First of all, happy July 4^th, everybody! (even non-Americans have a 4^th of July.) I hope everyone is enjoying good time spent with family and friends.

I just got a couple interesting input devices from Logitech, and I wanted to take a moment to tell you all how cool they are.

First is the relatively new Logitech v500 wireless optical mouse intended for use with a notebook. This thing is quite small, but still manages to feel nice in my hand thanks to some quite impressive engineering. An easy-to-release latch on the bottom of the mouse releases the chassis. The bottom side of the mouse comes up to fit better into the palm of your hand. This also exposes the slot hidden in the now-exposed surface to store the micro receiver. It also has a 4-way scroll pad (not a wheel!) making this one badass little mouse.

The other big selling point for me is the new technology. This is one of the first mice to incorporate a scroll pad like this one. It’s also at least one of the first to use 2.4 GHz wireless technology to provide super-low latency transmissions and a completely reworked all-terrain optical engine. The two of these things together mean that this mouse will be very quick and error free on about any surface you can think of for up to 30 meters!

Now for the bad news. I didn’t even realize this until I got the mouse, but it doesn’t have the ability to send a signal for a middle click. I guess the pad is designed only to allow the swiping motions to signify scrolling, and can’t distinguish a simple tap. This is annoying, but using xorg’s emulate3buttons (both buttons at the same time for 3rd mouse click) isn’t as annoying as I thought it would be. I thought it was odd, though, that I read a couple reviews and nothing I read hinted the fact that this mouse is missing a third button as though it wasn’t even a consideration.

Anyway, this mouse is otherwise perfect. I’d recommend it to anyone who is looking for a sleek and tiny mouse to use with their laptop, doesn’t mind the lack of middle mouse button, and has the moolah. The SRP is about $70, but I found mine on Newegg for $53.

The keyboard I just picked up is a IBM-Compatible keyboards. I actually stole this keyboard idea from my friend Dan who picked it up a few months ago. Having proper, full-sized keys along with the familiar layout make it very comfortable to type on. The media keys up top are few, but few is more than enough for me. Also, with this wrist rest I use, the keyboard ends up being a bit too low when my hands come over the rest because this keyboard is so thin. So, I’ve put a couple jewel cases under it to elevate it a bit. This is an okay temporary solution, though the keyboard does tend to drift around a bit.

At $20 (newegg), this is a very nice keyboard to pick up.