Going For Gold With Mouse And Split Board
The Age
Monday June 30, 1997
MARK Goldstein performs some mental arithmetic: while there are only 42,000 steps in running a marathon, a 120-words-per-minute typist could strike over 200,000 character keys on an eight-hour shift.
Conclusion: not unlike a marathon runner needing the right size shoe, using a computer is a physical strain and the user should have ergonomically tailored equipment.
Next month, Goldstein, a former physiology lecturer who prepared Australian athletes for the Olympics, will release the Goldtouch ergonomic mouse worldwide, with a split, adjustable angle keyboard to follow. Both will be manufactured by Mitsumi in Japan.
Goldstein and his wife and business partner, Elizabeth, returned to Australia this month from their operation in Texas to establish a new base from where they will run the fledgling company's business.
Goldstein, an Australian delegate to the International Standards Organisation, has designed the split keyboard to be adjustable in two planes, allowing the hands to rest in a position not unlike holding a steering wheel. The board bends beyond the 15 degrees that he says is the minimum needed for adequate tailoring.
Goldstein says his Goldtouch mouse helped avoid muscle fatigue and damage because its shape and button positions stopped fingers straining to use the mouse, and allowed the hand to rest with a good weight balance.
Goldtouch says he needs initially capture 1 per cent of the world's mammoth mouse and keyboard market to be viable.
© 1997 The Age