BetterTouchTool is a free little utility that seems to get updated on a near-daily basis. It sits quietly in the menubar, and its only purpose is to expand the multitouch capabilities of Apple touchpads and, wonderfully, the Magic Mouse. That's not entirely accurate, I suppose - the capabilities are already there, but the drivers Apple provides are as limited as Apple mouse drivers have ever been. For instance, as everybody knows by now, Magic Mouse has no middle click. This was my main gripe against the mouse, but one that I've managed to live with for a while now. My common-use scenario for middle click is that of opening links in new tabs in Safari, rapidly queueing up a series of things that I will examine as time goes on. In lieu of a middle-click, there were two options - right-clicking and choosing 'open in new tab' from the contextual menu, or cmd-clicking a link. Neither is ideal - the former doesn't work from the Top Sites page, and the latter requires that I simultaneously be on keyboard and mouse, not always the case for casual browsing.
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BetterTouchTool
date: 2009-11-20 12:23:59
A Few Days With Magic Mouse
Apple's newest mouse - the Magic Mouse - is easily my favorite mouse, and I've owned my fair share of pointing devices (from a KoalaPad to Sun's MSC mice). Apple mice have always had quirks, and Magic Mouse is no different, but unless serious hardware flaws crop up, the benefits clearly outweigh the costs.
date: 2009-11-02 01:29:59