Rest in Peace, Mouse.
from Wired.com
I just found a story on Wired.com about the death of the mouse. In the digital world, we know that new technologies are taking over regularly, but it’s always interesting to look at the technologies that fall by the wayside as new trends take their place. The latest candidate for the digital graveyard?
The mouse.
With so many PC users owning laptops, the industry is seeing the decline of the use of the mouse. PC users have been opting for trackpads as they become more interactive (see the latest Macbooks) and what with integrated controls on board, the need to plug in a mouse is becoming nil. At the moment, touchscreen controls taking over as the most accurate device, acclimatizing PC users to new ways to interact with their environments. This is good news for the eye-tracking industry as consumers will be more willing to make the jump to alternate forms of user interfaces.
The article, which can be found here, brings to light 6 new threats to the mouse’s long standing #1 spot:
Touchscreens
Eye-tracking
Force-feedbacks
Accelerometer sensors
Voice commands
Gesture recognition
It goes on to say that eye-tracking user interfaces are actually the most likely to succeed, as they involve less work than the other solutions. There’s always value in efficiency, and eye-tracking seems to be the more efficient technology. Well, that’s good news for the industry, so look for more growth in the years to come.
Related articles:
- Rest in Peace, Mouse… part 3
- Rest in Peace, Mouse… part 2