Ploopy’s new mouse makes the ThinkPad’s iconic TrackPoint portable

Andrew Liszewski is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid.

Ploopy has announced another open source mouse alternative that skips touchpads and trackballs. While the new Ploopy Bean looks like a tiny travel-friendly mouse, you don’t need to move it around. Instead, surrounded by four buttons is a red pointing stick similar to the TrackPoint that IBM included on its ThinkPad laptops long before Lenovo took over the brand.

The Canadian company only shares pricing in its local currency but the Bean is available for preorder now through Ploopy’s websitefor $69.99, or around US $51. Beneath a pre-assembled 3D-printed enclosure that lets you print your own replacement parts is a highly-sensitive Texas Instruments magnetic sensor powering the Bean’s pointing stick capable of detecting movements as small as 3...

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