The Touch Pad Pencil by Suck UK
I think it’s safe to say that winter is upon us once again, and for us geeks that can make using some of our favorite gadgets a bit tricky. I’m talking of course about trying to operate the touchscreen of your iPhone/iPad/Android etc. outside in the cold. At the beginning of the touchscreen revolution you had two choices — have cold fingers or put it away until later – but now there are many more options to help us keep twittering whilst waiting for a train on a freezing platform.
Several companies are now making gloves with special conductive fingertips — my favorites are Dots Gloves, and more recently North Face have joined in with their eTip range. Grathio has a great Instructable on how to make your favorite pair of old gloves work by sewing conductive thread onto the fingertips. And then there’s a whole bunch of companies making styluses that will do the job just as well as your finger, but leaving your hands snug and warm inside your gloves.
I’ve always thought of a stylus as an evolutionary regression for the iPhone, harking back to dim and distant days of Palm Pilots or even the Newton, but this one from SUCK UK might have just changed my mind. Styled like a chunky, worn down, retro school pencil complete with an eraser (but no chewing marks), the Touch Pad Pencil is made from a special electro-conductive rubber to work perfectly with the capacitive screen on your touchscreen gadget, and for only £7.50 it would make a perfect stocking filler. Hint, Hint…
The only downside I can see is that if the little one spots me ‘drawing’ on my iPhone, she might pick up any old pen and do the same!
(found via imjustcreative.com)