Mice have come a long way since Xerox PARC invented the ball mouse in 1972. They're Bluetooth or wireless, infrared, and (occasionally) ergonomic. But with their proliferation, they have diversified, and with diversity they have lost some of their iconic status.
Not so with the Apple IIe mouse. Released in 1986, the mouse's angled exterior was the first in Apple's line to direct the fingers downward. This sucker's retro style will catapult you to the forefront of your office's super-geek dream team. Just one problem — if your computer is from this century, chances are there's no place to plug it in.
Enter The Unconventional Hacker, a mod team duo of Andrew Murphy and Paul Hesson. As part of Instructables' 2012 "Fix & Improve It" contest, they tore down an old Apple IIe mouse and converted it into a modern wireless mouse, a new gadget in an old body.
Basically, Murphy and Hesson took the body of an old IIe, cut off the cord, and replaced its innards with the guts from a "donor mouse," in this case a Dynex DX-NPWLMSE. It's a bit more complex than that, involving some dremel shaving and touchy alignment, but their lesson over at Instructables walks you through it step by step. (You can also vote on this or any of your other favorites in the contest.)
It's easy to forget that at one time, the mouse was an industry-changing invention. A classic with a modern interior on your desk won't be just a pretty piece of irony but a reminder of the history behind that ubiquitous tool. But hurry up, before the touchscreen revolution makes it obsolete.
