ThingM‘s own Mike Kuniavsky was featured on BoingBoing today. Woot!
Mike spent some time getting a Gyration Air Mouse to work on Mac OS X as a gestural input device. The Gyration stuff is interesting because it’s based upon a two-axis gyroscope. It’s not accelerometer-based like some of the old game console controllers (or like the Sudden Motion Sensor in the new Mac laptops)
I got a few of those mice as well to experiment with, thinking it would be a cheap way to acquire a gyro, since dual-axis gyros are pretty pricey.
Except when you take it apart, it turns out the gyro is huge:
The gyroscope is the large silver cube. This is no MEMS device like all the other gyros, but some honking steampunk-like device that measures Coriolis effect using electromagnets.
I’m considering talking to Gyration about getting a few OEM samples of their gyro for non-mousing applications. Or maybe just get the datasheet from them and canabilize some Air Mouses.
I was wondering if you have had a chance to play with the newer models of air mice. I have a newer addition and have not been able to use the additional buttons. This removes the of the wand option that orange cone brought up. Just curious any response would be appreciated.
Thanks