NailO Works as a (Stylish) Trackpad for Your Finger


NailOTrackpadI remember when the Mycestro came out on Kickstarter a couple years ago. It was a tiny little gadget worn on the index finger, functioning as a wireless mouse. Now, a very similar concept has been born called NailO. Developed at MIT's Media Lab, this device is a little more advanced. NailO turns your thumbnail into a trackpad. It also gives you more freedom than gesture recognition, which requires the use of one or both hands swiping in the air. NailO only requires small little finger swipes on the trackpad, so even when your hands are utterly tied up, you can still manipulate a computer screen.


NailO gives you options. While you’re cooking, go ahead and use NailO to scroll down the web page on your nearby laptop, or, if you like to be sneaky, use it to discreetly and one-handedly send an email or text while you're tied up in a meeting or at lunch. NailO works and connects with any mobile device or PC using Bluetooth. Inside lives a battery, microcontroller, Bluetooth radio chip, and a capacitive sensing chip (Cnet).


NailOTrackpad1As odd as this sounds, NailO designed the little guy by capitalizing on the current wave of nail art. So, whether you're up for an “accent nail” that also functions as a trackpad, or you're just a cool guy or gal with a computer on their finger, NailO is a mix between subtle and genius. Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, one of the MIT graduate students who helped design NailO, even described its unobtrusiveness as “part of her body”. NailO will market as a cosmetic product, as it is already particularly popular in Asian cultures, says Kao. This doesn't mean you can expect to find NailO in the nail polish section at Target, however. Once the product is out of prototype mode and fully developed, we may see an even smaller, more sophisticated final piece.

Topics: Technology News Gadgets & Peripherals Inventions & Innovations

Join the conversation!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.