Who knows, we may be able to get a better feel for what's going on on our screens, and do so at a more affordable price than for other systems already under development. The small company, Immersion, said its new Feelit Mouse will enable users to feel items ranging from words and columns on a spreadsheet to individuals to fast-moving objects in a 3D computer game. The technology transforms the experience of using a mouse, which was invented roughly 25 years ago for pointing at graphical objects and manipulating them. With the new device, a user can feel the scratching sensation when drawing a line on a simulated piece of paper, or feel an object stretch as they reshape it. You could imagine feeling your way through a maze.
People have the ability to add sensations.
The company sees the force-feedback mouse being used by retailers, such as car dealers and furniture stores, to help Web users feel the texture of products such as cars, furnishings or children's toys. Rosenberg said the technology will not be shipped in products for the consumer market until the second half of 1998, but it will be showcased at next week's Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Immersion will display early versions of the mouse at its own booth and at Intel's booth in an attempt to generate enthusiasm among both software developers and potential device manufacturers. Immersion currently plans to license the mouse technology to third-party manufacturers, following a model it set in 1995 when it began licensing technology for computer game joysticks to a dozen companies, including Logitech of Switzerland. That technology, dubbed I-Force, is only now coming to the mass market.