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Three new Microsoft mice with Bluetrack laser sensor

Two years after it debuted its first Explorer Mouse with BlueTrack sensing technology, Microsoft is back with another update to its line of pointers. This time around we get three more devices: the Wireless Mouse 3500, the Wireless Mouse 2000, and the Comfort Mouse 4500, all available for presale on Amazon on Wednesday, February 24.

Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 ($29.95): Like the Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 that came before it, this update pairs your computer with a small USB plug called a "Nano Transceiver" and features a symmetrical shape with ambidextrous access to the rubber side grips. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 806: Battlestar Monk

On today's show, we reveal a huge spoiler: Monk is the 12th Cylon. (Apologies to any of you who don't watch that show.) This is vaguely related to the news that NBC's return to iTunes comes shackled with variable pricing. In other news, RIM releases its first ever flip phone, and amazing space-based solar power arrives (bad news for birds). Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 806

CERN’s big collider now in action http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10037565-76.html

Flipping out: RIM BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 debuts http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-10036487-7.html

Congress questions … Read more

Microsoft gaming mouse also gets BlueTrack sensor

Following Tuesday's official Microsoft announcement of its first BlueTrack mice, Wednesday we get word of the unsurprising extension of the new sensor technology to Microsoft's SideWinder gaming mice. The SideWinder X8 will go for $100 when it ships in February (although Amazon.com is apparently already taking orders).

As we reported Tuesday, the new BlueTrack sensor is a Microsoft-developed optical-tracking technology that purports to give mice greater accuracy over a wider variety of surfaces than laser or IR optical mice.

Microsoft claims scalable dpi settings from 250 to 4,000 dpi for the SideWinder X8, which should please gamers. Thankfully, this new mouse also brings back the macro-record button for on-the-fly command recording, introduced by last year's SideWinder, but missing from the more recent X5 model.… Read more