Reports have been flooding in that the new mouse is a power-hungry little guy, both internally among staff here at TheAppleBlog and over at the Apple Discussion boards. At least one discussion thread deals with the problem that the Magic Mouse has when working in conjunction with the Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard. Apparently, using both together will result in significant battery drain in the latter.

On its own, the Magic Mouse is no energy superstar either. Many users report a much shorter battery life than they got with the Bluetooth Mighty Mouse. Truta was finding the same thing with his new pointing device, and so went about testing his theory to see what he found. Rather than timing the life of the batteries during regular continuous usage, as a lab might, Truta came up with an easy to perform exercise that you can try for yourself, too, so long as you’re in possession of both models of Apple mice.

The trick is to use a fresh set of batteries in the Magic Mouse until they run out of steam. Apple’s redesigned the mouse preferences pane to tell you when you need to change them, and even provides instructions on how to do so in case you can’t figure it out for yourself. Once the batteries are depleted, all you have to do is switch them back into your old Mighty Mouse.

Using this very simple method, Truta discovered that while the Magic Mouse saw the batteries as devoid of anymore usable energy, the Mighty Mouse would in fact report that the batteries weren’t even close to empty. In fact, his tests show that under the Bluetooth devices menu it would report as much as 41 percent battery remaining in the supposedly dead batteries. That’s not an insignificant margin by any count.

Battery issues aside, I sill love my Magic Mouse. I should qualify that by noting that I use it as the primary means of control for my home theater Mac mini, which means that I use it quite sparingly. I’m still using the same batteries I put in when I got it, which was almost immediately following its release. And my keyboard doesn’t seem to be running down with any unusual speed, either. But again, I almost never use them really, except to set up a movie or TV show or start a playlist in iTunes. I’m still planning on testing out Filip Truta method when the batteries do eventually run down, though. What are your experiences?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Earlier this week, while Apple was distracted with its objections over supermarket chain Woolworths new logo, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was busy awarding the name “Mighty Mouse” to peripheral manufacturer Man & Machine.

According to TechCrunch, Man & Machine was finally granted the trademark on Tuesday, after five years of using the name on a line of optical mice that are waterproof, hygienic and “…specially designed for use in medical, industrial and marine applications.”

TechCrunch reports that while Man & Machine released a statement about the win, they didn’t mention Apple by name, though did say, “Others have used the name Mighty Mouse for their computer mice and have sought registration of that trademark, but now the United States government has spoken.” (By the way, I’ve been all over the Man & Machine web site and cannot find that statement.)

Turns out that, all these years, Apple has licensed the Mighty Mouse name from CBS, the trademark owners of a certain well-known cartoon superhero rodent. That license didn’t extend to computer peripheral hardware, however, and this was a deciding factor in the USPTO awarding the trademark to Man & Machine.

It’s unlikely Apple would — or could — license the name from Man & Machine, since it already uses it on a line of pointing devices. So the most logical next step would be to create a new name.

And the timing couldn’t be better (or worse, depending on your viewpoint). Recent reports and rumors suggest that Apple is busy working on a brand new pointing device which may be constructed from aluminum and do away with the much-maligned scroll-nub in favor of a touch-sensitive interface. An “iMouse Touch,” perhaps?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Rumor has it that Apple will be redesigning the Mighty Mouse. AppleInsider reports that the new Mighty Mouse will incorporate multitouch technology similar to that used in the iPhone and in the touchpads on Apple’s modern laptops. This will allow Apple to do away with the infuriating scroll nub. Recent patent filings by Apple are indicative of a touch-sensitive mouse.

The new Mighty Mouse is also rumored to have undergone a redesign to reflect Apple’s latest aluminum aesthetic. The new Mighty Mouse could arrive with rumored iMac updates, as current supply constraints of both hint at an arrival sometime soon.

I would love to see Apple finally produce a mouse that reflects its high standards of design and usability. I’ve been very happy with the way that Cupertino has incorporated multitouch technology into its laptop touchpads and hope that it applies the same thoughtfulness to mouse design. Frankly, considering the sorry state of the current Mighty Mouse, almost anything would be an improvement.

For those who are curious, I moved to the RocketFish Bluetooth mouse and have been very happy with it.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• How Speech Technologies Will Transform Mobile Use
• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce

I’ve mentioned this quite a few times before, but my place of employment is a Mac shop. Being a Mac shop we have dozens of Mighty “Mice” lying around. At first I did not really like the Mighty Mouse, but after using one for a few days, I came to love it. The only flaw I have found so far is that the scroll ball always stops working after a few months because of dirt build up on the sensors.

Luckily, I have found a few methods to revive your Mighty Mouse scroll ball.

1. Push hard on the ball itself and scroll around
2. Wipe the scroll ball with a Wet One or an alcohol prep pad while scrolling around (Anything quick drying should do the trick – just don’t get it too wet)
3. Combine methods 1 and 2

There is nothing more annoying than having a broken scroll ball. Hopefully this trick helps all you frustrated Mighty Mouse users out there!

Have you found any tricks that have worked well for you?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks