"A lot of people, when I talk to them, they actually use the very emphatic word hate when talking about those pointing devices. So the intensity of dislike was stronger than we knew."
Dan Rothman, VP at Atek Electronics, which has come up with an alternative for notebooks... a Super Mini Optical Mouse... .
The Super Mini Optical Mouse is approximately and inch wide and two and a half inches long, so it's basically the smallest mouse out in the market right now."
It plugs into the USB port... and it is optical. There are a couple of key advantages...
"One is that by being very small it would be convenient to carry on the road and also by being very small, it would be very versatile. Basically you don't need a dedicated work surface. For example, if you're sitting in an airplane seat you could use it right on the palm rest area of the laptop computer."
And the optical technology means there is no little ball to roll around underneath. At first glance it looks almost too small to use... but it turns out to be surprisingly comfortable. The price... under fifty dollars. You can find more information at atekelec.com. Bootcamp, I'm Fred Fishkin, Bloomberg Radio.