LG's Got a Mouse that Doubles As a Scanner

By Jane McEntegart
published

These days scanners aren’t exactly at the top of wish lists when it comes to must have pieces of tech so it makes sense that we don’t see all that many at the Consumer Electronics Show, which is supposed to showcase the most popular gadgets along with new and upcoming innovations.

However, there was at least one cool scanner at CES this year, even if it seemed a little gimmicky. Made by LG and sporting a handful of LEDs and a little mirror on the underside this peripheral does indeed scan and perform as a perfectly adequate mouse. According to USA Today, it’s a 300 dpi scanner and the price for the peripheral has not yet been decided. The mouse itself is just a regular, old wired USB mouse.

Scanning with the mouse seems pretty idiot proof; users initiate scanning by pressing the little ‘scan’ button on the peripheral. It should be available mid-year so there's plenty of time to think about whether or not you want one.

*Image via Engadget

Jane McEntegart
17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • shovenose
    interesting idea!
    Reply
  • harth13
    only if I'm going to scan passports....not an A4
    Reply
  • 11796pcs
    I don't even want to know how much that costs.
    Reply
  • dragonfang18
    How accurate is the scanning? Like what if I wildly swing it around the page?
    Reply
  • kronos_cornelius
    Works as a James Bond toy !

    I've had the same scanner for 10 years, I don't see myself getting a new one... even if it breaks. I can just use my camera.
    Reply
  • slothy89
    +1 kronos

    Cameras are more than adequate scanners for most purposes (ie what this mouse would be used for) and is FAR quicker for anything bigger than a credit card >.<

    I think they just got bored and thought "what can we add to a mouse that no-one else has?"

    interesting concept, but about 5 years too late....
    Reply
  • alyoshka
    Well, looks like a very handy peripheral but suppose I would like to select the scanning area??? Will the mouse work simultaneously or is it going to be like freeze image and then select....
    Could get annoying at times while playing Crysis although....
    But a really cool thing to have on the desk for people who don't have tons of scanning to do, just a once in a blue moon thing it'd be fine.....
    Reply
  • razor512
    Seems cool but it is wired and seems to have a very small scan area. How many things does the average person scan, and on top of that how many of those things will be about the size of a credit card?

    The constraints are too much for it to be useful and knowing these companies and that they cant give a price range means that it will most likely be more expensive than a decent USB $30 scanner that can do a full 8.5x11 page with space left over and at 600 dpi.

    This is simple a case of a company wanting to be so secretive that they fail to consult with the consumers first before completely going out with the products.

    More intelligent companies (eg dell and logitech) since they had a couple of product failures in the past have started to do very early beta testing on some incomplete items to get an idea of if many consumers will even like the product enough to want to spend the asking price for it. (and have canceled a few products because of it)
    Reply
  • wildwell
    Hmmm.....
    Reply
  • bv90andy
    kronos_corneliusWorks as a James Bond toy !I've had the same scanner for 10 years, I don't see myself getting a new one... even if it breaks. I can just use my camera.been there, done that. I've used a camera as a scanner for years up until I had to buy a new printer and got a multi-functional one. (HP, they suck, drivers AND hardware)
    Reply