Redmond Pie decided to try out BTstack Mouse on a Jailbroken iPad and the results were promising:

Not only did it worked with Apple Magic Mouse, but also with almost all the other Bluetooth enabled mice I had. For those of you who don’t know, BTstack Mouse is a free utility which was first released earlier this year for jailbroken iPhones and iPod touch.

First a Nintendo Wiimote, then an external HDD, now BT mouse. Is there anything Jailbreak can’t do?

Check out Ally’s Spirit Jailbreak guide, and TiPb’s Jailbreak forum for more, and the link below for step-by-step BTstack for iPad instructions.

[RedmondPie]

YouTube link

From the now we’ve heard everything department, an analyst is “predicting” that the 4th generation iPhone‘s plastic casing will be multitouch enabled, just like Apple’s new Magic Mouse.

Not “predicted” of course is how it would work, and how it would filter out things like holding the iPhone for normal use vs. deliberately initiating a multitouch gesture on the back of the case.

Again, with Apple anything is possible, but is this desirable? Can you see Apple doing it?

The Palm Pre and Pixi have a multitouch area below the screen to enable consistent gestures for “back” and to bring up the app launcher. Is that preferable?

[Bloomberg via Macrumors]

Following up MacRumors discovery of the iSlate.com domain name yesterday, TechCrunch dug a little deeper and found more to support the iSlate guestimation, and now MacRumors is back again with another trademark — Magic Slate.

Could Magic Slate be the Apple touchpad Daring Fireball thought would be released alongside the Magic Mouse last October? Or are they both just red-herring rumors, spreading blog frenzy along holiday cheer?

Either way, the idea of a multi-touch pad peripheral for Macs — especially if it has a screen built-in, like the farthest-fetched rumors have suggested since back when the glass trackpad MacBooks were first introduced — is compelling.

Of course, with the simple release of an app, Apple could make the iPhone or the iPod touch the ultimate Magic Slate (not to mention the iSlate/iTablet proper for large screen tracking).

Still, this is the story equivalent of unicorns mating with zebra. Striped unicorns still don’t exist, and neither (yet?) do iSlate or Magic Slate.

If you’re an iPhone user running Windows and Apple’s new Magic Mouse made you ache for a little taste of that multi-touch goodness on the desktop as well, you’re in luck! No, Apple didn’t provide support themselves, but the enterprising folks over at UneasySilence showed — there’s a hack for that!

Thanks to a little hackery from Apple’s Bluetooth Update (located here) the Magic Mouses driver was extracted via WinRar resulting in a 32bit version and a 64bit version that you can install on any ordinary Windows PC that will enable all the scrolling ‘magic’ of the Magic Mouse.

I’m loving my Magic Mouse on Mac OS X — inertial scrolling is awesome — and I’m looking forward to trying it out on my Win-box when I get back to work on Monday. If you beat me to it, let me know how it works for you!

[Thanks to our buddy Phil from WMExperts for the tip!]

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Apple’s Magic Mouse, introduced via simple press release on October 20, is the latest point-and-click peripheral for the Mac, and the latest showcase for Apple’s multi-touch technology, first introduced in the iPhone and later the iPod touch. While the iPhone is still the premiere multi-touch experience in consumer electronics, however, Apple’s modern history of mice has been… poor to mediocre. The hockey puck that shipped with the original iMac was goofy, the one-button Mighty Mouse hard to second-click with and prone to gunked up scroll balls.

Does the Magic Mouse work an iPhone-level spell, or is it just more of the middling? TiPb takes a look after the break!

Unboxing Beautiful

Apple once again shows that their attention to detail and customer experience doesn’t end with the device, it starts with the packaging. The Magic Mouse comes in small plastic box that shows it off similar to how the iPod touch is displayed in its packaging. Once open, you find the mouse and not much more, only some paper, and that’s pro forma.

Magic Mouse connects to a MacBook or Mac desktop via Bluetooth, once again showing Apple’s move towards fewer wires and farther range. It’s not rechargeable, but comes with a battery already in place, ready to use with a flip of the power switch.

