Mimoto smart pen turns your computer into a touchscreen

We’ve seen plenty of everyday household objects pick up extraordinary new super powers thanks to technological breakthroughs in recent years, from clothing to spectacles andGoogle Glass, but the humble pen has remained largely analogue. Mimoto Tech hopes to change this with the introduction of the Mimoto Smart Pen – a gadget capable of turning regular computer monitors and laptop displays into giant touchscreens! Fancy one of these?

Meet the Mimoto Smart Pen, a brand new tech-infused pen that’s capable of plenty more tricks than just being used to fill out your crossword. Although it can be used as a regular pen, its most impressive feature has to be the ability to turn regular computers into touchscreen tech.

You can use the Mimoto Pen as a stylus, even on devices without integrated touchscreens; simply whip out the ink refill, whack in the soft-tipped refill, clip the Mimoto sensor onto the side of your monitor and you’re good to go! The sensor tracks exactly what you’re doing, letting you move the cursor and scroll around the screen exactly as you would using a regular stylus. It’s a great way of turning your Mac into a giant touchscreen computer, and it also looks pretty cool for playing the latest crop of touchscreen games like Fruit Ninja.

Check out the Livescribe Smart Pen

The Mimoto Pen can also track your regular handwriting in real time, converting it into digital words as you go. There’s another sensor that sits alongside your notepad, monitoring your movements and it transforms your analogue scribbles into digital text and images, so you can write on paper as you normally would and everything gets backed up instantly.

The latter is the sort of feature we’ve seen before on devices like the Livescribe smart pen, which can send details of everything you’ve written straight to your smartphone. This time, however, it’s just one of multiple features, and you won’t need special notepaper to write on either.

Take a look at the Mimoto Smart Pen in action:

Want to get your hands on one? The gadget is currently over on Kickstarter, where Mimoto Tech is attempting to raise $20,000 (£11,849) to ramp up production. If successful, you’ll be able to grab a smart pen by pledging $119 (£70) – quite a saving over the expected $179 (£106) retail price. Deliveries are expected to start in November 2014, meaning you won’t have too long to wait to add touchscreen powers to your computers!