Microsoft Reveals ''Mouse 2.0''

The trusty eponymous desktop mouse gets a facelift thanks to Microsoft - as many as five new models of 'Mouse 2.0' have been revealed by the software giant today.

While the models seem like they're straight out of a Star Wars flick, it is clear that Microsoft is heading towards multi touch computing as the prototypes use various touch sensing techniques, form factors, and "interactive affordances".

The first model of the mouse is hilariously titled Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR) and is loaded with a curved sheet of acrylic "edge-lit" with infrared light. Also present is an IR camera which records the light scattered by the touch of a finger.

The second model, called the 'Orb Mouse' also has an IR sensitive camera and an internal source for IR illumination. According to Microsoft, 'Rather than sensing movement via scattered light, the camera picks up on light reflected back from finger tips.'

The 'Capacitive Mouse' uses capacitive-sensing electrodes that track the location of the user's touch. The fourth prototype, the 'Side Mouse' senses the user's fingers as they touch the table surface. "The key interaction possibility that we explore with Side Mouse is the ability to create a multi-touch area that is not restricted to the physical surface of the device," Microsoft said.

Finally the fifth mouse, called the 'Arty Mouse' is the oddball of the bunch and resembles a crab. Microsoft said that it plans to refine the Arty Mouse--in addition to the other four prototypes-- to "deeper explore the interaction techniques that are specific to these new class of input devices."