Getting Started

If you’ve got the Bluetooth icon in your menu bar, click on it and choose Setup Bluetooth Device… The Bluetooth Assistant will launch, it will detect your Magic Mouse, and as soon as it does, you can choose it and pair it. (If you don’t have the BT icon in your menu, just launch System Preferences, choose Bluetooth, and hit the + icon at the bottom left to launch the BT Assistant).

It took me all of a minute or so to get up and running. Kudos to “just works”. Or at least it does once you launch Software Update, download, and install Apple’s Magic Mouse Software. This comes pre-installed with the new iMacs and Mac Minis, and will no doubt be integrated into Mac OS X 10.6.2 when it’s made available, but for now it’s an extra step and requires a restart. Apple must be patching something core, and that in and of itself is interesting.

Hardware

Compared to the previous Mighty Mouse (a name which is now trademarked by another company), the Magic Mouse feels about the same on the table. It’s alright, but it’s not the smoothest experience. The weight feels good but the profile isn’t as high. The angle of the edges feels great in the hand, but the lack of a higher, rounder top leaves your palm kind of empty. No doubt that’s to make space for the multi-touch gestures, but it will take some getting used to.

Like the Mighty Mouse, the entire upper shell is one giant button (with an Apple logo on it this time), but the Magic Mouse’s “click” feels much better and more satisfying. When setup to do so in System Preferences, it also detects the right (or left if you’re right handed) second mouse click much, much better than the Mighty Mouse ever did (no doubt because the capacitive technology “knows” where you’re clicking). From that purely old-school point-and-click perspective, Magic Mouse is a big improvement.

The bottom has a second Apple logo, along the laser and an on/off switch you can toggle to save battery power if you’re going to be away for a long time.

Multi-touching

Okay, on to the gestures. Those that are included so far work… from very well, and just okay. To back up a moment, like the iPhone, the surface of the Magic Mouse is capacitive (see the teardown for details) so it can detect multiple finger actions and execute whatever behavior those actions represent.

The scrolling, where you move a single finger around to pan left-to-right, up-and-down, and basically any direction is great. Say goodbye gunked-up physical scroll wheel or ball, evolution has selected you for extinction. In an especially nice touch, System Preferences lets you turn on (or off) momentum based scrolling, similar to how the iPhone flicks fast at the beginning, then slows to a stop. Sadly, there’s no elastic banding like the iPhone in Mac OS X. Yet.

The “just okay” defines the two-finger sideways swipe, currently only implemented in Safari to go back and forth within a tabs history (I’d prefer switching tabs), and iPhoto to cycle through images. I have no problem with doing it (mad iPhone-derived skillz, yo!) but a friend who tried it with me found it difficult to annoying.

I mentioned so far, above, because I have a suspicion Apple is doing what they did with iMovie ’08 here — introducing something new and deliberately keeping it simple to start. The multi-touch trackpads in the MacBooks are another example. At first they introduced the second finger for left click, and the double-finger for scrolling. When the MacBook Air debuted, they added three-finger swiping and four-finger tabbing and Expose. Apple could easily be making the same play here, scrolling and swiping at first, Expose and tabbing (or other added functionality) in a future software update.

That might help allay those like Dieter, who miss the side buttons on the old Mighty Mouse, or a third button or other assorted mechanical doodads.

Bottomline

I’d still prefer an Apple-produced iPhone or iPod touch app that exactly duplicates the functionality of the current MacBook (Air/Pro) trackpads. Absent that, the Magic Mouse is the best mouse Apple has made in a long time (I supposed in the same way, post Vista, many proclaim Windows 7 the best OS Microsoft has shipped). If you’re a fan of the iPhone’s multi-touch, like trying new, ambitious technology, or just want to stick completely within the Apple ecosystem (and don’t mind paying $69 for the privilege!), this is the mouse for you. If you’re not sold yet, head on over to your local Apple Retail Store and give it a test drive.

If you prefer clickety-clackety multi-button mega-mice, we’ve heard Logitech might be a better choice for you.

Apple has made Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0 available for both OS X 10.5 Leopard and OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard users eager to add the new multi-touch Magic Mouse to their existing system — when they become available. That’s right, outside of buying one of the brand new iMacs Apple released last week (which include the mouse and the update), you won’t find hide nor hair of the new Magic Mouse either at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. They’re still pending.

