Related Sections: Computer Peripherals
Dumbest gadget ever: the mouse jiggler
From the "are you f'ing kidding me?!" department comes the mouse jiggler, perhaps the dumbest and most useless computer peripheral I have ever seen. And that's saying a lot, as my job is basically to find and make fun of useless computer peripherals every single day. This thing doesn't have the charm of the USB Dolphin Mousepad or the sassiness of the lit-up internal computer fans. No, the Mouse Jiggler is just pure idiocy.
What is it, you ask? Well, it's a $30 USB dongle that nudges your mouse around so the screen saver doesn't come on. That's it. Yes, you can change the settings on your computer so the screen saver comes on after more time or not at all, and it's free. But why go through 10 seconds of mouse clicks when you could waste $30 on a stupid product such as this? Buying things makes you happy!
Mouse Jiggler, via The Raw Feed
By splinteredhalo at 4:29 AM ON 04/19/07
I don't know... it's better than a Fisher Price Vibrating Rocking Chair.
By lonewolfbr at 5:25 AM ON 04/19/07
Huhhh... Just one question...
How many people will buy this thing, I mean, will have the nerve to... huh... you know... sort of... GOSH! CANNOT BELIEVE IT... LOL!
By bluraydisk at 7:34 AM ON 04/19/07
This thing can be fantastic, if you work on your corporate pc and policy's forbid you to edit the screensaver time or lock your screen, this can be the solution!!
By ccarlton at 7:39 AM ON 04/19/07
Agree with bluraydisk, thanks to Sarbanes F'ing Oxley this is alot more prevalent than you might expect. Let's say you are training on a corporate customer's lan where you can't login or attach your own PC. A tech logs you in and goes away. You stop to answer a question or help a student out and the next thing you know the PC is locked and you need to track down that person to log you back in. This is a brilliant device, it's just not for most home users.
By NumbToDumb at 8:16 AM ON 04/19/07
This is a fairly close minded article. In the common situation this device might seem worthless, but in many cases it's brilliant. Lock out prevention is a prime example. Any situation where you may need to prevent an idol status. If you are working on something, and don't want a program to log you out due to inactivity, this would be a saving grace. Think outside of the box.
By Jakanapes at 8:37 AM ON 04/19/07
You guys got it right. Adam's obviously never worked in a corporate office where they keep you from modifying your screen saver and lock you out after 5 minutes of inactivity. Run into the hardware lab or spend a few minutes working out a problem on some scratch paper and get locked out...
I'd spend 30 bucks to not be annoyed 10-15 times a day. Every day. Forever.
By corpcreature at 11:44 AM ON 04/19/07
Adam is way off on this one. This is a godsend to those of us who work in the enterprise lock-down environment. Thanks for Digging this, I plan on buying one right away!
By Woodguy at 9:43 AM ON 03/04/08
This is similar to an idea that i had years ago, the vibrating mouse pad. This device is the greatest thing since sliced bread. In spite my many attempts to shut off power saving and screen saving,(through both BIOS and Microsoft configurations.) I have found that any Windows computer will eventually go to sleep. When performing real time controls and maintenance functions this can be frustrating and possibly unsafe. Another application is the PC service industry where the technician will hear customer complaints if the screen saver was disabled for service and not reset, etc. This device provides a very elegant solution to a very frustarting problem and serious flaw in the Windows OS. I can see why these things are flying off of the shelves.
By flmermaid at 7:17 PM ON 12/06/08
I want one! The office I work at has the system set up to password lock you out of the computer after only THREE minutes. I can't stand it!
By DOC at 3:20 PM ON 01/14/09
Well it does seem stupid... But, our company has locked the the "screen saver" time to 10 minutes. When we are working all night as oncall. It sure would be nice to have something where you don't have to login five million times! Good report for anyone else!
By Alex at 5:24 PM ON 02/07/09
Obviously Adam is just ignorant!
There is a teacher at school that always get upset because the screen saver activates when he present his slides and he has to walk back to the computer table. You cannot desactivate the screen saver, you only get a user account. This is the solution.
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Alex:
Obviously Adam is just ignorant! There is a teacher at school that always get upset because the screen saver activ...More »