In Japan, display maker Eizo recently started selling an optical mouse [JP] that doubles as a remote controller for TVs and other appliances. Dubbed Eizo-C@T-one, the device is available for $120. The company hasn’t said whether it will ever find its way outside of Japan.
The Eizo-C@T-one is equipped with a tilt sensor that makes it possible to immediately switch from mouse to TV function when the user flips it (one side of the device is allotted to the mouse, while the other is the remote controller side). Users can operate the wireless device within a radius of 10m (RF 2.4GHz band).
The Eizo-C@T-one comes with a small receiver in the size of a USB stick that has to be inserted into the USB port of a PC. Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Mac OS X 10.3.9 are supported. The remote controller side features nine different buttons to operate TVs, video recorders, monitors etc. via infrared.