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You may remember the slightly odd Thanko Hot Cooler USB Keyboard which warmed/cooled your hands whilst you typed, which could be in some circumstances quite good.  Well, undeterred they have moved to mouses (yes, that is the plural of a computer mouse) and mouse mats with the “USB Warm mouse” and “USB Warm Mousemat.”  Unfortunately, it would appear that they still haven’t sacked the guy who names these things, as they are as unimaginative as ever.

However the awful naming does make my life a little easier: it is fairly obvious what they do.  The mouse version is a basic optical mouse that connects to your PC through USB and comes in a range of colors such as black, black, black or black (seriously, I’ve seen paving slabs more imaginative than this company).  The only clever thing about this mouse is the heater inside it, operated by a little switch about 10cm up the wire which can reach temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius.

The USB Mousemat is similarly basic and unimaginative, although at least this has a USB hub integrated to the mat which creates four more USB ports, making up for the two that it takes up. This again can get up to 45 degrees Celsius, which is pretty much guaranteed to keep your hand warm what ever the weather (unless of course you are outside, at night, in a snowstorm).

Personally, I think that they are quite cool, and that even if you aren’t cold it would be quite nice to have your hand gently warmed whilst you work/play away.  I also think that the mouse is a lot more effective than the mousemat, which when coupled with the fact that many people do not use mousemats reiterates the point.  However it is more expensive, at around $30 for the mouse, and $20 dollars for the mouse bearing in mind that these are direct exchanges, not including shipping.

Is it worth it?  Given the low price and general appearance the optical mouse is probably pretty poor quality but given that you can’t get your hands on it yet it is just a guess.  I think that for pure novelty value these are great, and if you get particularly cold hand then they would also be quite practical, but apart from that probably not.

Source [Gearlog]