Some love touch screen laptops, others can’t stand them. I am still a bit on the fence myself. While reaching up and tapping a link or image is sometimes easier than using a touch pad to move a cursor, I still rarely touch my screen. Which is odd since all our phones and tablets are touch screens. It is nice to have the ability for scrolling through lengthy pages of a website, document or book though. There are a number of Chromebook offerings
Swedish company Neonode Inc. will be showcasing the AirBar at CES in Las Vegas this January. The accessory is a small bar that you place just under your laptops screen and plugs into an open USB port. The AirBar uses invisible light to detect where on the screen you are actually touching. It is capable of recognizing your simple taps, swiping, pinching, zooming and scrolling. The additional perk is since it uses light, it will recognize your touches even if you are wearing gloves, have long nails or want to use a pencil eraser tip.
“Imagine taking a non-touch PC, and within seconds making it a touch interactive device. Our sensor does not require installation of new drivers or lengthy instructions. The user simply connects AirBar and can then start to interact with the display immediately – it´s Plug and Touch. Compared with today’s PCs with built-in touchscreens the AirBar sensor keeps your high quality matte display glare free and without greasy finger prints,“ said Remo Behdasht, SVP Business Development at Neonode.
You can order the AirBar today, but they aren’t officially available for shipping just yet. The first variant of the AirBar is designed for a fairly common 15.6″ screen and comes in the matte black finish seen in the video and images. It will work on all Windows 8 or 10 PC’s as well as Chrome OS devices with a minimal price tag of $49 to pre-order now. Feel free to check it out on more detail at www.air.bar and pre-order one for your device.
