Tracking Mice

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 210

Low cost six-axis mouse

SpaceNavigator

Logitech now sells a low-cost, very high quality, 3D controller called the SpaceNavigator. When I bought mine, you could get an edition for personal use that is only $59 (instead of $99 for the pro edition). This increases Sketchup productivity and fun factor by 2-3 times. If you like SketchUp you have to have this!

The SpaceNavigator is a six-axis controller that you use in conjunction with the mouse and keyboard. With it you can move around the model in three dimensions, intuitively and without changing from one mode to another (e.g. pan to rotate to zoom). You can also configure it to work in what ever fashion is easiest and most intuitive for you. With a little practice you can move through and around the model using the mouse and SpaceNavigator, never touching the keyboard. It provides a huge increase in productivity and, frankly, fun. I’m designing an addition to our house and my kids (6 & 8) have learned to fly through the model without my help. Of course you can use it with other 3D applications, like AutoCAD, Rhino and Maya.

This is one of those things that you purchase and fall in love with because it’s useful, high-quality, and inexpensive. (It works in Windows, Linux, Unix — but not Mac!)— Mike Green

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Of mice and men

Logitech Performance and Anywhere MX Mice

I’ve been using Logitech’s Performance Mouse MX and its former model for about four years. They all have one important feature: hyper fast scrolling. Since I’m an engineer who has to deal with source code files that easily contain thousands of lines, I have to scroll an ordinary mouse hundreds of times to browse a file. With hyper fast scrolling, it only takes one single scroll as the wheel spins with minimal friction. This really reduce the stress on my fingers. It can also easily be switched back to normal scrolling behavior (by pushing down on the scroll wheel) when I’m not dealing those gigantic files. — Jordan Cherng

Similar to Jordan’s Logitech Performance Mouse MX is the Anywhere Mouse MX that I’ve been using for the past two years. Unlike the Performance model, the Anywhere model is significantly smaller, and is easily packed in the included carrying case. Despite the small size, I find it to be one of the most comfortable mice I’ve ever handled which is especially surprising as I have large hands!

Outside of size, the two mice are remarkably similar. Like its bigger brother, the Anywhere Mouse also features “hyper-scrolling” which is very useful when dealing with large documents or long web pages. The scrolling (among other features) is customizable with the included Logitech software (that works for both PC and Macs). Outside of scrolling, they both feature programmable buttons, and most importantly very accurate tracking. Logitech calls their technology Darkfield which they claim is better able to respond to irregularities on a surface (and thus respond more accurately during tracking). I’ve used mine on many shiny surfaces which normally confuse optical mice without any problems, with the biggest surprise coming when I used it on a glass countertop which is normally a no go for laser-tracking mice.

The only other significant differences between the two are that the Performance Mouse can be charged via micro-USB, and that it has a few more buttons for those who want to maximize the customizability of their mice. Both use Logitech’s unifying receiver (which we’ve reviewed in the past) and have excellent battery life. My Anywhere Mouse gets about 4-6 months of use from two rechargeable AAs.

Despite being significantly more expensive than other mice on the market, I have found that these higher end Logitech mice are worth it. They are comfortable and reliable pieces of technology that seem to disappear in use, and for that I’m incredibly grateful. — Oliver Hulland

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Ergonomic mouse

Evoluent Mouse

From a relaxed standing position with your arms at your side raise your right hand while holding your elbow still until your fore arm is level with the floor. Spread you fingers apart and rotate your hand until your palm is facing down – keeping your elbow at your side. Now if you are anything like me your hand is rotated about as far as it can. In mechanical parlance, the wrist is “hard against the stops.” When you are using a conventional mouse it is in this rather tense and uncomfortable position that your hand remains. As a designer I often spend days on end at the computer modeling in 3D – left hand on the space ball and keyboard with right hand on the mouse. Over time I began experience a myriad of painful symptoms from fore arm throbbing to thumb tenderness to shoulder aches. These discomforts grew into debilitating pain to the point I wondered if I could continue in my chosen profession. And then I discovered the Evoluent Mouse – and instantly the pain and discomfort tailed away to nothing.

Repeat the previous exercise but this time place your hand in a vertical – hand shake like – position. You will find that your hand is now very relaxed residing as it does pretty close to halve way between hard right rotation and hard left. The Evoluent mouse looks like a mouse turned on its edge with the laser tracking business on the edge of the mouse. This configuration positions the hand and wrist in a basically neutral position thereby avoiding the stresses rotating the hand to a palm down position induces.

