
Mouse Box - mhlakhani
http://mouse-box.com/#index_pl.html
======
noelwelsh
I think the text could use some work. First paragraph doesn't ever get around
to clearly stating what the product is. It's an entire computer in a mouse,
right? Say that in the first sentence. Here is the current first paragraph.
Look at the blah blah blah, then finally, in the last sentence, a hint (but
not a direct statement!) of what the product actually provides.

"At the beginning moving computers was a real challenge. The problem was not
just their quite big weight, but also their size which made it difficult to
put them in a right place even though it was possible to lift them. Computer
portability has been improving along with developing a PC. However, it still
isn’t ideal as it is necessary to transport a lot of its parts – a monitor, a
keyboard, a CPU and a mouse. The approach to computer design and appearance
has been the same until today. We are introducing Mouse-Box, a computer
different than ever before. An incredible combination of the two most
important elements in a computer set – a computer and a mouse."

~~~
laurent123456
My thoughts exactly, they've probably invested a lot of time and money in this
product, and it is wasted over the very poor presentation. For less than a
$100, they could hire a copywriter to write a proper description.

------
placebo
I commend the team for the entrepreneur spirit but personally find the idea of
showing off the ability to secretly do things which are against the policies
of your workplace and presenting that as some sort of feature quite
distasteful. From a visionary or marketing point of view I think it is petty
and short sighted, and from a personal point of view my recommendation for
anyone frustrated with the policies of their workplace is to invest their time
on finding a better workplace rather than wasting it finding ways to be sneaky
in the current one. As for the product, I can see some use cases that would
make it marketable without resorting to advertising sneaky and morally
questionable scenarios.

~~~
MrDom
If you've never worked outside of Tech, I can understand why you would think
that. If you have, then I apologize for the miscategorization, but I find this
attitude prevalent in Tech in general.

Most BigCos have two fundamental rules: you can't use any non-approved
software[0] and you're to be at your desk at all times, even when you have no
work to do. Given those restrictions, this makes perfect sense (although, a
stealth switch works better[1]).

Believe it or not, most companies outside of tech are very controlling of what
their employees can and cannot do with their computers. As an example, my
first job out of college was with a NY branch of a multinational swedish-owned
corporation that made airplane engines. One day, a top ranking employee walked
out of the office with all of their blueprints on a usb drive and gave it to
their biggest competitor[2]. Ever since then, they've forbidden any kind of
physical data transfer, going so far as to pull all the cd and dvd burners
from all desktops and disabling the USB drives (as much as possible).

 _anyone frustrated with the policies of their workplace is to invest their
time on finding a better workplace_

That's not an option for some. Not everybody works as a programmer.
Aeronautical engineers, for example, have a limited number of employers. If
you're not willing to relocate away from friends and family or you're not
built for the city life, same thing.

[0]: Some even do network scans to check for unauthorized software programs on
your hard drive [1]: [http://stealthswitch.com/](http://stealthswitch.com/)
[2]: Yes, it's illegal, but I imagine he was paid enough ttraino risk it and
even if he wasn't, it doesn't matter: once the blueprints are compromised,
they can never be uncompromised.

~~~
placebo
Regarding working outside of Tech, In my pre-HiTech days I worked in a very
large organisation where the all the practices you mentioned were strictly
enforced. As your example has shown, these policies are in place for good
reason. Having said that, I do think of them as taking the easiest solution
instead of the best solution and find it morally analogous to using collective
punishment on an entire population in order to deter a few bad apples.

I do realise this is the reality in many organisations (and, mind you, also
inside the Tech industry) as it is much cheaper to implement. My own reaction
was to stop working in a company that operates according to a philosophy I
don't agree with and instead create an environment that operates from a
philosophy I can relate to (basically one where people are trusted and do what
is best for the company because that's what they love doing rather than out of
fear of what will happen if they don't).

You say this is not an option for some, and you are right (though I think many
people sell themselves short in terms of what they think they can do to start
changing the situation) and I can imagine situations where you could argue
that the "indecency" of breaking workplace policies is far less than the
"indecency" of the policies that caused them in the first place.

However, all the above is a bit beside the point, as my main objection was
from a marketing perspective. To take it to the extreme, if I manufacture
freezers, I think you'll agree that mentioning in the advertising campaign
that you can use them to make icicles which are the perfect murder weapon
would not be very helpful to the public image of the company or product. If
that is the major thing that product is suitable for, and there's a large
target market then it becomes a moral discussion, but I don't think
circumventing office policies is the main selling point of the device and
therefore don't think mentioning it as the first feature is helpful.

Then again, I could be mistaken :)

------
kylec
A few things:

I hate wires coming out of my mice. I can tolerate the thin braided cables
coming out of most high-end mice, but that's about it. With Mouse Box, I'd
have display, USB, and a bunch of other stuff sticking out of the mouse making
it much harder to move around and use.

The mouse itself looks unexceptional. It's not especially ergonomic (my
Logitech MX Revolution looks much more comfortable to hold), and the button
set is pretty limited. It's fine for basic use, but it would kind of defeat
the point if I felt compelled to plug a mouse into my Mouse Box.

Mice wear out. Mine collect dust and scuffs on the bottom and sweat and dirt
on the top. I guess the mouse itself could conceivably outlive the usefulness
of the computing part, but it seems like a bad idea to put the computer in a
consumable device.

The use cases seem a bit contrived. I might accept the projector one because
clicking to advance through slides is something that people do, but
surreptitiously using it at work by connecting it as a second input to the
monitor sounds pretty far-fetched.

