Logitech mice take on new duties

How many feet does the average person spin a scroll wheel in one workday?

Logitech says the answer is 26 feet in an eight-hour period. And to help make this Sisyphian task easier to bear, the peripheral maker on Thursday announced the release of two new wireless mice with faster scroll wheels that require less rolling.

Logitech MX Revolution mouse ($99.99), and its laptop version, the VX Revolution ($79.99), both have scroll wheels that can traverse hundreds of pages in a single flick and spin freely for up to seven seconds, according to the company.

Testing it by row in Microsoft Excel, Logitech scrolled 10,000 lines in seven seconds. That speed is significantly faster than current computer mice that take 500 spins and seven minutes to scroll over the same thing, the company says. To avoid inadvertently scrolling way past, say, line 3,175, the wheel has a technology that vacillates between free-spin and click-to-click motion based on the user response and the application in which it is being used.

Each mouse also has a new one-touch search feature. Clicking that button will produce Internet search results for a word or phrase that has been highlighted by the mouse, the company says. Users can choose which search engine they would like the feature linked to.

There is also a side scroll wheel on the right for the thumb that can be used to switch between open windows on the desktop or as a zoom, the company says. Settings for the scroll wheels and all of the seven buttons included on the MX Revolution are customizable. The mice are also Mac-compatible.

The laptop version, in lieu of a side scroll, has a sliding button for zooming. There is also a slot in the mouse to store the 2.4GHz micro-receiver. A switch on the side makes the change from free-spin scrolling to click-by-click scrolling.

Earlier this month, Logitech announced new Vista-compatible peripheral sets that had extra features for use with Internet calling and multimedia applications.