NailO_ A thumbnail-mounted wireless trackpad

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing a new wearable device that turns the user's thumbnail into a miniature wireless track pad. They envision that the technology could let users control wireless devices when their hands are full - answering the phone call while cooking, for instance. "It's very unobtrusive. When I put this on, it becomes part of my body. I have the power to take it off, so it still gives you control over it. But it allows this very close connection to your body," said lead author Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, a graduate student at the MIT. The device could enable subtle communication in circumstances that require it, such as sending a quick text to a child while attending an important meeting. According to Kao, the device was inspired by the colourful stickers that some women apply to their nails. The researchers envision that a commercial version of their device would have a detachable membrane on its surface, so that users could coordinate surface patterns with their clothes. And it's easily accessed by the other fingers - even when the user is holding something in his or her hand. For their initial prototype, the researchers built their sensors by printing copper electrodes on sheets of flexible polyester.