Targus's new Stow-N-Go mice and HeatDefense cooling pad for power laptoping

Targus just launched three new travel mice and an interesting laptop cooling pad here at CES. The three new Stow-N-Go mice (updating the older model pictured here) all feature a tilting scroll wheel and switchable 1600/1200/800 DPI settings, and you've got your choice between (retractable) wired optical and laser models or a $40 wireless laser version, all of which should hit in March. The new $30 HeatDefense cooling pad, available in April, is made of a "crystalline compound" that "melts into a gel-like substance" to absorb heat as your machine heats up. We're not sure if that's a particularly wonderful idea, but we're definitely intrigued enough to go and check it out on the show floor later on today.

[paragraph @ Jan 7th 2008 1:42PM]

Thats just what i want, a slab under my laptop that melts into goo and burns my lap in a very napalm-esq manner. additionally, what if it seems into cooling ports and then hardens again? I can has airflow?

:\

I'll have to see before i buy in to anything, but it sounds like a bad idea ;)

[Daniel @ Jan 8th 2008 1:46AM]

Shouldn't it be possible to transform all the lost thermic energy into electricity and thus, battery power?

@paragraph: I'm pretty sure they put it into some kind of enclosure. Think reverse fistwarmers.

[CraigJ @ Jan 7th 2008 2:04PM]

Pretty sure the goo is inside a sealed pad. This means that once it absorbs a specific amount of heat it becomes useless...

[StrangeBum @ Jan 7th 2008 2:16PM]

I can't help but think of the 'Tim and Eric: Awesome Show Great Job!' episode where Eric is at some sort of bank on the computer and it changes his wife's name to 'Taargus Taargus' when I read about Targus products now.

About the mice, they actually don't look too bad, but I'm not real keen on carrying around mice with my laptop anyway, the trackpad generally works well enough. But if anything, I would use my tablet simply because I can do more with it than a standard mouse.

[Reader @ Jan 7th 2008 2:23PM]

By thermodynamics, I don't see that pad being very useful at all. At best it'll just postpone the leg burning.

[Matt @ Jan 7th 2008 9:48PM]

That would be laptopping. Its not toping.

[Sketchbox @ Jan 16th 2008 12:28PM]

I did not see the cooling pad, as I was hurrying through the show, but after a while, you would just end up with a very warm pad, as well as a warm laptop.
Try again, Targus.