I cannot overstate how drastic an improvement this mouse is from all others. Both Microsoft and Logitech make products which rotate the hand partially toward the vertical but these are partial measures and do not afford the total neutral ergonomics provided by the Evoluent. If you are fighting soreness or pain from you mouse arm-hand – please give your body a break and give the Evoluent mouse a try. — Donald Ansley

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Best, cheap trackball

Logitech Marble Mouse

While I’ve always spent a lot of time computing, the precise, all-day cursor movements of professional writing and designing (a recent switch) got me vexed with my previous mouse’s lack of control and an aching wrist. After borrowing a friend’s $70 trackball and enjoying the fingertip control and comfort, I set out to get tracking at the lowest possible cost and highest possible comfort. I settled on the Logitech Marble Mouse.

Shaped like a low, oval hill, this $20* mouse is a nice inverse of the natural curve of a hand. The trackball sits naturally under the index and middle fingers and moves very smoothly. The sizable left and right buttons are situated directly under your thumb and ring finger, while the two smaller buttons above them can be designated for a variety of functions like scrolling and zoom. The symmetry also makes it ambidextrous, which is great for any left/right-handed families that share a home computer.

I did try a few thumb-operated trackballs, but a slight weirdness in my right thumb joint causes some discomfort when I move it a lot. Every time I put my hand on the Marble Mouse, I’m able to keep it totally relaxed. The mouse is large enough for comfort, but still relatively small enough to take on the road. The build quality is solid, and it’s easy to clean. Best of all, my wrist no longer smarts after a long day’s editing.

Bonus: the heavy, low-friction ball makes a nice desk toy when you need a break. — George Cochrane

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Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

10/5/26

Smarter siri / Zoom timer / Sketchbook artists

Recomendo - issue #534

The key premise of Recomendo is that everything we have suggested weekly in the past 10 years has been a personal recommendation based on our own experiences. It is something we have seen, heard, visited, or used ourselves. For this Christmas, we’d like to deviate from that principle slightly (and temporarily) to provide you with a dozen of recommendations from our subscribers. That is you. For our brand new Annual Christmas Reader Recommendations issue we will select the best personal recommendations submitted within the next 4 weeks by October 25. To keep it sane, just one recommendation per subscriber. Keep it short and personal. Suggest a product, tool, app, place, book, documentary, podcast, follow—anything—that you genuinely love, and few know about. No self-promotion. Beyond the dozen we share in the newsletter, we will post all of the vetted submissions on our website.

Reasons to have kids

Recently I wrote a short piece on my Substack that got a lot of attention. Many found it helpful, and to some it was news: Six Selfish Reasons to Have Kids. A better title might have been Six Selfish Reasons Why I Had Kids. — KK

Visual archive on verticality

On Verticality is an architect’s research blog devoted to his theory of verticality and how our innate desire to ascend developed through human evolution and found expression in architecture, flight, religion, art, and stories. It’s a vast visual archive organized around one question: “Why do humans have an innate need to escape the surface of the earth?” This has definitely been an existential crisis for me, so I’m fascinated by this entire body of research and will take my time exploring it. — CD

A timer for Zoom

Zoom’s Timer app is a countdown clock you can keep private or make visible to everyone in the meeting. You can silence the alarm, choose a sound, and set one timer or queue up several for different speakers or parts of a meeting. I facilitate online groups, and this spares me from using my phone timer, which is distracting when I need to stay present and on screen. — CD

Easy screen protector

Whenever I get a new phone, I buy a case and a screen protector. But attaching a screen protector is finicky and nerve-racking: one tiny bubble or dust speck can ruin it. This screen protector from TOCOL comes with a plastic frame that prevents misalignment, plus wet wipes, dust-remover stickers, and a squeegee to remove bubbles. Tip: buy it before you get your phone, then use it as soon as you remove the plastic sheet the manufacturer puts on the screen, so you don’t have to deal with dust and smudges. Wearing nitrile gloves is a good idea, too. A kit costs about $10 and comes with two protectors. — MF

Siri gets smart

Apple released OS 27 for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac, and it comes with an AI version of Siri. It’s a vast improvement over the earlier versions, which were almost unusable. The new Siri works with all of the Apple apps, including Mail, Messages, Notes, Calendar, Photos, and Music. Your personal data stays on your phone, and even Apple can’t access it.

