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Provides: An "alternate hand" device for use with the mouse and tablets for program control
Developer: Logitech
Requirements: OSX.4.4 or greater, PowerPC G5 or greater, 1 GB RAM, 50 MB hard drive space
Retail Price: $79.99

OK, let's get the hard part over. It's pronounced like "new look." Beyond how to pronounce it, probably the next most difficult thing is to describe what it can do, and what it can't. The NuLOOQ Navigator(TM), provides extra control abilities for your computer. If you don't freak out when someone asks if you can pat your head while rubbing your tummy, this should be a good start for you to consider using the NuLOOQ. Imagine, if you will, drawing with a brush tool in Photoshop with your mouse in one hand while controlling the size of the brush with your other hand. Or, scrolling through Safari or Word by pressing a ring toward or away from you (or left and right as need be). Like all new toys, there may be some learning time required, but you might find this is worth the work.

Some may already be trying to achieve more access to their computer by means such as getting a multi-function/button mouse. I've been using a two-button mouse with a (3rd) button scroll wheel for many years. Finally, after a long disappointing wait, Apple released their multi-button mouse, the Mighty Mouse. (Just so you know, most multibutton mice can be plugged directly into a Mac with no extra software. If you want to "train" your mouse to control each button's functions, you will probably need to download that manufacturer's mouse driver.)

Physically, the NuLOOQ is a fairly heavy block of metal and plastic, just under 3 inches in diameter, and is sort of like holding the top half of a tennis ball. The grey middle "belt" is attached with springs and can wiggle back and forth, side to side, as well as rotate a few degrees both clockwise and counter-clockwise. The top has a touch-sensitive ring (like the iPod's front circle) and five "Triggerpoints" (the roman numerals "I," "II" and "III" across the top from left to right, a square icon on the top and a round icon on the bottom). The NuLOOQ plugs into any non-powered USB which means you can plug it into your keyboard.

The NuLOOQ works with (and in) just about any program. In addition, there are special capabilities available when you are working with either Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or Photoshop Elements (more on that later). Either way, that's not to say this will be practical or useful in every other program, but it does have the ability to do something in just about any program. From the Control Panel's Preference Pane, you can set most of the main, common controls. Below, you see the control setup on the NavRing. There are six possible controls with the NavRing: push left, right or away from you, pull toward you, and rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. The standard default operations from these controls are to move (or scroll) to the right, left, up, and down, and zoom in or out. It is the pushing, pulling, and tweaking of the NuLOOQ that require it to be somewhat heavy. Otherwise it would be too easily pushed around.

When in "ToolTuner" mode, you can control what sliding your finger clockwise or counterclockwise around the top ring does. Again, this is like changing volume or selecting items on an iPod. You can customize this for specific operations in programs. For example, in Word, you can set this up to increase or decrease the font size.

One of the frustrating aspects about using the NuLOOQ is watching out for which program you are in. One easy example: many of the default settings for a variety of programs set the ToolTuner to change the volume of your computer. Thus, if you think you are in Word but inadvertently activated the Finder and plan on increasing the font size by swirling you finger clockwise, your friends and family will wonder why you are blasting the volume of your songs.

The TriggerPoints (the I, II and III buttons on top of the NuLOOQ) also control actions within programs. The one big advantage of using these buttons is you can do chords. Thus, if you often bring up a window that requires multiple keys to be pressed, or you can't remember which keys to use, you can set one of these buttons to bring up that window. For example, I often do Command-f to bring up the Find command in Word, and then click on the replace button because I can't seem to remember which key combination brings up the Replace window directly. So, I set the "I" button to play "Command-Shift-h" when pressed and that brings up the replace window directly.

Since most programs nowadays let you assign your own key commands, you can set a key combination to controls that otherwise would have to be selected from the menu—and now you can access them from the NuLOOQ.

But wait, there's more.

Along with the controls just mentioned, there is the NuLOOQ ToolDial. This additional software is mostly relevant to four programs: Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Illustrator, and InDesign. What this does is place a collection of tools, palettes, or menu commands wherever your cursor is located. Well, that with an assist from some initiator.

