CATSTRAVAGANZA

May 14, 2024 1:05 PM

The Desktop Cat Cursor (not free but really cheap) , from Samperson, turns your computer's pointer into a big cat's paw extending onto the screen. Currently only for Windows 10 and 11 but a Mac version is in the works.

YO DAWG KAT, I HEARD YOU LIKE....

You could pair the Desktop Cat Cursor with this update of the classic desktop toy Neko for extra kitty fun. This rewrite requires ability to compile Go (I got it working pretty easily), but should work on most desktop platforms. It doesn't expose a UI so you'll have to do an end-task to close it. (If you start it from a command line, you could halt it with Ctrl-C.)

posted by JHarris (22 comments total)

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE MAC VERSION!
posted by aubilenon at 1:06 PM on May 14 [3 favorites]

(just kidding, I can wait, and am going to)
posted by aubilenon at 1:07 PM on May 14 [1 favorite]

All I'll say is in the 90s, when I wanted to change my mouse cursor to a picture of Babylon 5, I could do it for free.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:12 PM on May 14 [18 favorites]

Where I was working in the mid-2000s, one woman had all these things on her desktop... extra toolbars, stupid stuff... she also had downloaded one of those free cursor sparkler-trail things, like fairy dust trailing behind your pointer.

Turned out it was a trojan full of malware and the company had their systems raided a couple of times before they figured out what was doing it.

Anyway, this doesn't look like it's that. It's cute!
posted by hippybear at 1:16 PM on May 14 [5 favorites]

For $2 extra it won't bury poop under all your icons.
posted by pipeski at 1:33 PM on May 14 [11 favorites]

Someone needs to combine this with cat games and record the result!
posted by lock robster at 1:34 PM on May 14

Tumblr had a thing on April Fools Day where you could have a cat paw boop people. It was the most awesome thing ever and looked kind of like this. The Mac version can't come fast enough! (Having a paw stick out from the side of the screen would solve all my lost cursor problems.)
posted by rednikki at 1:47 PM on May 14 [1 favorite]

Simply place an actual cat on your desk and have them chase the cursor.

Downside: cat butt on keyboard.
posted by Artw at 1:47 PM on May 14 [2 favorites]

All I'll say is in the 90s, when I wanted to change my mouse cursor to a picture of Babylon 5, I could do it for free.

Some of us used our hard-earned birthday money to buy this cdrom.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:02 PM on May 14 [3 favorites]

And here I was thinking that I'd forgotten all about Bonzi Buddy and its malwaricious ways.
posted by Sphinx at 2:24 PM on May 14 [3 favorites]

I remember Neko fondly! This is also an excuse to fiddle around with Go, which is probably vaguely useful and interesting too :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:01 PM on May 14

For extra realism it will randomly knock icons of your desktop for no particular reason as you move the cursor over them.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 3:09 PM on May 14 [6 favorites]

For $2 extra it won't bury poop under all your icons.

Or barf a hairball all over your desktop wallpaper in the middle of the night.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:13 PM on May 14 [1 favorite]

I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their screens, or why.
posted by chavenet at 3:14 PM on May 14 [8 favorites]

On the plus, will not stare at you in a judgemental way while you work. On the minus, cannot provide therapeutic cuddles between zoom meetings.
posted by thivaia at 5:14 PM on May 14 [1 favorite]

About the opposite is the mouse mouse
posted by jeffburdges at 5:30 PM on May 14 [1 favorite]

Back in win98 days I stumbled upon a sheep version of this.
Using the magic of autorun.inf and a cdrw I weaponised that sheep. Upon insertion Sheep Bomb would launch sheep after sheep with a small delay. At first it looked innocent but the expanding flock would soon grind the poor target to a standstill. That fun cd lived in my portable cd wallet for years.

I was not surprised when subsequent versions of windows changed the default autorun settings.
posted by neonamber at 7:22 PM on May 14 [1 favorite]

can anyone provide instructions (or a link, or search terms ??) on how to install neko on a mac?

the github just says: "Note that some operating systems may restrict the execution of binaries downloaded from the internet for security reasons. Please consult your operating system documentation to learn how to enable Neko to run."
posted by wym at 8:02 PM on May 14

This may be known but....

1. Google "cat"
2. Click on the paw icon (under the pictures of cats in the box on the right)
3. Click anywhere else in the browser window.
4. Enjoy!

posted by MrGuilt at 8:19 PM on May 14 [10 favorites]

wym, I suspect it's similar to Windows.

1. Install Go from https://go.dev/
2. Download the source code from https://github.com/crgimenes/neko/archive/refs/heads/master.zip, unzip it and open the folder in the Terminal
3. Assuming Go got put on the path okay, the command line is go build main.go.
4. An executable should end in that folder. I don't know what form that'll take on a Mac, on Windows it'll be Main.exe.
posted by JHarris at 8:25 PM on May 14

Google "cat"
Click on the paw icon (under the pictures of cats in the box on the right)
Click anywhere else in the browser window.
Enjoy!

works for "dog" too, you get a very catlike dog's paw
posted by chavenet at 12:36 AM on May 15

This may be known but....
Google "cat"
Click on the paw icon (under the pictures of cats in the box on the right)
Click anywhere else in the browser window.
Enjoy!
posted by MrGuilt at 11:19 PM on May 14

This is going to amuse my cat obsessed seven year old for at least ten minutes tonight.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:54 AM on May 15 [2 favorites]