~~~
xtracto
I had the same thought about the cables... the marketing images look like a
lot of today's electronics which are full of cables (like chromecast and/or
clones, etc) which look "beautiful" in paper but are choked with cables once
you really want to use them.

I think it would be a better idea to have a _keyboard-box_ (PC inside a
keyboard). You would have more space to work and it doesn't have to move due
to its very nature.

A keyboard the size of the Apple wireless keyboard would be excellent (
[https://www.apple.com/keyboard/](https://www.apple.com/keyboard/) ).

~~~
soylentcola
That just brought back memories of some of the promo material that came with
our Commodore 128 when I was a kid. One of the images showed a guy in a suit
carrying his Commodore instead of a briefcase as he walked across some
corporate campus. As a kid I thought it was so cool that someday you'd just
carry your computer instead of some boring box full of papers.

Of course now we have Penny's "computer book" from Inspector Gadget so it's
not quite as mindblowing as it was for 8-year-old me.

------
jebediah
I am okay with the general concept(though I guess it would be a lot better to
put a computer on a keyboard, or seriously, on a phone), but I think that
claiming this is the future of computing is ridiculous, pretty much the only
thing this seems to be good at is being able to procrastinate at work, and
once people are aware that you can put a computer on a mouse, that goes away

~~~
jay_kyburz
yeah, why can't I plug my android phone into a large monitor and use it like a
trackpad!

~~~
morganvachon
The Motorola Photon 4G had an entire Ubuntu-based GNU/Linux distro packed into
the ROM image, and they sold a docking station for it that basically turned
the phone into a full fledged computer when connected to an HDMI capable
monitor. Its cousin, the Atrix, did the same thing using a laptop-style dock.

A company called Cybernet has been putting full computers in keyboards since
at least the early 90s (think Commodore 64 but with x86 guts).

In other words, this Mouse-Box is evolutionary, not revolutionary. I like it,
but I'm not blown away.

~~~
recursive
I owned one of those and I never knew that.

------
johansch
If you liked this, you might also like these other fantastic two-in-one
gadgets!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hpq_spQnVM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hpq_spQnVM)
(Letter Opener and Pencil Sharpener)

[http://www.designboom.com/technology/the-first-mobile-
phone-...](http://www.designboom.com/technology/the-first-mobile-phone-with-a-
cigarette-lighter/) (Mobile phone and Cigarette lighter)

[http://www.canon.co.uk/About_Us/Press_Centre/Press_Releases/...](http://www.canon.co.uk/About_Us/Press_Centre/Press_Releases/Consumer_News/Calculators/X_MARK_I_MOUSE.aspx)
(Mouse and Calculator)

[http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/aft-icarta-
st...](http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/aft-icarta-stereo-dock-
for-ipod-and-bath-tissue-holder/) (iPod dock and Bath Tissue Holder)

~~~
yebyen
Surely you have seen the combination phone/shaver/projector/voice
translator/harmonica/coffee-maker

[http://www.pomegranatephone.com/](http://www.pomegranatephone.com/) (seems to
be down)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e4X10hOh9o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e4X10hOh9o)

------
bryanlarsen
Everybody already carries a computer that powerful around with them
continuously -- their phone. And that phone is powerful enough to run office
applications, web browsers and video games.

Soon every monitor will be a docking station for both phones and laptops. A
USB 3.1 type C connector will carry power, displayport and legacy USB.

The only remaining problem is software: iOS and Android aren't well suited for
a keyboard+mouse+big screen interface. I bet that both Apple & Google are
working on that.

Ubuntu obviously is.

