It's a thing of beauty!

The computer mouse apparently celebrated its 40th anniversary earlier this year. The Canadian navy made the first trackball device, based on a huge maple bowling ball! Xerox brought out the first serious desktop computer mouse in 1981 and Apple quickly followed suit. Since then we have seen all manner of mice and trackball devices.

Unfortunately, mouse design hasn't always been one of Apple's strong points, and a number of my long-time Apple devotees have told me tales of woe concerning the first iMac mouse and the more recent Mighty Mouse. But now we have the Magic Mouse, and what a breath of fresh air it is for we part-time PC users.

This new multi-touch Bluetooth laser mouse has a smooth top, with no buttons in sight – the whole mouse is one big button. You simply click anywhere on the top and it knows what you're doing. Likewise, brush a finger across it to scroll vertically or horizontally, or brush with two fingers to advance through browser pages or browse photos. Hold down the control key and a swipe across the mouse enables you to zoom in or out of a page or picture, like you do on an iPhone.

I didn't have the misfortune to suffer one of Apple's less-successful earlier mouse designs, but the Magic Mouse is £55 well spent in my opinion. Once again, Apple manages to combine cool design and practical functionality. PC users – look and weep: http://www.apple.com/uk/magicmouse/