Using either a user-defined key-combination or by pressing the I, II or III on the top of the NuLOOQ can bring up (using Photoshop as an example) the following ToolDial seen below. When the ToolDial first pops up, the green center will be centered under your cursor. From there, you can click on any of the selected tools. Note the little arrow-like icon next to the ruler and the lasso tool (you'll probably have to trust me that it is an arrow; at best, it looks like a smudge). If you move over to the fuller and drag out, a second ring of icons can appear. So, along with the first ring of eight tools, you can have up to eight set of outside tools or commands for each inner ring tool (as long as the tool is not a "tweak tool"...more on that in a moment).

To create and/or configure these various ToolDials, you can either go into the Preference Pane in the Control Panel and select NuLOOQ ToolDial or open the alias that was created in your Application folder. As seen below, there are defaults for global activities as well as the already mentioned four programs. Any of these sets can be created, saved, and sent to co-workers, friends, and family. You can also download a variety of setups from the Logitech website. As you can see below, in the global mode you can set the ToolDial to select programs, but the full power of the ToolDial comes when it is used in any of the four shown programs.

When you start, there are several ToolDial menus preconfigured. These are locked from the user. However, it's very easy to create your own custom sets. You can create as many of these as you want or need.

To configure a set, you simply drag items from the left hand side into any of the "compartments" of the wheel. If you want an extended set, simply click on the outside region of the inner ring and a new outer ring will show up. To set the key-command for opening that set, you click into the "shortcut" field (upper right) and select if the ToolDial will open with one of the Trigger Points or some key combination. You can have as many different key combinations as you can work out. Now, keep in mind that I'm just showing tools; you can also have menu selections as well as palettes stored in any of your sets.

But I'm not done.

If you look in the image above, you will see that some of the tools presented on the bottom left-hand side are doubled. That is, you'll see an Eraser and an Eraser with a pair of small circles to the left. Same with the Dodge tool. If you drag the one with the circle pairs, you have selected a Tweak Tool. Or rather, a tool that you can tweak after you have selected the tool.

So, let's say you select the Tweak Brush Tool. Note that in the image above, above the Brush Tool are two small circles, one larger than the other. If instead of clicking on the brush tool you slide off of the brush tool, a small window will pop up near the brush. If you wait a moment, you can then set the size of your brush by dragging to the right (to make the brush bigger) or to the left (to make the brush smaller). The first issue with using any tool's Tweak variant is that if you run into the edge of the screen, you can't pick up your mouse and replace it because that leaves the mouse stuck at the edge of the screen. Once you take your finger off of the mouse's button, the re-sizing box goes away. The other issue with selecting a Tweak variation of any given tool is that you can't create an outer ring set from that tool.

But all is not lost.

If you press the Static button (the square button on the top of the tool dial), a re-sizing window will appear (as seen below). Although you can't "see" me doing the following, instead of dragging the cursor left and right, you dial across the top of the NuLOOQ clockwise and counterclockwise to increase or decrease the size of the brush (respectively). This dialing is just like you do with the front of an iPod. As seen below in the upper right, you can set what dynamic aspect of the brush is affected from a pop-up menu in this window. If you chose to drag the slider left and right, a ghost icon of the top of the ToolDial shows up reminding you that you can also use the NuLOOQ directly (both work). The only thing you can't do is type in the specific size of brush you want to work with.

As seen above, if you place your cursor over any part of this window, a small target appears on the upper left corner. This is where you can close this window, but you don't have to. It's small and easy to move around as needed. Also, as you change your tool, the size changing features change to accommodate whatever tool you are using. So, for example, if you select the Magic Wand tool, you can dial the tolerance level on the ToolDial. In other words, once this window is up on your screen, it's just as well to leave it there as it seldom gets in the way.

In addition to the Static Controls, there are also Dynamic Controls. If you press the circle button (on the bottom of the ToolDial), you can control things like the pressure on a brush. Here is where you can get your mouse to act a bit like a Wacom Tablet. As you dial away with one hand, your brush in the other hand will increase or decrease its size accordingly. This does not make up for not owning a Wacom Tablet, but, in a pinch, you can achieve a varied-width stroke.

