August 3, 2005: Apple has introduced a new mouse which, to me, epitomizes the problems with Apple's design culture: It looks really nice cut out on that clean white background, but the emphasis is all in the wrong place. They've put all their design energy into making the buttons disappear (so it will look nice cut out on that clean white background), but I can't figure out what the advantage is to not having buttons. The site says:

"Who has time for intuitive, elegant design when there is so much clicking to do? Thanks to a smooth top shell with touch-sensitive technology beneath, Mighty Mouse allows you to right click without a right button."

So, they're basically saying that clicking by pressing a non-button is more intuitive than clicking by pressing a visible, tangible button. Um, am I missing something? If only they'd improve the size and shape of the damn thing we might have something. Oh, and give up on that silly "press the whole thing to click" idea. It so very much doesn't work. Anyhow, I gotta run; I'm off to the Apple store to buy one of those cool new mice they have.