LG Scanner Mouse

I mentioned recently the new Microsoft Touch Mouse on show here at the CES 2011 in Las Vegas. While it is a very exciting type of peripheral which lets you control your Windows through gestures there is another interesting new mouse on display here which it is well worth having a look at as well.

LG are the company who are trying to change our idea of how we use a mouse, and they are doing it by presenting to the world the Scanner Mouse, or to give if its full title the LG LSM-100. The first name I used kind of gives the game away, and if you like the idea of a mouse which doubles as a scanner then this could be a great little gadget for you. The underside of the mouse is transparent and has 5 LEDs, a mirror and a camera tucked away inside it. To scan something you just need to press the scan button and follow the onscreen display which shows you what the mouse is currently sitting on.

It has dual lasers on the bottom which let you twist and turn it anyway you want to. Of course, as it doubles as a conventional mouse you get a scroll wheel and the usual buttons. One neat trick is that is that whatever you scan can be edited very smoothly once it is on your computer. The software that comes with the Scanner Mouse lets you export files in formats such as PDF, PNG, JPEG and TIFF to social networking sites. Expect it to cost $120 when it goes on sale around May.

Could you see yourself using this scanning mouse to save space where your current scanner sits and also to make scanning a little bit more fun at the same time? Will people prefer a mouse that scans to a mouse that can be controlled by gestures?