In David Pogue’s latest newsletter, he shows you 125 different things you can tell Siri to do. I’m using a lot of them already. Here are a few examples:

• (Highlight a folder of files on the Mac, right-click:) What’s the total of these invoices? What’s the average? (“The total for the six invoices found in your Receipts folder is $4,692.79. The average amount is $782.13.”)
• What are people waiting on me for? (Generates list from Mail, Messages, and Reminders. Incredible. Everything I did for this column was supposed to be for testing purposes only, but this one actually found stuff I’d forgotten I was supposed to do!)
• (Running late to a party:) What’s the apartment number!? (“The apartment number for the Bynum party tonight is 10-F.” Note: I never said what party or what day!)
• Change pickle to nickel. (You can use this when you’ve dictated a text message, and realize that there’s a mistranscription. Now you can correct it by voice! So much simpler than fussing around with the insertion-point cursor.) — MF

Sketchbook journal artists

I’ve been keeping a sketchbook journal, where I visually record each day’s events, moods, or environment – as a way of making a diary. For inspiration on Instagram I follow a bunch of artists who are also prolific sketchbook creators. A few I return to:

• Pep Carrio – Each page could be a framed artwork
• Adam Koford – Cartoony, doodles
• Austin Kleon – Collages
• Danny Gregory – High diversity of styles

If you shy from Instagram and want the appropriate analog, Danny Gregory also wrote/edited the best printed book on private sketchbook journaling. An Illustrated Life showcases the pages of 50 different sketchbook artists. You are allowed to do whatever you want on your pages. — KK

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10/4/26

A Tale of Greed From the 1920s

The White Rose, by B. Traven

The White Rose (1929) is a novel by B. Traven, the mysterious author of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. An American oil tycoon wants a Mexican family’s hacienda because it sits on an ocean of oil, and the owner won’t sell at any price. It hasn’t been in English print for decades, so I made a new translation from the German.

This is the fourth Deep Cut Book Club Edition. Paying subscribers can download the free ebook using the button at the bottom of this issue.

About The White Rose

The novel moves back and forth between Jacinto Yáñez, a farm owner in Mexico, and Chaney Collins, the president of an American oil company who wants Yáñez’s property because it sits on an underground ocean of oil. Yáñez refuses to sell, even for millions of dollars. The hacienda is called the Rosa Blanca, and it has been passed down to him through a long line of ancestors. He feels he has no right to sell the land, and he believes the farm is worth more than any amount of money the oil company could offer. It is literally priceless. Yáñez feels responsible for the many interrelated families who live on the hacienda and make a living growing crops and raising livestock. He thinks it’s ludicrous to trade a food-producing homestead for a sack of gold coins.

Collins is enormously rich but spends a fortune on four mistresses, and he thinks Yáñez is just holding out for a higher price. When Yáñez keeps refusing to sell, Collins sends one of his henchmen to Mexico to bring Yáñez to San Francisco, where Collins believes he’ll have a better chance of making him see why he ought to take the deal. I won’t spoil what happens next.

Collins is widely considered a stand-in for the oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny, who in 1921 sent $100,000 in cash to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, in what became the Teapot Dome scandal. Doheny’s son delivered it in a black bag. (That’s about $1.8 million in today’s money.) Fall then leased Doheny the Elk Hills naval oil reserve in California without competitive bidding. Fall went to prison for taking the bribe. Doheny was acquitted of paying it.

Who was B. Traven?

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is one of my favorite novels, and John Huston’s 1948 movie, starring Humphrey Bogart, won three Academy Awards. A few years after reading it, I read Traven’s The Death Ship (1926), about an American sailor who loses his ship and his papers in Antwerp and gets deported from one country to the next until he ends up shoveling coal on a rotting smuggling ship. After that, I wanted to know who Traven was. The more I tried to find out, the more confused I became.

He used multiple pseudonyms, including Hal Croves, Traven Torsvan, and Ret Marut. Most Travenophiles agree that he was a German actor and anarchist who fled Germany in 1919 after he was accused of helping establish the Bavarian Soviet Republic and threatened with execution. When British police questioned him in 1923, he said he was Hermann Otto Albert Maximilian Feige. When Huston tried to meet him before filming The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Traven showed up claiming to be Traven’s agent, a man named Hal Croves, and worked on the set as a consultant.

Traven didn’t think his identity should matter to anyone. “The creative person should have no other biography than his works,” he said.

The Mexican director Roberto Gavaldón made the novel into a film, Rosa Blanca, in 1961. The Mexican government decided its oil politics were too touchy and kept it out of theaters for eleven years. It wasn’t released until 1972.

