Will the Real Magic Mouse Please Stand Up?

If you haven't heard already, Apple announced some new products including a "Magic Mouse" which place a multi-touch tracking surface over the top of the mouse. It's pretty cool although I'm not sure about the usability - Apple has a pretty spotty track record when it comes to mouse innovation. (As a Side note I love the new 27" iMac).

While Googling for photos of the Apple Magic Mouse I discovered another MagicMouse developed by students at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts. It is worn like a ring and uses ultrasonic to track the x,y, and z coordinates of the wearer's finger. The coordinates are then translated into standard mouse movements with a scroll wheel making the device usable with any USB compatible computer. It won an Innovation award from Popular Science in 2007.

I like to bring attention back to this other MagicMouse for a couple of reasons. For one I like to see inventions like this coming from small teams. It's the kind of innovation we really love in America. Second, the WPI MagicMouse is more interesting, in my opinion, from a design metaphor perspective. As you may or may not know I started a web site, Magic.IO, dedicated to exploring the Magic design metaphor for NUI applications. This ring developed by WPI students fits in nicely with that effort.

Whether or not the boys at WPI had the sense to trademark "MagicMouse" and if they will try to defend that trademark is a whole different story. Apple had to abandon its use of the "Mighty Mouse" because of trademark infringement and if your remember the controversy over the use of "iPhone" than you agree that Apple has no problem trampling other people's IP rights.