New Apple mouse is true work of art

Well, a tiny bit of hell froze over the other day when Apple released a mouse with more than one button.

The "Mighty Mouse," however, retains Apple's typical cutting-edge design in that it looks like it has exactly NO buttons when, in reality, it has four. Like everything else that comes from Apple, it's hard to explain and almost has to be touched to be believed, but the Mighty Mouse (which also works with Windows XP or 2000) is yet another work of art from Apple.

It really comes alive with Tiger, the latest version of Apple's operating system, because hidden under the shell of the mouse are sensors that bring up Tiger's Dashboard seemingly whenever you sort of will it to appear.

I tend to believe mice (mices? mouses?) are a personal thing, and it's hard to recommend one sight unseen, but overall this one is a lovely, albeit pricey, thing at $50. It is pretty small compared to the Microsoft mice of the current genre, so if you have large hands, you may want to try one in person before you buy.

It connects via USB.

In other Apple news, you may recall that Apple announced earlier this year that it was going to move its entire production to Intel chips sometime next year, raising the specter of an idea that the Apple operating system would one day run on non-Apple hardware.

Apple czar Steve Jobs said "absolutely not," because part of the Apple experience is the wonderful Apple hardware. However, several Web sites recently purported to show leaked beta Apple code running on Windows machines, including photos of Apple OS X running on a Dell laptop. The hack supposedly bypasses Intel's Trusted Platform Module, which is supposed to protect the OS from installing on non-Apple hardware.

How this all sorts out is anyone's guess, but the code allegedly is out there on the Internet. (I personally share Jobs' guess that OS X on an E-machine would be rather horrifying, but that's something for another day, I guess.)

WEEKLY WEB WONDER: If you want some cool insider info on what's going on at Apple, head to Apple Insider at www.appleinsider.com/.

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James Derk is co-owner of CyberDads, a computer repair company, and a computer columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim@cyberdads.com.