About this translation

The White Rose wasn’t translated into English until 1979, 50 years after it was first published in Germany. Cedric Belfrage’s translation is now out of print. I found a copy of the German edition at Project Gutenberg, and as an experiment I used Claude to translate it into English. I told it to stay close to the German and avoid smoothing it into idiomatic English, and to build a glossary so the names stayed consistent. I was surprised by how well it did the translation. It’s a hell of a good read.

Download the Book Freak Edition

This is the fourth book in the Deep Cuts Reading Club, a benefit for paid subscribers. Every month, I take an interesting and obscure public-domain book and turn it into an ebook in EPUB and PDF formats, with a short introduction.

You can access a copy of The White Rose below.

If you’re reading this as a free subscriber, the club is part of a paid subscription ($5/month or $45/year). Join the club here. And if money is tight, email me at editor@cool-tools.org, and I’ll comp you…

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Book Freak is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run Recomendo, the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.

10/2/26

Small Ring Light/Washed-up Brands/30-day Thailand Limit

Nomadico issue #226

Small Travel Clip-on Ring Light

The best trade show schwag item I’ve gotten the past two years has been a small clip-on ring light from Visit Richmond VA that I have with me now on this three-month trip. You never know what kind of lighting you’ll have on the road, so this ensures that my face is visible during a video call or something I need to record. It clips onto a phone or laptop and is rechargeable. This $17 GearLight version is almost identical to what I have, though this more expensive version from Littel has slightly better reviews overall, despite a shorter battery life.

Worse on Purpose Brands to Avoid

Is there any difference between a famous brand and a knock-off version? For too many of them, not any more. WorseonPurpose.com tells you which brands have gone down the tubes and explains why in well-researched detail. You can read how one $27 billion company—Luxottica—makes sunglasses from Costa Del Mar, Ray-Ban, Oakley, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and a bunch more in the same Asian factories for $6 to $16. They then sell them in mall shops they own that give a false appearance of competition: Sunglass Hut, Lenscrafters, and Pearle Vision. For apparel especially, research at Worse on Purpose before paying a premium for Brooks Brothers, Saucony, Land’s End, Eddie Bauer, Bonobos, or Body Glove: they’ve all been gutted by private equity firms and are just a licensed label now. (The site also highlights 145 brands that still stand for quality, like Patagonia, New Balance, and Darn Tough.)

USA Airport Satisfaction is Way Up

Despite a very busy year for air travel, Americans are much happier at the airport these days thanks to major capital improvements, better signage, and better food and beverage options—including ones that convey a sense of the city. The changes are literally paying off: passengers spent more than $40 per visit in the 12% of airports rated the highest, versus half that for the ones rated “Just okay.” Winners by category size were Minneapolis, Detroit, and Phoenix in the largest tier; Tampa, Portland, and Dallas Love Field in the second size tier; Charleston, Ontario (California), and Indianapolis among the smaller ones. See the full JD Power and Associates report.

Thailand Visits Back to 30 Days

We reported two years ago that Thailand had expanded the visa-on-arrival time for many nationalities from 30 days to 60. That country changes its immigration rules more often than most people change their toothbrush, however, and as of September 15 we’re back to a max of 30 days again. Tourism in the country is still down from its 2019 level and this move won’t help since some of the most reliable spenders who keep returning are the digital nomads. Their spending will drop in half now (and flow to neighboring countries instead) if they don’t have a longer visa arrangement, so we’ll see if the revenue drop causes a policy reversal again later.

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A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

10/1/26

What’s in my NOW? — Victoria Pace

issue #274

Based in NC but constantly on the move. You can find me playing trivia, rescuing dogs, or procrastinating in the name of spending time with friends. — Victoria Pace

If you’ve ever asked yourself “is there a virtual assistant who could elevate my life?” the answer is yes and he or she may be at Hey Girl Friday. HGF is seeking to “be the bar” when it comes to the world of executive assistance. You get to meet your potential EA (or, Advocate as we like to say) before committing to anything and all of our contracts are month-to-month so you will never feel (or be!) tied-in to anything long term. Check us out at www.heygirlfriday.co, we’d love to learn more about you and how we could potentially support!

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PHYSICAL

• Postcards. I’ve been on a big postcard mailing kick lately, even (or maybe especially) when I’m not traveling. I like to buy postcards when I travel (low cost, easy to pack home, beautiful) and have a hard time picking, so will come home with quite a few. I’ll keep one for myself, then will send the rest out to friends. Everyone loves getting mail, and it feels meaningful to write notes to my friends.
• Shadow Work. I’ve been in therapy for a while navigating some intense life changes and general growth. My therapist suggested exploring shadow work, and I feel ready to do so. I haven’t gotten deep into this work yet, so I can’t necessarily vouch for the methods, but I’m really enjoying the journaling and have found it very helpful to dig deeper into myself and the “why” behind my thoughts and actions.
• Uniqlo Linen. I’ve been living in their linen tops this summer. Feels amazing, looks great, reasonable price point. I do try to be mindful in mainly shopping from ethical brands, and while Uniqlo isn’t the best, it’s rated “it’s a start” by the Good On You app, which feels better than most.

