Nothing beats the ease of PowerPoint during presentations, but writing on your slides to highlight important items and bring attention to particular points has always been a challenge. Some people get over the hurdle by projecting over a whiteboard during their presentations. Problem is, it leaves you with a dirty projection surface, often looking like a mess even after you’ve ran an eraser through it.
The Afterglow looks to solve this problem, allowing you to annotate on projected displays using what appears like a standard laser pointer. Instead of just red dots coursing through each item on your PowerPoint slides, however, you can draw arrows, underline points and even add statements you may have missed. Presentations immediately become more interactive and, oftentimes, more engaging.
To allow the unique function, the Afterglow uses a USB camera (connected to the PC) to track the motion of the pointer’s laser dot. All movements are recorded and immediately applied to the display, whether you’re performing drawing motions or controlling the mouse. With the Afterglow, you get a laser pointer, an annotator and a mouse, all with the convenience of a single gadget on your hand.
There’s practically no limitation to the size of projection display you can use Afterglow on, allowing it to work everywhere from conference room meetings to large theater displays, as long as a PC is involved. Since it can run with pretty much any Windows application too, you can use it for less formal functions, such as a remote control for watching projected movies from the PC.
It’s easily one of the coolest and most innovative peripherals you can get for the boardroom. At a $1,980 price tag, though, you’ll probably need to coax your boss into approving one for purchase.
[Afterglow via The Gadgeteer]