Your excuse to play with toys at work -- Road Mice
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For every boy (or girl) who has grown up and wishes he (or she) could still push a model car around, here’s an offering from Road Mice.
Yep, this is a wireless computer mouse that comes in a number of guises, such as Camaro, Charger, Corvette and Mustang. There’s an especially cool police version of the Charger. Employing radio frequency and optical technologies, they work on Macs and PCs. The headlights illuminate, and there are right- and left-click buttons on the hood, on either side of the scroll wheel.
The products are the brainchild of Four Door Media Inc. Chief Executive Dan Cwieka and company President James Markey, who came up with the idea after first considering a car-shaped computer. The products were engineered and designed in Laguna Beach and manufactured in China.
Cwieka says the Road Mice have heft and feel good under the user’s hand (and isn’t this usually the problem with toy computer mice?). Still, procuring the licenses to re-create these popular models in mouse form was a challenge, Cwieka said. When asked why only American companies were currently represented, he said, ‘Many of the imports are too concerned about quality and are harder to convince.’
He did say that he is in negotiations with Nissan and Infiniti and is hoping to get permission to include likenesses of the Nissan 350Z and GT-R and the Infiniti G35. There are also products in development that include characters from the Disney-Pixar film ‘Cars.’
Four Door Media appears to be attracting plenty of interest from American car enthusiasts. Cwieka said early news of the Road Mice was leaked when Corvette club enthusiast bloggers found Four Door Media’s unpublished marketing materials online. ‘We were planning our launch for Oct. 15 and now we’re getting calls every day for those Corvette Z06 mice.’
The Dodge Charger SRT, Chevy Corvette Z06, Ford Mustang GT and Chevy Camaro will be part of that initial launch. Others, including the Dodge Viper, Ford GT40 and Chrysler 300C, will be available by Christmas.
The Road Mice go for $44.95 apiece and for the time being can be purchased only from Four Door Media online. The company says it is in talks with retailers and TV shopping networks for future sales.
Car enthusiasts may appreciate the individual vehicle identification number and registration certificate accompanying each product. There is also an option to buy ‘insurance,’ assuring you a replacement vehicle for $19 if your device is destroyed, stolen or broken -- ‘No questions asked,’ Cwieka says.
So far, there’s no word on whether the Road Mice can be customized to drive -- er-- work faster.
-- Colin Ryan and Joni Gray
Images: Four Door Media