Maybe you’re not down with Apple’s push for a gesture-based operating system on OS X Lion, preferring to crunch numbers the old-fashioned way with your keyboard. You may change your opinion soon enough when you see how easy it is to temporarily convert a Magic Trackpad into a touchable number pad.
This Is My Next is reporting that Mobee will soon introduce the Magic Numpad, a $29.90 “magic film” that temporarily converts your Magic Trackpad into a numpad + trackpad, extended numpad or a numpad with customizable keys. The kit includes three such “magic films” for the same number of options, as well as the necessary software and a pen to make it all work.
Given that Apple’s standard keyboard slices off the number pad in an effort to keep things small, the Magic Numpad appears to be a nice solution for those who may not have a use for a trackpad and all the gesture-based goodness that comes along with it. The Magic Numpad even includes a calculator mode, which displays on your screen to allow simple calculations without having to type formulas into Excel.
Mobee won’t be shipping the Magic Numpad until October, but in the meantime you can head to their product page and download a PDF datasheet on how to make your Magic Trackpad do all these cool tricks in the first place.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
(Image courtesy of This Is My Next)
macman93
August 31, 2011 at 10:06am
I wanted to do this myself... But I only have magic marker skills... This seems like a much better solution. (regarding the buttons... After my iPad purchase and Flo's typing demonstration... Don't need the feel of the buttons, so much)
floyd923
August 31, 2011 at 7:05am
Is it just me, or does it seem silly that in the PDF brochure, they have a full size apple keyboard along side the numpad. It's the small details! Also, if I was to buy something like this, I would need raised buttons, or else it defeats the purpose of the number pad...at least for me. Think I'll pass on this one.