If you’ve already placed your order, however, or are staking out your local store in anticipation, at least you know Apple has you covered while you wait. (Though whether that means 10.6.2 isn’t as close to shipping as we hoped is anyone’s guess….)

For what it’s worth, I had a chance to try a Magic Mouse out a few days ago and, yeah, I want it now as well.

[via MacRumors]

iFixit has gotten their hands on a brand new Apple Magic Mouse and… torn it apart!

Not much else to say really, but if you want your gadget porn fix of the day, check it — and it’s orange capacitive inner wear — out. (CNet also has a video review posted).

[via 9to5mac]

Dear Apple: yesterday, as part of your huge pre-holiday product launch, you announced a new iPhone-inspired multi-touch Magic Mouse with gestures. It looks nice. It might even (finally!) be a decent mouse. But TiPb’s left to wonder — for those of us who already have iPhones and iPod touches, wouldn’t it be even nicer to have an official “Magic Mouse” app? Scratch that, given the greater functionality in the MacBook (and MacBook Pro) multi-touch Glass Trackpads, wouldn’t it be great if you could just give us that in the App Store?

We have the Apple Remote (no, not the new doohickey, the app!), true enough, but that’s limited to iTunes and the Apple TV (not even Front Row!), and we have the Keynote Remote, but again that’s limited to presentation software. And granted, there are some great third party remote apps that do way more than just Mac. But you make Mac. Why not just take that wonderful technology you’ve built into Snow Leopard, hook it up over Bluetooth (until you get WiFi Direct going), and let us swipe, pinch, rotate, one-finger, two-finger, three-finger, four-finger move our way around the Mac just like the Magic Mouse — or the Glass Trackpad — from anywhere in Bluetooth range?

Dear Apple, we have the device, you have the technology. Hit the “launch” button on this one already! Sitting 10′ away on a sofa, using our iPhone or iPod touch to seamlessly gesture through everything on our media center Mac Mini or massive 27″ new iMac… t’would be sweet!

(And hey, Microsoft and Windows 7 developers — feel free to hook us up for your phenomenal multi-touch support as well!)

Apple today announced new 21.5″ and 27″ iMacs, a new line of MacBooks, mightier Mac Minis, and a Magic Mouse (with iPhone-like multi-touch), and new Apple Remote.

• The new iMacs [PR link] include cinematic 16×9 displays, quad-core option,
• The new MacBooks [PR link] have plastic unibody construction, 7-hour non-changeable batteries, LED backlights, and glass multi-touch trackpads (basically like the pros but without the aluminum)
• The new Mac Minis [PR link pending] are now up to 2.66GHz and up to 4GB, and a special version with Snow Leopard Server pre-installed.
• The Magic Mouse [PR link] is wireless and has a seamless multi-track surface, and laser-tracking engine. Click, swipe, and scroll anywhere.
• The new Apple Remote is black and aluminum, with a large 4 way (re: Muero in comments — not sure if it’s a click wheel), and now 2 separate buttons beneath, menu and play/pause (which used to be inside the 4 way).

More as this develops!

According to Daring Fireball, Apple is set to introduce new products tomorrow morning, including:

Redesigned Plastic MacBooks, Redesigned (‘Impressive’) iMacs, Updated Minis (Including One That Ships With Mac OS X Server), the Multi-Touch Magic Mouse, and, as the Wildcard I’m-Not-Sure-I-Really-Believe-It-Myself Out-There Rumor, Maybe Even Some Sort of Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs

Last year, Apple held a special event, Spotlight Turns to Notebooks, to debut their last before-the-holidays offerings. Would they just dump so much new, and frankly interesting, products tomorrow morning without benefit of stage or keynote? Sure, but we’d be lying if we said we wouldn’t prefer the song and dance to go with them.

TiPb will cover whatever does get released, however it gets released, mainly as it pertains to anything that looks to have cross-over with iPhone technology like the “multi-touch trackpad” (why not just make an official Apple Mac trackpad app for the iPhone and iPod touch?)

Keep your eyes peeled for the Apple Online Store going down…