~~~
a3_nm
Ubuntu even tried to make this concept real, but the effort did not reach its
(ambitious) crowdfunding goal.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edge)

------
gargarplex
"Don't be discouraged if what you produce initially is something other people
dismiss as a toy. In fact, that's a good sign"

Paul Graham

[http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html)

~~~
_Adam
I agree with Paul, but there's a few caveats:

a) First, for something to be a "toy" it has to be fun. Putting a computer in
my mouse is not fun; it's frankly rather boring.

b) It's only a good sign if you (the founder to which Paul is speaking) have a
future in mind where your product scales from toy to appliance. There are
fundamental problems with this product that prevent it from scaling in such a
way. Display connectivity is a big one.

IMO, this whole concept is rendered obsolete by the "computer on a stick" form
factor that a few big names have released. By plugging directly into the HDMI
port on the display, the highest bandwidth link is physical, and peripherals
connect wirelessly.

------
jsonmez
Just one thing I don't understand.

Ok, in the video, the dude's boss comes by and he switches his screen so his
boss doesn't know his mouse is actually a PC and he's really browsing pr0n
while at work.

Ok, I get that part.

But, then he goes into a meeting and connects his, seemingly innocent mouse,
to the projector...

Game over dude.

How dumb is his boss?

Guess what happens the next time you are sitting at your desk playing with
your... mouse?

Yeah. Not so slick now buddy are you?

~~~
dragos2
If we're analyzing the video ad, it's worth mentioning the fact that people
don't usually go to a coffee place with a monitor and keyboard.

~~~
ljk
also the way she walked into the coffee shop was pretty unnatural

~~~
IkmoIkmo
What? That's how we all walk in Europe!

~~~
chris_wot
That's awesome and yet awful all at the same time.

------
vonklaus
I don't understand, they say "all you need is a screen". What about they
keyboard. You need a wire, a screen, and a keyboard. This seems ridiculously
impractical, i would rather carry a tablet or a laptop. Where, in normal
circumstances, am I going to show up to a place that has a keyboard and a
screen, but not a computer?

~~~
grimman
Work places where you'd normally dock a laptop, for example. But I'd rather
carry a laptop, quite frankly. While the MouseBox would be far more portable,
it would not offer anywhere near the same freedom as a laptop would, and it
would be underpowered by necessity.

A further problem is that some people simply don't _like_ your average cheapo
mouse, and some people prefer very light mice.

It's a weird concept.

~~~
pionar
Yeah, I'm very particular about mice. I don't really care about my keyboard,
but my mouse has to be perfect. I have a Logitech Anywhere MX, and it's the
best mouse I've ever had.

This mouse looks like the cheapo ones you see tech stores giving away on black
Friday.

------
rdsubhas
Cool, but its sorely lacking a _Use Cases_ part. Its like a RaspPi-class
(computing power wise) PC with a mouse. Where would I use it?

Home PC? No, I want more power to play games.

Autonomous (like HTPC, IoT, etc)? I don't want a mouse.

Office? More power.

Mobility? It needs a monitor.

So what's the use case?

Edit: some additions and clarifications

~~~
monk_e_boy
This product solves a problem no one has! Fail fast and iterate fast!

Seriously, who the hell ever said, "Damn, as much as I love my iPad, the
problem of an integrated touch screen and lack of mouse really annoy me! What
I want is a PC and mouse without a screen!" Said no-one. Ever.

------
bikamonki
"An incredible combination of the two most important elements in a computer
set – a computer and a mouse."

In a system, by definition (at least according to Ackoff), the value/function
rises from the interaction/inter-operation of its parts/components. So, there
are not 'most important' elements, all are equally required for the system to
work (yes, you could use a computer w/out a mouse or a keyboard but that is a
different system, like you could use a car without gas in the middle of the
road as a very uncomfortable motel room).

