Rotund rodent grows on you

Today we'll look at newer versions of two tech tools I've written about before — a wireless mouse and a small photo printer.

The Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 ($65 to $80) looks like other wireless mice, except it swells way up in the middle.

According to Microsoft, it's ergonomically designed to conform to a person's hand in its most relaxed position.

The tilted, elevated hand position reportedly reduces pressure on the wrist, which helps alleviate carpal-tunnel syndrome (the hand or wrist pain often caused by regularly using a mouse or keyboard).

Like the Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 (not the Natural) I've been using for almost a year, the Natural mouse has a scroll wheel, five buttons, and a scoop to rest the thumb.

What's different is that the Natural mouse is quite round.

It feels a little awkward at first, but I quickly get used to it. Then it feels awkward to use a flatter, un-Natural mouse.

Since I'm not one who has suffered from carpal-tunnel syndrome, I can't say whether this ergonomically designed mouse helps alleviate the problem. I can say, however, that it's very comfortable.

When I move the scroll wheel, it scrolls through content active on the display screen. When a Web page being displayed doesn't include the width of the content, I can push the scroll wheel left or right to move the display in that direction.

A click of the scroll wheel activates Expose on my Mac, and all open windows appear neatly on the screen.

The two buttons on the mouse's left side don't do anything until I assign them tasks by opening the installed software and clicking on Buttons.

There I assign the small thumb button the job of magnifying a document that's open, so I can read more easily. I can increase and decrease magnification with the scroll wheel.

But after having some trouble controlling magnification by scrolling, I change the button's assignment from Magnify to Zoom In; Zoom Out goes to the larger thumb button. That works a lot better for me.

On top of the mouse there's a little battery indicator that lights up when the mouse's two AA batteries run low.

I've been using this mouse for several weeks and haven't seen the light. Hopefully, I won't for at least six months of daily use.

For several years now, I've been using wireless mice and definitely prefer the freedom of handling a mouse without a connecting cable that always seems to get tangled. If you're interested in switching to a wireless mouse, consider this one.

On to the little photo printer: Not long ago, I wrote positively about the Epson PictureMate Deluxe printer, then discovered there are newer models that may do the job of printing small photos even better.

I decide to try the Epson PictureMate Snap ($129). Other new models include Pal and Flash.

Like previous PictureMate models, the Snap is portable (with a handle), and prints photos up to 4 by 6 inches.

Even without connecting to a computer, I can print directly from my camera's memory card or by connecting the camera to the printer with a USB cable, if the camera is PictBridge- or USB Direct-Print-compatible.

Before printing, I can preview and edit the images by pressing the printer's Menu button and choosing from the options: Layout, Edit, Frame, Save Photos(s), Maintenance and Setup.

The Layout option lets me choose borderless, border, wallet, mini-wallet, ID, US passport and more.

With the Edit option, I can choose Crop Photo, Color Effect, Fix Photo, Red-Eye Reduction, Decorate Photo, Rotate.

The Fix Photo choice offers Auto Correction, Brightness, Saturation and Sharpness adjustments.

I can choose Color Effect to change a color photo to black-and-white or sepia, Decorate Photo to add clip art from PictureMate's collection and Frame to add one of 80 Disney frames.

I can also connect the printer to my computer, load the images and edit them with my own photo software (typically Photoshop or iPhoto).

To do this, I need to install the printer software from the installation disk and transfer the images from my camera's memory card to my computer, edit the images, then use the Snap to print them.

That's my preferred way of processing and printing photos, so I try that first. After installing the printer software, I open iPhoto and pick one of my edited photos to print.

It looks great. I print several more. They're sharp, and the colors are vivid yet not oversaturated. The more images I print, the happier I am with this printer.

For comparison, I try printing without the computer, directly from my camera's memory card. I insert the card, view the image, crop it and select Fix Photos>Auto Correction.

The resulting print looks pretty good. However, when I have time and my computer is handy, I still prefer to edit photos with Photoshop or iPhoto on my Mac.

Frankly, I don't notice that prints from this Snap model look significantly better than prints I've made with the older PictureMate Deluxe model, but the Snap has some additional features.

These include cropping capability, several more layout options, red-eye removal, frames, an optional internal battery for added flexibility, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Once again, I find the PictureMate printer is reasonably priced and great for printing snapshot-size photos. It's easy to use and handy for when I want to print fast and still have the results look good.

Write Linda Knapp at lknapp@seattletimes.com; to read other Getting Started columns, go to: www.seattletimes.com/gettingstarted