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- Nanoleaf has launched a new lighting strip that syncs with your monitor
- It could provide an immersive boost to Mac gamers
- Apple has also patented a Magic Mouse with haptic feedback
Things have been looking up for Mac gamers in recent years, with Apple launching increasingly powerful hardware and AAA games coming to the company’s computers in increasing numbers. Now, there are a few new reasons why Mac gaming could be getting a touch more immersive.
The first is that Nanoleaf has just launched the PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip, which is a lighting strip for Mac and PC desktop monitors that provides rainbow effects for an immersive experience while gaming, listening to music, or watching TV shows and movies.
The strip connects to your computer over USB-C and needs to be paired using Nanoleaf’s desktop app. Once that’s done, its lights can actively match what is happening on your screen, providing a backlighting effect that extends the on-screen colors to your surroundings.
Nanoleaf’s Lightstrip costs $49.99 and can be pre-ordered from the company’s website. It’ll start shipping at the end of March.
Apple patent points to a haptic gaming Magic Mouse
While Nanoleaf’s latest product is available to order now, there’s another idea that could give Mac gamers a boost that’s a little more experimental, and it comes in the form of a freshly uncovered patent (via Patently Apple).
The patent describes how a future Magic Mouse could be embedded with haptic sensors that mimic the effects of on-screen action. For example, it could enable you to feel the texture of moving through sand or sliding on ice, providing a much more immersive gaming experience.
Right now, Apple’s Magic Mouse is poorly suited to gaming due to its slippery top surface, unergonomic shape, and lack of customizable buttons. While the ideas discussed in the patent might help make it more viable for gaming, it will need a more wide-ranging overhaul before it becomes gamers’ pointer of choice. That said, the idea of a mouse embedded with haptic sensors could equally apply to creative and productivity tasks, so there’s a degree of flexibility here.
Being a patent, we don’t know when – or if – this will ever come to fruition. But it’s interesting to imagine how it could benefit Mac gamers and productivity lovers alike.