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DIGITAL

• Good On You. An app and a website to look up the sustainability and ethical ratings for various brands. Makes it much easier to make purchases that are better for the earth / humans / animals.
• Trusted Housesitters. This is an app that matches people looking for housesitters (usually to care for pets) with travelers. I was able to stay for free in a small French alps town in exchange for taking care of two cats. Easy job and takes care of one of the largest expenses of traveling.

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INVISIBLE

Turning everything into a gratitude practice.

There have been many rough patches over the last few years, but generally I feel happier than I’ve ever been, which in turn has made me grateful for every part of this journey. Naturally, I still enjoy wallowing in a few moments of mentally stamping my feet and saying the world isn’t fair, but for the most part I try to find a way to be grateful for everything and make it something beautiful. Part of this is being the force behind doing things that I love. I love to watch the moonrise, so when I know it’s happening in the evening I’ll invite friends and bring a blanket to a field and we can just sit together. I’m grateful for every opportunity to experience life and beauty.

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09/30/26

Encyclopedia Prehistorica / Minecraft: Blockopedia

Issue No. 137

SHARKS AND DINOSAURS – POP-UP BOOKS ON STEROIDS

Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and Other Sea Monsters
by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart
Candlewick
2006, 12 pages, 7.8 x 9.9 x 2.1 inches

Buy on Amazon

Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs
by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart
Candlewick
2005, 12 pages, 8 x 10 x 2.5 inches

Buy on Amazon

There are only five “pages” in each of these books despite their 3-inch thickness. That is because each page is stuffed with layers and layers of ingenious interacting bits of printed paper, which magically assemble themselves into an alternate reality when each page is opened. Yes, it is a pop-up book, but a pop-up raised to an exponential level. A pop-up on steroids, or acid. Pop-up as extreme sport. The engineering is astounding. As a page is opened a 3D apparition appears, often with its own narrative, first one part and then another. The resulting paper sculpture is the story made real. The textual story is minimal; all the action is in the structures. Kids love to see how they work. The only downside to these books that belong on paper is not letting children paws tear the mechanics. These two books feature all kinds of pre-historic dinosaurs, and sharks of all types. But the artist behind them, Robert Sabuda, has half a dozen other books with the same kind of extreme pop-up-ness. – Kevin Kelly

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MINECRAFT: BLOCKOPEDIA – FOR FULL-ON MINECRAFT GEEKS, AS WELL AS OVER-THE-SHOULDER ADMIRERS

Minecraft: Blockopedia
by Alex Wiltshire
Scholastic Inc.
2015, 312 pages, 9.7 x 10.7 x 1.4 inches

Buy on Amazon

Shaped like a hexagon to mimic the dimensions of a cube, Minecraft: Blockopedia is designed for full-on Minecraft geeks, although those of us who have only watched the game over the shoulders of children and loved ones will find plenty to admire here too. After the briefest of introductions and a quick glossary to help noobs make sense of the stats that accompany each block’s name, it’s off to the races, with page after page devoted to blocks made from rocks, blocks made from plants, blocks that serve particular functions (a ladder), and blocks that do particular things (acting as a switch).

One of the coolest characteristics about Minecraft is how it chooses to observe the laws of nature and physics, or ignore them. Sand, we are told, can be a cave-in hazard, but when it’s smelted in a furnace, it turns to glass. Both statements are true, but don’t go looking for glowstone the next time you’re spelunking – it is only found in a sinister dimension of Minecraft called the Nether. And while sugar cane in both the real world and the Overworld of Minecraft can be used to make sugar, guess where it can also be used to block flowing lava?

Though the format and illustrations in Minecraft: Blockopedia are the book’s most prominent features, it’s still a book filled with lots and lots of, you know, words. Writer Alex Wiltshire mostly plays it straight (“Water is incredibly useful.”), but often he lets the language and logic of Minecraft add color, as in “Sticky pistons are made by crafting a piston with a slimeball…” and “If you dig podzol without the silk touch enhancement it drops dirt.” Got that? – Ben Marks

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Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

09/29/26

What’s in my NOW? — Martynas Sagaitis