There’s a new mouse alternative in town and it’s called… the Ploopy Bean. The company is called Ploopy and it specializes in unique mouse-like gadgets. The Bean is primarily intended for heavy travelers who are trying to get work done in tight spaces, like cramped hotel room desks.
It looks like a traditional travel-friendly mouse, but it operates more like a trackpad. It doesn’t have to move in order to register inputs. There’s a red nub in the middle that controls cursor movement. This is how some laptops, like old-school ThinkPads, used to handle things. However, those red nubs are typically in the center of a keyboard.
The company says that this particular nub is much more sensitive than the ones found on laptops. It features magnetic sensors by Texas Instruments and can detect movements as small as 3 microns. It can also move up to 11mm in all directions.
The nub is surrounded by four buttons, which are all fully customizable via Ploopy’s firmware. This allows for macros or combinations of keyboard clicks with a single press. Many of the components have also been designed in such a way that users with a 3D printer can make their own replacements.
The downside? This isn’t a wireless device and requires a USB-C connection. The Bean also costs around $51. It’s available to order right now, but shipments could take up to 20 weeks to go out.
