Microsoft is reinventing the mouse wheel

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Just saw this at Bink'spage. Microsoft is reinventing the mouse wheel, adding Tilt Wheel Technology for horizontal scrolling and smoothing the vertical-scroll motion, the company said yesterday. The tilt wheel allows users to scroll left and right as well as up and down without having to use the on-screen navigation bars. This can be handy when working on a large spreadsheet or trying to view an unwieldy Web site, Microsoft said.

Microsoft is planning to launch three mice with the new tilting wheel on September 3, one corded and two cordless operating at 27MHz, a company spokeswoman said. The mice will also have a feature that lets users toggle between open applications on a computer by pressing down on the wheel, she said.