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Previous: Ashtrays on planes | Main | Next: Park sign
July 1, 2005 12:04 AM
Broken: KidzMouse box copy
Ronnie Paskin writes,
I just bought this mouse for my daughter.
The box says: "Squeeze my head anywhere and I will click!", and that it's easier for young children, etc.
Well, I was testing it and trying to squeeze Elmo's head, but no click. I spent several minutes on their site, downloaded the driver, etc, then finally realized that you do have to use the buttons, Elmo's head [printed on the body of the mouse] is there just for decoration.
What happens apparently is most of their mice are shaped like bugs, and the head *is* the buttons; they have a driver that will turn both buttons into the same left click action (making it a one button mouse so it's easier for the kids).
I'd say the box designers had no idea how the mouse worked... or they had bad specs (e.g. "we always say 'squeeze my head anywhere and I will click' on the boxes").
In any case, I'd say the box design is broken.
hmm fault for this could lie in many places, the graphic designer, the box maker, or phil for thinking he's cool because he posted first.
Omg can idiots please stop posting just to say they were first? anyways, i think anything child oriented like that is broken anyways, personal opinion that is. but yes, a head squeezing for elmo should click, so broken.
Mr. Paskin---Regardless of the inaccurate description on the packaging, do you think that this mouse is any easier for your daughter to use than a standard "adult" mouse?
Regarding these annoying "first" posts, Fark has an interesting way to deal with this plague:
"First post time warp
For whatever reason message boards on sites like Fark are forever plagued with morons posting 'First Post' anytime a link is posted. Fark automatically turns the words 'first post' into the word 'boobies' and resets the timestamp on the message to twelve hours into the future."
Mr. Slaughter- I doubt it. Baby's First Mouse is no doubt every bit as hard to use as a normal mouse, and if you (you=parent) left it plugged in, then you wouldn't be able to right click.
Dragon- Ja, kid-oriented stuff like this *is* broken. Training toothpaste? I never used that when I was little! I think these companies either underestimate the abilities of kids or the ability of parents to teach them what to do.
The box design is definitely broken, especially since they Sesame Street'd the whole box, *except* for the slogan, which isn't a very good slogan anyway.
That's stupid. I hate it when stupid hardware companies think kids are so stupid that we need to have FUN MICE and DISNEY TV SETS WITH HAPPY LITTLE MICKEY MOUSES ONM THEM. But in reality, kids are arguably smarter than the idiots who make the aforementioned FUN MICE and other assorted things of that general nature.
I totally agree with Jesse. Why in the world they spell KIDS with a Z? Do they think it's cool? That's so broken!!
Carlos,
You fark too, cool. Looks like they cut corners on packaging, broken. Their website's pretty lame too.
They don't underestimate the kids. They make this crap to sell to the gullible parents. "Training toothpaste"? I'd say they've done their job quite well because people buy it.
There's nothing broken about "training toothpaste". Small children shouldn't have fluoride, so they shouldn't use adult toothpaste. But they need to learn to brush their teeth at an early age so that it gets ingrained.
you must be one of those people that sell that training toothpaste, no one with a little sense would buy that crap, its for the parents to spend $ on their kids. c'mon now, think about it, i bet if you walk down the wally world aisle for the kids you'll see what i mean... kids dont need a 12in tv that costs 300 cuz it has disney crap on it, you can get a much larger one then that for the same price *without* the disney junk... this is broken BTW.
Actually, this *is* easier for the kids to use. I bought one for my 5 yr. old grandson and it is easier for him to maneuver because it is smaller and fits his hand. I left the right click button the same and he knows how to use it. Also, the clicking is more sensitive so they don't have to press so hard. I agree that the packaging is broken - you can squeeze Elmo's head all day and nothing will happen. But it is a good mouse design for children. BTW, you can buy it with no image on it, too. It looks like a regular mouse. Frankly, Quinten could care less what the mouse looks like. And on my side, it was easy to install and easy to use. I even use it when he's at my home and on my computer.
Jon: Is it the risk of eating a whole tube of toothpaste, or what?
if it's just the fluoride, then i had fluoride drops when i was little, and suffered no ill effects, aside from fewer cavities. i reiterate: if they think parents can't stop their kids from eating a harmful amount of toothpaste, then they're insulting the parenting abilities of the parents.
Not so, Bob. I ate a tube of toothpaste once. I gotted seveareee dain bramageded.
Just kidding. But they're not forcing parents to buy practise toothpaste. It's there for extra-careful parents. You may be able to keep your kid from sticking his finger in an electrical socket, but why take the chance?
they mean squeese like puttin ur hand on the body of the mouse. all of you squeese it(if u havent notice or at least rest on it)
Maybe they didnt look at the mouse. Maybe they mean the head of the mouse(not elmos head). Maybe they are retards. There could be lots of different reasons why they did that. But most reasons end up in "this is broken" anyway. I am not saying this is not broken.
This is such a nessicarry invention because we all know how kids can't handle the daunting task of two buttons and a scroll wheel.
I hate cooperations like this.
They think that all you need to do is dumb something down and it's better for "kids".
You know, mabye the company should use the "word proscessor for kids" as they obviously can't handle such "adult" functions as Spell Check.
And What the hell is training toothpaste?
That's like Soy Milk.
The point of toothpaste is that it has flouride to prevent cavities. When you take that away you are brushing your teeth with fancy water.
a laptop mouse (the smaller portable mice with the same functions as normal ones) would serve the same purpose because all the child needs is somthing that's easier to get their hand around.
I think it was foolish for the parent who bought the mouse to even try pushing Elmo's head, unless ther was some indication that there was a button there.
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Previous: Ashtrays on planes | Main | Next: Park sign
First!!
Posted by: phil at July 1, 2005 12:24 AM