Last year I wrote about a wonderful mouse that neither squeaked nor roared. It had no movable parts, therefore saving the user from having to clean the mouse, wrestle with a worn out ball or chase a loose trackball across the floor. The Utah-based Cirque’s mouse was called GlidePoint, and it was about the size of a Rolodex card and almost as flat with a touchpad and two buttons.
This year the company enlarged the pointing device, allowing for four buttons that can be programmed to accommodate lefties. The buttons on the GlidePoint Desktop are now raised instead of flush, making it easier to use and sexier looking. Though the new mouse is bigger, it and the wristrest are still small enough to squeeze between my trackball and keyboard wristrest. Try that with any other mouse.
Tapping as opposed to clicking is even more of a pleasure as the enlarged touchpad (Cirque calls it a trackpad) allows for greater range.
Some of the goodies include a six-pin adapter and nine-pin serial connector. Again, the wristrest is a nice addition. But one thing Cirque did not add was a new price. It is still $89 ($99 for the Macintosh device). If Cirque can make anymore improvements it would be adding color.
In the next few months, Cirque will unveil a keyboard that incorporates the GlidePoint technology, saving even more desktop space. No price yet. We will be anxiously waiting.
On the screen
Speaking of gliding with ease, the folks from Discovery Multimedia bring us the CD-ROM Ocean Planet Smithsonian ($49.95, MPC and Macintosh). Before I get to the fun stuff, let me tell you that the minimum requirements are a 386 SX IBM compatible with 4 MB of RAM. For the Mac you can use the LC and II models. Now how often do you see that? This is especially important for an educational product in which the target market is families whose budgets can’t swing the faster DX models or Power PCs with 8 MB of RAM that more software requires these days.
Enough preaching, on with the fun stuff.
Ocean Planet is the typical Discovery product. It’s outstanding! We begin with a intro worthy of Oscar nominations in cinematography and sound. A female narrator takes us through the Big Bang theory of steam, gas and other volatile elements clashing to form Mother Earth. Not long after, torrential rains fall to form the ocean–or the Blue Planet.
And that is the very point of this stunning CD-ROM. The ocean is the wet version of earth. The narrator tells us–in her soothing yet commanding voice–that if we were to drain all the oceans, we would find deserts, mountains and canyons.
Various rooms in the disc’s Oceanarium challenge human impact on the Ocean Planet, tracks and explains weather patterns, gives a detailed origin of the ocean and the list goes on. As per usual, there are pronounciations for the youngsters, definitions and a bevy of videos and stills.
One of Discovery’s best features on all its discs is its Ask the Experts room. Here a panel of ocean experts answer FAQs (frequently asked questions) and explain how important it is for us to take care of Mother Earth and the Blue Planet because without one we cannot have the other. Deep stuff.
And if you didn’t get enough of the water show, you can use the wallpaper file installed as a separate icon. Wallpaper is any option that allows you to paint the dull gray color of your computer screen or desktop. But Discovery’s wallpaper is special.
The featured artwork has been selected from an exhibit held at Discovery Communications in Maryland that included students in Grades 1 through 8. The children used a technique called ink resist, which is achieved by using crayons to place a background of colors over which ink is poured. When the ink dries, it is scratched off revealing the colors. Kids today.
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Eugenia C. Daniels can be reached at TribFriday@aol.com.
