Gift Your MacBook With Touchscreen Controls for Just $ 1 Off Gear
Apple still refuses to release a MacBook with a touchscreen (no, the Touch Bar doesn’t count), but one development team has come up with a clever solution . Using impressive AI software and nearly a dollar hardware, the team was able to bring rudimentary touchscreen controls to an Apple laptop.
The setup works by flipping the built-in MacBook camera down towards the screen. From this viewing angle, special computer vision software can tell when you touch the screen by the distance between your finger and its reflection. It can also display the exact location of your finger.
On the hardware side, all you need to create a touchscreen MacBook is aMacGyver fixture consisting of a small mirror, a piece of paper plate, a door hinge, and a little hot glue. This is how it looks together:
You’ll have to build your own ingenious invention and figure out the Project Sistine software yourself, but it’s a fun weekend project if you’re technologically inclined. Even if you get it to work, the software is also a bit limited at the moment. It basically replaces the mouse with a finger, but does not offer multi-touch controls like on a smartphone. However, this is a great first shot.