Digital Home Thoughts: Make Your Netbook A Bit Touchy

"If the buzz is to be believed, 2010 will be the year of the touchscreen tablet PC, with multiple major manufacturers lining up products that they claim will give us a carry-anywhere way to read e-books, watch movies and surf the Web. And while I suppose I could just buy one of these machines, I thought it’d be more fun to make my own touchscreen PC out of last year’s “it” computer: the lowly netbook."

Netbooks have been 2009's hot product, but one thing they have been lacking are touchscreen capabilities. Touchscreen tablets have been rumored for quite some time with some buried in mystery like the mythical Apple Tablet and others steeped in drama, such as the CrunchPad turned Joo Joo. Fortunately, you do not have to wait for these anymore, since with a low cost upgrade and a few hours of work, you can easily turn your existing netbook into a touch friendly computer. Popular Mechanics shows you how, but one thing I would warn you about before joining the touch revolution is that at least with most current netbooks, they are far from touch optimized. So consider adding touch as a fun weekend project, not as a way to revolutionize the way you'll use your computer, because right now, the way the interfaces are, it definitely will not.