far easier way. Use a single multi-touch tap instead. That is, tap with two finger at once.

Separate your fingers so it's clear that you're making two contact points and...tap. Google Maps obediently zooms back out, one zoom stage for each multi-touch tap. Give it a try. It's a great tool to bring into your Google Maps vocabulary.