Okay, that's how it functions, here's how the thing works in use. For one thing, if you are a strong Photoshop user, you are already pressing the appropriate keys on your keyboard to bring up tools: b=brush, v=move, s=rubber stamp, etc. This approach is much quicker than constantly going back to your Toolbar, and it does become second nature. In addition, if you have a large screen and do not want to scoot back and forth to get your tools, the letter control mentioned above or using the ToolDial can be a lifesaver. Either way, there is always the occasional tool who's letter activation you can't remember, and the convenience of having them appear under your cursor is never bad.

The access to brush and tool re-sizing is wonderful. However, depending on the kind of machine you have, there is a bit of a lag time before it's available. Notice the swirling time-keeper in the left hand screenshot in the second set of images above. On my G5 dual 2.5 machine, the wait is about a second. On my G4 dual 1.25, it is about a second and a half.

The wait when using the ToolDial to set the brush size and be able to use the brush is a bit longer. To give you an idea of the time lag, I can re-size the brush via the ToolDial, click with the brush and then click again to start to use the brush. That's on the G5 or the G4. Either that, or do a count of three (set brush size, count to three, brush). So, the question is, do you use the ToolDial to set brush size with its inherent wait, or do you tap like crazy on the bracket keys ("[" "]") to change brush size.

Lastly, although you can set the sensitivity, there is a bit of time required to learn how to navigate the scrolling and zooming without working against each other. Remember from the first part of this review, you twist left and right to zoom in and out and move the ring away and toward you, left and right to scroll where you want to be. It's actually a bit tricky to not push, pull or shift when you are twisting. I suppose one of the advantages of this is to get around one of the limitations. If I select the zoom tool (z), I can marquee across a specific part of an image and be zoomed in exactly where I want to be. If I were very talented with the NuLOOQ, I could zoom in and set the location to the specific region in which I was interested. The problem is that it is too easy to tap the z key, marquee, and continue working. On the other hand, once I've zoomed in via the z key, I can then take the NuLOOQ to fine tune my zoom and location very easily. But then again, I can always take my non-mouse hand, press the Space key (to get the hand), and move my image with the mouse to fine tune my location.

On a side note, I thought that the unit I had was defective; every time I press the "II" TriggerPoint (the one in the middle), I got three messages popping up saying that I've activated three buttons at one time. So, I checked with the Logitech website and found very quickly that the center button requires very little pressure to activate, all it requires is more of just a touch. So, I reset one of the ToolDial configurations to start from TriggerPoint II and, sure enough, a simple touch, not a press, was all that was required.

Note that in my review I tested the NuLOOQ with both a G5 (recommended), and a G4 (not mentioned). I can't say I found that much of a difference. Slow actions were a tad slower on the G4, but I found any wait to be more of an issue than a slightly longer wait.

Overall, I like the NuLOOQ. At $79.99, it's priced about right. I mostly like how I can set a variety of a tool's parameters with the simple sweep of my finger on the ToolDial. I like how I can scroll vertically and horizontally (or both at the same time), and I like how I can create custom tool sets for ready access. While first using the NuLOOQ, I did feel like I wasn't saving all that much time. However, the more I used the NuLOOQ, the more I found it became part of my functioning. I guess if there is a problem, do you select a tool by clicking it in the Tool Palette, by pressing the appropriate key on the keyboard, or using the ToolDial. As long as you have to think about the answer, you will be frustrated. The more you work with the NuLOOQ as opposed to selecting the appropriate mechanism to select the tool, the less frustrated you will be. The NuLOOQ Navigator gives you more options to get to the same place. Some of these options will increase your productivity, and some may not. Experience will provide the mechanims to know which one to grab, and when. If you chose to get one of these (or get one this holiday season), give the NuLOOQ a week or two of constant use before you give it a thumbs up or down. My guess is that you will find your thumb slowly bending up with time.

___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.