Switch from mice to trackball - Logitech "ERGO M575"

I quit using a mice and switched to a trackball.

- Logitech "Wireless Trackball ERGO M575 "



Eco-friendly packaging, just wrapped in a bit of thick paper!



Only warranty card included, no manual.



The ball looks like this!

It came off easily when I lightly pushed it out through the hole in the back. The ball was 34mm in diameter and weighed 26g.



3-point support, optical sensor in the center.



Inside the battery box, a Unifying receiver. It can be connected wirelessly via this USB receiver or Bluetooth. It runs for about two years on alkaline batteries.



I've been using a ThinkPad USB laser mouse for my desktop PC.



Two years ago, I updated my keyboard to a Filco Majestouch NINJA Tenkeyless, and I've been using this mouse for a while, but...

I've been having trouble with the pain in my wrist and forearm lately, probably due to tendinitis.

I thought I should get a more physical-friendly device, so I chose the Logitech ERGO M575 trackball!



I am very grateful that I no longer need to put a mice pad on my desk, which gives me more desk space.

It allows me to access the trackball, click switches and scroll wheel by simply placing my palm over it. It is a good design that fits our hands.



I just put my right hand on it, and I can operate it without moving my wrist at all, which is very comfortable.

Using the trackball with my thumb takes some getting used to, but I'm going to try my best to get used to it.
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New wooden wrist rest for Majestouch NINJA keyboard.

Lately, my wrist has not been feeling well... I've been feeling numb at a moment's notice...

With the addition of a MacBook Air (M1) last month, I've been using three PCs at the same time, and I think this is one of the reasons for my problem.

The angle of my wrist changes each time I use the keyboard of each machine, and it seems that I have what is called tendinitis in my wrist.

My keyboard for Win10 PC is FILCO's "Majestouch NINJA Tenkeyless" that got two years ago.



"Majestouch NINJA Tenkeyless" is used the Cherry MX mechanical switch, and it gives a very solid key touch. It has cool black keys with no letters printed on the key tops. However, the key position is a bit high, which seems to be a problem for my wrist.

Due to a stand-alone keyboard, I used to use a low-resilience urethane wrist rest, but I haven't used it recently because it is for a full-size keyboard and takes up unnecessary space.

Without the wrist rest, my wrist became unstable, which seemed to be the trigger for this problem.

Then I thought about buying a new stable wooden wrist rest, but well, it's kind of expensive and the quality difference seems to be huge, so I decided to make it myself!



I found a lot of solid Shimanto River Hinoki (Japanese cypress) at Celia, a hundred yen store, so bought some wood with good grain for my DIY.

I made a wooden wrist rest using this solid Shimanto River Hinoki wood!



This piece of wood measures 30cm x 10cm x 1cm, but it was a little too thin so I glued two pieces together. Since it is natural solid wood, it will inevitably warp, but I glued them together to offset that.



Referring to various natural wood wrist rests on the web, I used a plane to cut the top curve for the wrist rest and rounded the side edges so that it would not be painful.



The width is 30cm, but it's enough to cover the main key area. It's just the right size for the Majestouch MINILA or HHKB, which are one size smaller.



I was going to leave it unpainted and use it as plain wood, but I was afraid that it would get stained by hand, so I decided to use an oil finish. I polished it clean with 400 sandpaper before painting.



This is "Oshima Tsubaki 100% Camellia Oil", which I bought for the maintenance of my wooden comb. It's a bit expensive, so I couldn't use it to paint the handcraft speakers the other day.



I applied a thin coat of camellia oil to the entire surface, and it brought out the beautiful grain of the wood. The penetration of the oil doesn't seem to be that great, so I feel like I need to apply it multiple times.

Camellia oil is widely used as hair care oil, so it should be safe for living organisms.

New wrist rest has the gentle feel of natural wood, and the angle of my wrist is eased, so I don't feel too tired.

This one is self-made and can be tweaked later, so I'll try it out for a while!
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Got new MacBook Air M1!

