Two boffins have worked out a way of using a touch screen while wearing gloves.

Larry Lairson and Chris Harrison were worried about how they could use their iPhone in the winter when their hands were too cold and needed gloves. DOTS Gloves are designed so users of touchscreen devices can make calls or scroll through e-mails without risking frostbitten fingers.

The gloves, ranging from $15 to $25, feature little conductive dots on three fingertips, enabling wearers to tap away without being barehanded. There have been gloves designed for use with touchscreens before but these were too thick. DOTS Gloves look identical to regular lightweight gloves.

The gloves are made out of a conductive yarn for the dots instead of metal and they are available in new knit models. Apple fan boys apparently are not that impressed. DOTS gloves are not as effective as fingers, they moan. However this is more to do with the fact that the DOTS gloves are not an officially approved Apple accessory. If Steve Jobs thought of it they would say the glove was even more effective than fingers.

Michael Jackson was unavailable for comment.