Mobee handed me one of my favorite Mac accessories to date with their Magic Charger, and now they’ve really induced a “why didn’t I think of that” moment with their new product, the Magic Numpad.
The Magic Numpad is basically three transparent sheets that you lay on top of your Magic Trackpad. The sheets have different Numpad key configurations printed on them and allow touch pass through.
Once installed, a clever piece of software is used to configure your new pad by selecting which configuration you are loading. There are even a few customizable buttons which you can edit via magic marker to be pretty much anything you want.
Mobee states that the Magic Numpad ships with “Free Software” via a bundled serial card in the package. This is a little confusing, since if the software was free free, you wouldn’t need a serial, or could get it on their website free. This is likely a misstatement, as I doubt they will be releasing the software and allowing people to print their own configuration sheets, thus bypassing their entire profit model.
I can only imagine that BetterTouchTool is working on area mapping for future releases so that you can do this on your own. I am curious if an overhead transparency film would allow your touch to pass through, and may have to experiment a bit.
Another cool feature announced is the onscreen calculator mode which will allow you to quickly summon a calculator and do calculations without leaving your current apps (see dashboard). This is the one feature that has me hovering over the check out button.
The Magic Numpad will set you back $29.90 and includes the three configuration films as well as the software. You can preorder yours immediately via Mobee’s website but they point out that the orders will not begin shipping until October.
Preorder: Mobee
Via: Mac Stories
