Eye-Tracking Tech Is Coming to a PC Near You

Digital eye-tracking technology got trendy in recent years as advertisers turned to startups like EyeTrackShop to figure out which parts of an ad consumers actually look at. 

Now a leader in the space called Tobii is bringing its eye tracker, Tobii REX, to the masses in 2013, or at least anyone who owns a Windows 8 computer. 

Mashable's Pete Pachal writes that the REX is little more than "a strip that attaches beneath your monitor" (desktop or laptop) and plugs into a USB port. From there, it works with a software called Tobii Gaze "to track exactly what you're looking at on the screen, letting you do things as mundane as scrolling sideways or as exciting as blasting asteroids—all with a glance."

It sounds rather useful for graphic designers, chefs, or anyone who suffers a physical disability, but owning the REX isn't going to come cheap: Developers must pay a cool $995 to buy it, and only 5,000 Tobii REXs will be available to consumers at an unspecified price point. What's more, you probably can't buy one until this fall. In the meantime, consumers can sign up for a "VIP pre-order invitation," which Pachal says will go out in March.

[via Mashable]