This new tool turns your MacBook into a touchscreen

Have you ever had that moment when you forget your computer isn’t a touchscreen and by force-of-phone-habit you just start mashing your fingers on the display? Well there’s a new tool we just tried out that turns your computer into a touchscreen and it’s kind of genius.

Here’s the scoop: It’s called an AirBar and it’s a little doohickey that you plug into your USB port and then attach to your computer with magnets. Then, said device emits light over your screen that allows for touch screen navigation. It’s magic.

The doodad itself looks like this:

Kind of sleek right?

Navigating this bad boy takes a teeny bit of getting used to but the plus side here is that the touch sensors work with gloves (which is amazing for those of us who use our computers as cookbooks whilst wearing oven mitts), fingernails, paintbrushes, etc. etc. etc. so no need to go barehanded when using it (also no need to do that weird finger lift up thing when you have on ultra long nails).

For the record, here I am drawing hearts with it:

As for the nitty gritty, the product comes from the company Neonode, works on a 13 inch MacBook (there’s already one for PCs) and will be hitting online stores in April. We’ll be able to buy it through Amazon, BestBuy, Staples and other online outfits.

The price is $99 so this is definitely a bit of a gadget splurge, but it’s kind of the perfect dad-gift. It’s also kind of the perfect us gift too.