You’ve gotta have pretty big balls to charge $320 for a mouse—balls as big as the Sphere 2 wired mouse being hawked by the folks at Ore Objects. To be fair, only the platinum version costs $320. More affordable gold and titanium models are available for $290 and $185, respectively.
Those precious metals apparently apply only to the exterior finish; the rest of the rodent is crafted from stainless steel, which purportedly offers unparalleled durability. When the mouse eventually fails, Ore says its components are completely recyclable, making the Sphere 2 a “smart environmental decision” for the Prius crowd. Since I’ve already mentioned balls, I’ll refrain from making a crack about Ore’s references to stain resistance and ease of sanitation.
Under its shiny shell, the Sphere 2 may actually have some interesting ideas. The mouse offers a rotary scrolling wheel, four-way navigation buttons, and a DPI switch with three resolution levels. There are also separate touch and click modes, suggesting the buttons have a degree of adjustable sensitivity. I have to admit that I’m curious about how well the thing works—but not curious enough to drop nearly $200 to find out. Thanks to Engadget for the tip.