Once You Go Magic Mouse, You Don't Ever Go Back

I love technology. I don't get fundamentalist about it and go all extremist, but I do love the high-tech stuff that works beautifully and is designed with great skill. Such as the Nexus One.

The thought occurred to me as I was using my Apple Magic Mouse. Some people rely overwhelmingly on keyboard tricks to do all of their moves on the computer screen, other people rely mostly on their mouse and use the keyboard only when absolutely necessary. Me? I use 'em both. It's faster. And now I've found that the Magic Mouse for Macs works -- oh, so perfectly. It's top is basically a track pad. Its design is sleek (isn't every Mac design sleek?). And it was a great replacement for the wireless Microsoft (yes, Microsoft) mouse I've been using with a succession of Macs since 2000 (just one of the perks of being an editor at Internet World magazine). (Not that you care.)

To put my love with this little device in perspective: I remember hearing in college that a friend of mine had included the microwave oven in a list of inventions that were absolutely essential for life, and I found that hilarious. I still find it funny. I did not -- and I still do not -- think a microwave oven is crucial for a long and happy life.

But as I was just using my Magic Mouse to scroll down a web page, I found myself thinking that it would be incredibly difficult if this magical li'l mouse were taken away from me. Its functions are so perfectly thought out, so well executed, and so appreciated by moi that its future absence would leave me definitely feeling its absence.

So much of computer use makes one contemplate the future -- gee, wouldn't it be great if I had 10 times the memory on this old crate? What if this thing ran faster? Why can't they just integrate the two programs so I don't have to do it manually? And so on.

Well, in the age of broadband and smart phones and Steve Jobs, there are a good number of products and services that don't make you yearn for the future. You'll still welcome the future -- but you won't be hating the present because it's not the future.

And the Apple Magic Mouse is one of them.