I've got a new Apple laptop!

- MacBook Air (M1 2020) Gold, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD

This is the latest model with the Apple M1 chip, launched in autumn 2020.



Actually, the first one I received was in Space Gray.

I had a trouble with the purchase process, so I returned it and bought another one. The Space Gray looked sleek and sophisticated, but it gave me a rather dark and negative impression.

In this era of COVID-19, I decided to go for the Gold model to brighten up the atmosphere to stay home! The color is very subdued, more like pink gold or bronze than a pure gold.





The packaging is very simple, as is typical of Apple: just a brochure, charger and USB-C cable.



I took it out of the box, opened the top cover, and it suddenly turned on and started activating!

I was a little surprised, but I guess it's just like the iPhone. It's very friendly to first-time Mac users. However, if you haven't prepared a WiFi environment in advance, you may be in a panic.



I'm currently using a rather old MacBook Pro, and I was thinking that its successor would be the same Pro model.

I thought the previous MacBook Air with the Intel chip was too underpowered to be useful.

However, the MacBook Air with the M1 chip has very high performance, and apps launch instantly and are available right from sleep. It's just like using a mobile device like an iPhone.

I was also surprised to see that the device does not get hot at all despite the lack of a cooling fan. Since it is fanless and SSD, it is completely silent, making it the perfect machine for audio environments.

With my current MacBook Pro, even with the cooling fan running, the palm rest gets so hot that I feel like I'm going to get cold burns, so I've installed a PC cooler pad under the laptop. I was quite annoyed by the fan noise that kept running all the time.



At first, I installed Xcode 12.5, Apple's software development environment. Upon launching the app, I was prompted to install Rosetta. For some reason, it seems the Intel code!

I built a previously developed iPhone app code and tried to run it in the simulator. I was surprised at how fast it was, even though it was emulating Intel code, whereas it took much longer on my MacBook Pro.

I've only just started using it, but so far I'm very pleased with the processing performance of the MacBook Air with M1 chip. The quality of the product and the cost performance are also excellent.
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Replaced iPhone’s battery myself.

"iPhone 5" released in 2012. It was a iPhone device that was active in my App development.

This is due to the expansion of the built-in battery, the light has come to leak from the side of LCD. The home button is also less effective.

As expected, if I leave it for a long time in this state, the LCD will crack.

Although such an old model, the cost of Apple battery exchange service is quite expensive. If it is iPhone 6 or later, it is reasonable because of performance reduction problem.

So, I decided to replace the battery myself!



Looking for it on the web, there is what is called "Battery exchange kit for iPhone 5" with a battery and replacement tool set, and it was available at around $ 15.

The manual is attached properly and the exchange procedure is illustrated in a way that is easy to understand. Just to be sure, I tried watching the video related to battery replacement on YouTube, but it was almost the same way.



To disassemble iPhone 5, I removed 2 screws on both sides of the Lightining terminal at the bottom.



I attached the suction cup to the LCD panel and pulled it up, the LCD panel came off the main body.
Since the upper part is connected by a flexible cable, it must be pulled from the bottom.



I opened the inside of the iPhone 5, and I was surprised to see that the built-in battery bulged large.
This was a very dangerous situation. It seems to be on the brink of destroying the LCD or burning the battery.



I will remove the metal cover from the two screws and disconnect the power connector.
The battery was firmly affixed with double-sided tape, so it was a bit painful, but it got off well.



It seems that it is swollen with internally generated gas and it is very soft touch feeling.
As a chemical mechanism of lithium-ion batteries, it seems that flammable gases such as hydrogen, CH4, C2H4, C2H6 are generated, so there is a high risk of burning in this state.
I will bring it to battery recycling by isolating the power connector soon.



I replaced it with a new battery and linked the power connector.
Furthermore I close the LCD panel and complete with installing star screws. These work took about 10 minutes.



I turned on the main power and it started up properly! The battery level was 59%.
Light leakage from the side of the LCD is also gone, and it seems to be safe to use for a while.