Furthermore, the mobility argument breaks in two links:

\- To move your computer system (set) you'd need to move the kb and screen as
well. How would I use the MouseBox on a plane flight? Laying on my couch? On
the park? Laptop, tablet, phablet and smartphone are portable computer
systems.

\- Nowadays mobility of the hardware elements of a computer system are
secondary, what needs to move is data (OS, apps and files). Cloud emerges
then. I can read/write email from anywhere on a different device.
Paradoxically the software elements of the system are not moving per se, they
live on a server, but being ubiquitous accessible they are "like" moving. This
reminds me of that night ride in that car (with gas this time) and a full moon
following me everywhere.

Your product is somewhat cool but IMHO it would have been much better to do
the kb-trackpad-box, like this one but with a CPU:
[http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Multi-
Touch...](http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Multi-Touch-
Touchpad/dp/B005DKZTMG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421987140&sr=8-3&keywords=wireless+keyboard+and+mouse+combo;)
and still it would under-perform other existing portable computing devices
already mentioned b/c those come with a screen.

~~~
tomphoolery
I'd suggest they make an entire computer that fit in the form factor of a
keyboard, but theoretically we've already done that
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II)
;-)

~~~
ferrari8608
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64)

Also, more recently:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64x](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64x)

~~~
walterbell
Alphasmart,
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart)

------
jawarner
That's neat, but there aren't that many situations where I have access to a
monitor and keyboard, but am missing a computer.

~~~
aosmith
The idea is that there should be. This could be awesome for colleges... Stop
buying physical machines and start having students buy their own "mice".

~~~
mintplant
Awesome for the colleges, maybe, but not so much for the students onto whom
they'd be pushing the cost.

~~~
cbd1984
> Awesome for the colleges, maybe, but not so much for the students onto whom
> they'd be pushing the cost.

1\. This is a political problem, first and foremost.

2\. How much it costs depends on what the school does with its network. If it
offers cloud storage as part of the tuition (to offset the cost of not having
much storage on the little mice) and gives the more computationally-intensive
majors access to a compute cluster for the price of tuition (same reason), it
could be a nice little setup.

Students would always have most of their files on them all the time, the
school could buy more keyboard-laptop pairs than it buys actual computers to
reduce the pressure on the public labs, and the mice could be fairly cheap if
bought in bulk and resold. (OK, I know, but in theory.)

------
fortytw2
This is hilarious and incredibly impractical. Unless the mouse part itself is
stellar, there's almost no way this could supplant using a real computer/mouse
- using a bad mouse makes using a computer awful IMO, and the likelihood of
the actual mouse being very good is incredibly slim (not to mention how heavy
it'll land up being)

~~~
tomlock
To be fair on the heaviness point though, people add weight to their mice for
wireless ones in the form of batteries, and for gaming ones actual literal
weights. The raspberry pi is only 45 grams, so it is at least conceivable that
this mouse will be a suitable _weight_. I do however totally agree that a
first-time mouse making company probably won't do a great job of making a
mouse.

------
UnoriginalGuy
Cool. How much is it?

I'd totally get one if it was in my "fun but wasteful" price range. So for
example something like a Raspberry Pi is an easy purchase, as is something
like Intel's Compute Stick at $89. Really under $100 and it is an easy buy
just for fun and because it is different/unique.

However I don't see a price and an order page, so I don't think this "Mouse
Box" exists yet. I guess they're just testing the waters? For me price is a
key part of this product's success.

It might have legitimate uses, like presentations, but realistically it is a
novelty and people have a budget for novelty gadgets. So if they can hit the
sub-$100 price point and appear on sites like ThinkGeek as something to show
off to your friends/colleagues, they'll do pretty well.

If it is like $200-300 then frankly I can just plug my smartphone into HDMI
and use a bluetooth mouse which costs under $30 for the same effect.

~~~
stevenjohns
It appears to have 128 GB internal storage, which I believe would easily bump
it over the $100 range.

I think the real limitation is not the price, however, but rather the
operating system. Since its ARM based, it would probably have some sort of
Debian distro installed as opposed to a more mainstream OS (Windows etc). I
wonder if we'll see a revision with an x86 Atom processor or something in the
future.

