There is a common gripe with Windows 8. Though it's really good on touch devices, it's not so good on devices where you use the good old mouse. For example, to close an application on Windows 8, you have to swipe down the screen from the top. While the gesture works fine on a tablet, it feels a bit counter-intuitive on a desktop or a laptop.
"Normally, as a Windows user, you would still look for a close button," says Moorthy DS, managing director of Hi-Tech Solutions. The company has developed a handy little device that can transform your non-touch Windows 8 desktops and laptops into a touch device via a stylus called the e-Touch Pen.
Though you cannot use your fingers as the direct interface on the screen, the stylus is far more intuitive than using the mouse. And when tested with the swipe-based game Fruit Ninja, the device was fluid and very responsive.
The device consists of two parts and works on a combination of ultrasonic and infrared technology. It has a receiver that can be clipped onto a screen and a stylus pen which acts as a transmitter. A small magnetic strip is stuck onto the side of a screen.
The receiver is clipped onto the magnetic strip and connected to the computer via a USB port. The clipped-on receiver is an infrared device which helps in positioning the stylus. The stylus transmitter is a battery-operated, ultrasonic device which has a few brushes at the end which can pick up vibrations when the pen is moved on the screen.
The signals are then transmitted to the receiver which knows where the pen is being placed on the screen. Since the gestures for touch interface are already a part of Windows 8, the device just ports into it and there is no need to install additional software.
"Windows 8 is a touch-based operating system and it's great for a tablet. But for desktops, there is a difference of about Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,000 between touch and non-touch screens," says Moorthy.
He says the device can be used on screens as big as 22-inch and costs about Rs 5,000.
Hi-Tech Solutions was started in 2007, and has a slew of products and accessories like portable document scanners and paper-to-digital devices.
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