Camera Mouse uses dwell time to click.  That is, if you hold the mouse pointer within a certain spot on the screen for 1 second a click is issued by Camera Mouse.  This makes users of Camera Mouse subject to the "Midas Touch problem" (see the article “What you look at is what you get,” R.J.K. Jacob, Computer, vol. 26, no. 7, pp. 65–66, July 1993), where a key on which the mouse pointer dwells can be clicked by mistake.   The green keys in the Midas Touch 2008 program cannot be clicked and can be used as a resting place for the mouse pointer.

At any time in the main screen the message can be spoken using the built-in voice in Windows (Microsoft Anna in Vista and Microsoft Sam in XP) by clicking on the Speak button.  Whenever a letter is added the entire message automatically is copied into the clipboard so it can be pasted in another application.  The message can be saved as a standard text file in the File menu.

(If you have a difficult time with Midas Touch because of accuracy issues with the mouse pointer you should try the similar program Staggered Speech 2008, which is available for free download at www.staggeredspeech.org.  Staggered Speech is a two-level spelling program with larger buttons and fewer buttons on the screen, but it takes two mouse clicks to type each letter.)

The Midas Touch program is part of the EagleEyes Project of Boston College.  We hope it is useful to you.

Note that depending on the settings in your browser, when you click on the download button you may need to give your browser permission to download the program, for example by clicking on the thin yellow band at the top of the browser.

Please send all comments and suggestions to james.gips@bc.edu.