This is an exciting moment for me, because I finally got to read an account of someone who has tried a finger mouse, thanks to MIT Technology Review. The mouse, Mycestro, allows for gestures and thumb actions and is currently available for sale on their site. Rachel Metz, the one doing the testing, has mixed feelings about this wearable. Here’s a sum-up.

Benefits:

• Easy to start – plug the Bluetooth dongle into computer’s USB port
• Exciting motions – move hand many directions and create arcs
• Breathing Room – active up to 30 ft.
• Responsive – rarely experience lag time

Challenges:

• Learning Curve – going to be a bit steep for traditional mousers
• Bulky – worn on the finger with a touchpad near thumb, sometimes uncomfortable
• Heavy – Half an ounce doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up

By the end of the review, Rachel is definitely still a fan of the old school mouse.

Unless somebody yanks my trusty work mouse out from under my hand, the Mycestro won’t fully replace it.

I was trying to imagine some situations where this mouse would be helpful. I feel like on planes, even if you have a micro mouse, there’s not room on the flip down table for maneuvering. So, a finger mouse could be handy when traveling. What about older adults? My thought was that this might be better than a traditional mouse, because you could create motions with little effort.  However, remembering that the buttons for scrolling and clicking are located on the touchpad, this could get tricky, especially if someone has arthritis. I finally thought of the ideal situation based on my initial interest in the product–it’s for those times when you want to feel like a star in Minority Report. There, I said it. Okay, back to business as usual with land of trackpads. Actually, if you are working on a project that needs a pad, check out our Capacitive Trackpad. You’ll be tapping and swiping for light and music controllers or anything else you can think of.

Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!