------
ilaksh
This is great. Being able to so easily take your whole computer with you is
amazing.

I am a bit more into touch screens these days.

I would like to use a small SoC computer, something like the Mouse Box or one
of the few existing fully capable Android smart watches, and plug it into a
touch screen display.

Basically instead of a full tablet I want just a dumb display/touch input
module that can easily interface with a separate small SoC computer.

A bit perhaps like project Ara but I don't want to use it just a phone and I
am more focused on carrying the core around and plugging in different
displays.

I guess I could get a Chromecast or something and plug my smart watch/small
SoC HDMI into the cheapest tablet available and that would achieve basically
the same thing, but it is a waste because I wouldn't be using the other parts
of the tablet aside from the display and touch.

~~~
rasz_pl
you want this

[http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Smart-Adapter-Mouse-
CVD601/dp/B0...](http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Smart-Adapter-Mouse-
CVD601/dp/B00BMLQPG4)

?

------
bane
I think it's a pretty cool idea.

Where I work, they supply flexible work locations with desks and cubes all
configured with monitor, network/wi-fi, keyboard, mouse and Dell standard
dock. I could see some enterprises like mine going for something like this.
Except now they don't have to supply the dock, mouse or computer. If it has
RDP support they could even supply corporately managed Windows desktops for
people to remote into.

Day 1: Welcome to Synergydyne Corp. Here's your equipment.

 _hands new employee one of these_

Find an empty seat and get to work!

------
userbinator
My smartphone is more powerful than PCs several years ago and only slightly
larger than a standard computer mouse, with the majority of its internal
volume being the battery, so I'm not surprised this could be done.

It's not like the idea of putting the majority of the computing power in one
of the peripherals is new either - many early home computers like the C64 and
ZX did this with the keyboard, and early game "consoles" appeared with most of
their circuitry located in the controller.

------
melling
I just want a computer stick form factor like the Chromecast. Maybe a couple
of USB 3.1 reversible mini-connectors on it. Ideally I want to be able to
choose my Bluetooth keyboards, mice, trackballs, microphone, some future
version of the Leap Motion, a Myo, a Wacom tablet, etc.

------
api
What OS does this run? Linux or Android? I guess you could put either of those
on it, maybe also Windows RT for ARM.

I would perhaps consider this for a work desktop or a presentation box. Would
be great for meeting rooms!

~~~
rasz_pl
it doesnt run any os, it doesnt exist yet, its all renders and a cute
marketing video.

~~~
IkmoIkmo
Although on all the videos it's Ubuntu, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd end
up with that.

------
mark-r
Could you imagine using this with all 3 connectors wired at the same time? I
thought the trend was for wireless.

------
txu
my dad has been telling me he wanted a computer with a built-in projector and
laser keyboard for at least 5 years, and I agreed. the challenge seems to be
fitting all those things into one reasonably small space and it takes time for
Moore's law to get us there...

------
aosmith
How much does this thing weigh? How heavy is an hdmi cord vs. usb?

------
rocky1138
I love this idea and want one!

------
rasz_pl
Extremely stupid dick in a box idea :/. What exactly is the point of putting
$40 Android hdmi stick in a mouse when you could use that stick and wireless
mouse separately? Maybe its for people that love cables?

Its one of those 'Im hip young and talented with big ideas, lets get money
first and think how to do it later', or rather 'lets get some cheap shit from
china, repackage it and make tons of money'. Reminds me of Soap router (lets
put android tablet in the router). Soap scam got >$300K combined out of crowd
funding suckers, and delivered ... new car to founder and money to cover
bankruptcy filled _between_ two campaigns.

[http://www.cepro.com/article/both_owners_of_indiegogo-
funded...](http://www.cepro.com/article/both_owners_of_indiegogo-
funded_soap_filed_for_bankruptcy_recently/K5)

This is this big computing revolution in a nutshell:

[http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Smart-Adapter-Mouse-
CVD601/dp/B0...](http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Smart-Adapter-Mouse-
CVD601/dp/B00BMLQPG4)

~~~
api
Mmmm haterade got electrolytes.

------
solocshaw
Won't this become hot as fuck in my hand?

edit: I can see this being a fun vertical mouse RasPi project. But this?

~~~
cmdrfred
Does your cellphone? Mine gets warm but never 'hot' at least to my touch.

