Turn Your Favorite Mitts Into Gadget-Compatible Manipulators

Four steps to texting without freezing.

By Taylor Kubota Posted 11.29.2012 at 9:58 am 8 Comments

Magic Touch Greg Maxson

Winter gloves and gadgets don’t mix. Most touchscreens use capacitive sensing to complete a weak electrical circuit through skin and locate our tapping. And while wool, cotton, and leather gloves insulate hands from the cold, they block the body’s ability to shuttle electrons. Strategic stitching with conductive thread, however, can prevent essential electronics from becoming unresponsive bricks the moment you bundle up.

1. Order silver-plated nylon thread (silver conducts electricity). This can be difficult to find in stores, but major online retailers carry it.

2. Pick a pair of gloves to modify. Although leather works, it’s harder to push a needle through.

3. Stitch the figure of a star or other solid shape onto the glove’s index finger with the thread, making sure it will contact both the touchscreen and your skin.

4. Bundle up and tap away.

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8 Comments

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ThomasPerraudin

11/29/12 at 11:40 am

Nice idea !

http://space.perraudin.fr

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ijay79

11/29/12 at 12:26 pm

Wont it scratch the screen?

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Robot

11/29/12 at 12:55 pm

jjay79,
Only if that screen has an itch, lol.

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Kyosuke Aoki

11/29/12 at 4:13 pm

Or cellphone companies can use Nokia's PureMotion touchscreen and have it work with gloves without modification. :S

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Greenmatrix

11/29/12 at 4:25 pm

Indeed Aoki. This is pathetic. Just buy the New Nokia 920. The best smartphone on the market (Yes i own one!, best money ever spend). It even has wireless charging. You can use glooves, pens, keys etc to operate the screen. You can even use your fingers.

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DickySimms

11/29/12 at 5:33 pm

Ya, don't spend ten bucks on thread, spend $550 on a new phone. Logical.

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TheoDusko

11/30/12 at 1:01 am

Thanks for the Christmas gift tip PopSci! I've known about this forever but I live in a city where winter lasts about two weeks and never dips below zero, so it's just sat in my head as useless knowledge. Everyone back home in the frozen north is definitely getting a sewing needle and some of this thread as part of their gifts this year now though! I've ordered my thread online already.

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udgriff

12/17/12 at 7:27 pm

I work at a hardware store in Wayne PA. I want to do that to a pair of gloves. were do I get the thread.