Input devices

Griffin PowerMate

The Griffin PowerMate is a bit of a silly luxury from one perspective. It’s an $40 incredibly well-built USB aluminum knob that acts like a super scroll wheel. It can be used to scroll through webpages, or act as a shuttle for video editing, or more commonly a dedicated volume knob. The drivers are highly flexible and allow you to assign 5 commands to the device, a button press, left or right rotation or a combination of pressing down and rotating. The commands can be non-macro keypresses (so ALT-TAB, or CTRL-SHIFT-0 is ok, but ALT-F-then-X isn’t possible).

There is a pulsing blue LED light at the base of the unit. This can also be left on all the time. For Windows, this LED indicator can dim/brighten depending on your volume - on a Mac, you could program the pulse as as an indicator of incoming email or the level of CPU utilization, etc.

As mentioned earlier, this would be a perfect product if you need a volume knob for headphones or if for some reason your speaker’s volume knob on your speakers is not readily accessible. Of course, you can pick up the PowerMate if you simply prefer the look. The feel of the knob is smooth and the mechanism feels solid.

The Control Panel

The Griffin PowerMate on my desk

Goldtouch Ergonomic USB Keyboard

‘Almost perfect’ is how I described the Goldtouch Ergonomic Keyboard in my review at GadgetSquad.com. Offering adjustable split and tilt, the Goldtouch keyboard is the first ergonomic keyboard that was able to improve my comfort while also maintaining full typing efficiency. After using the keyboard for a longer time, I’d have to say that a wireless model would also be something great to add to the unit. I’ve come to like the relocation of page up/page down keys and really, it’s just the malpositioning of the left ALT key that prevents me from calling this the perfect keyboard.

The Goldtouch Ergonomic Keyboard

You can customize the keyboard for any degree of split or tilt

Logitech MX700

We think of Microsoft as the big giant of technology, but it is in fact Logitech who sells the most mice. The MX700 is an excellent mouse as it’s comfortable, and has just the right number of buttons and just the perfect mass. With the high-sampling rate of a corded mouse, and an effective recharging station, it’s the most impressive mouse we’ve used since the original MouseMan+.

MX700