Earlier, in my review of Apple’s new Magic Mouse, I expressed my confusion as to why Apple wouldn’t incorporate more multi-touch gestures on the device. Certainly, a part of it is the way you hold the thing, but it seems that something like a double and triple finger click would be easy enough. One commenter wondered if there was some technical reason with the multi-touch implementation as the reason why Apple wasn’t doing that. A neat program disproves that.
FingerMgmt is a simple OS X app that allows you to track points of contact on multi-touch inputs. It was built with Apple MacBook trackpads in mind, but yes, it works with the Magic Mouse too. As you can see in the screen capture below, the Magic Mouse has no problem following up four points of contact relatively easily. It works for five too, but at that point, the surface area on the top of the mouse becomes the issue.
The newer, large MacBook trackpads meanwhile can easily distinguish up to 10 points of contact (after that, I ran out of fingers, obviously, as I’m not Count Rugen from The Princess Bride – “the six-fingered man”).
So while the Magic Mouse isn’t as versitile as the trackpads due to both the way they are used and surface area, it’s perfectly capable of doing some other interesting things with multi-touch. In the future, I suspect we’ll see Apple add two-finger click, and three-finger click options, as well as a pinch-to-zoom option. Maybe even a three-finger swipe if Apple is feeling really wild.
[via Daring Fireball]
-1 for no mention of “prepare to die”.
ha. stop saying that!
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die.
As the man in black would say “Do you always begin conversations this way? ” Seriously though its going to be interesting to see if Apple begins standardizing gestures across all its products. Gestures are the new ringtone I guess
I wonder if this app also can improve/increase the tracking rate….
I think apple misses the count that users of this mouse has only 5 fingers. Apple does a lot of technical improvements to their gadgets but doesn’t realize they exceed to much and sometimes misuse its functionality.
I’m less concerned with more-than-2-finger swipes, and more concerned with the lack of a middle-click substitute.
Seriously, the thing can detect anything, but they didn’t think to make it possible to detect a click at the top/center? Or a click with three fingers down? (”Mash-click” … picture homer simpson without a dialing wand.) Seriously, there must be a way to add this. It’s not as hard as copy/paste on a phone…….
MGZ
Also, after reading about this mouse, I never noticed before but… you can’t right click on an old mighty mouse without lifting your left finger. It almost seems as though that old mouse had some multi-touch capabilities? Can anyone explain this? If my left finger is anywhere near the mouse, the right click registers as a left-click.
I’m talking about the OLD mighty mouse with the ball. weird.
Is this a joke?
No – seriously?
I don’t understand how/why it doesn’t have pinch to zoom already – that’s the single thing I miss when using a regular (high end) mouse.
It (The track Pad) actually registers 11 points of contact… I don’t know why… but the app you reference above proves it. Perhaps future software will register the bottom part of ones palm?
i wonder why apple has not done away with the mouse completely and just created a nice external trackpad that you put down on your desk where you usually have the mouse.
super thin with a nonskid underside so it just sits there.
i love to use the large trackpad on my MacBook Pro and would love to have the equivalent on the iMac on my desk… just off to the side where the mouse usually sits
You mean like FingerWorks used to sell?
(The company Apple bought.)
Wacom do something similar – works with a stylus too.