Sony designs a ringing rodent

No longer will talking to your mouse bring you strange looks from workmates and sniggers as you walk past. 

Sony has either come up with the ultimate in dual-use technology, or added to the burgeoning list of pointless products.

It has designed the VN-CX1, a mouse that flips up and turns into a clamshell phone for making and receiving VoIP calls through a PC.

Those thoughtful people at Sony have even added in speakers so that it works hands-free for conference calls.

If someone calls when it's being used as a mouse, it flashes or, if you prefer, rings (a novel concept). But, we have to ask, does this give men who can’t multitask an excuse not to hold a phone conversation and work on their computers at the same time?

'With the explosion in Internet telephony... Sony has solved the rather new problem of what to talk into,' said Colin Woodward, group product manager for IT products at Sony UK.

Funny. We always thought that problem had been solved by the humble phone.

It costs £55, we'll get one in for review and let you know how it performs.