MS IntelliMouse Explorer Announced

MS IntelliMouse Explorer has been revealed today, giving us one more thing to watch as 1999 keeps getting louder. At Windows World/Spring Comdex, Microsoft unveiled the new IntelliMouse Explorer, the most radical technology and design advance in the 30-year life of the mouse. With its new optical tracking technology, added buttons and sleek design, the new IntelliMouse is the start of a new era for this humble peripheral. The most significant improvement is the addition of Microsoft IntelliEye, an innovative new optical tracking technology that makes mouse balls and pads seem as archaic as the dot matrix printer. An optical sensor captures images of the work surface at a rate of 1,500 images per second, and a digital signal processor translates changes between the images into on-screen movements.

For PC players, this is the kind of spec-sheet news that either matters immediately or becomes the thing everyone argues about once the drivers land. Either way, keep an eye on it.