Similar to Microsoft Surface and designed to be used in retail locations and educational situations, 3M's giant touch screen display was a big hit at CES Unveiled on Sunday night. The demonstration showed multiple sections of the screen running at the same time — apps, videos, Twitter, and more. Check out the quick video of it in action on our Facebook page!
I often joke about Apple's touch-screen gestures on the iPhone and iPad . . . it seems like each new function comes with a new gesture; one finger, two fingers, even three-finger tapping produces a specific result. How many more hand gestures can there be, anyhow?
Turns out, there are plenty more, and now Apple has patented 12 new gestures for use on its multitouch devices. Two notable inclusions: gestures that control the tempo of music playing on an iPod (presumably for use while working out), and a patent that includes a larger virtual keyboard or larger surface computers.
Folks in Helsinki have put up a large multi-touch display in downtown that acts as a collaborative and playful interface for the community and city's planning. Called "CityWall," the display is periodically organized into themes or events that are taking place in the city such as festivals, carnivals or sports events. Much like the much-talked about Microsoft Surface table, the CityWall was designed to support the navigation of media, specifically annotated photos and videos which are continuously gathered in realtime from public sources such as Flickr and YouTube. I think multi-touch screens offer some exciting possibilities for the workplace and public centers, but I'm not sure if ordinary citizens would use them or not.
While hanging out in Hollywood for the TCA press tour my gal BuzzSugar got a chance to get up close and personal with Microsoft's newly-announced 'Surface' table, which is a multi-touch table that aims to change the way we interact with digital content. Buzz reports that the device is going to be on display in Starwood Hotels, T-Mobile stores and some other places soon, but it's still several years from home use. Oh course, it has a hefty price tag of $10,000, so you better start saving up. 
The table looks like a regular coffee table at first glance, but it has cameras and touch sensitivity (iPhone style, but bigger) and you can do everything from organize photos to watch videos to drag and drop music into your Zune (of course it’s the Zune ...Thanks, Microsoft).
For additional photos and some of the coolest applications Buzz witnessed, read more
I should have guessed that the unveiling of Microsoft's interactive Surface table would launch a techie showdown of all the touch-screens out there. Particularly considering the iPhone, which comes out June 29, is also a touch screen and has been the talk of geek town since before it was even announced. According to Technabob, HP wowed crowds with their multi-touch display wall at the recent Wall Street Journal D5 Conference. The screen is 16 by 8-feet and allows multiple visitors to simultaneously control audio, video, photos and other multimedia content using their hands to navigate. Just for reference, the Microsoft Surface table has a 30 inch table top. Not that it's a fair competition.
To check out the video of the giant screen, read more
One of the amazing new features of the iPhone is it's revolutionary multi-touch display that lets you control everything by without buttons. You can glide through albums with Cover Flow, flip through photos and email them with a touch, or zoom in and out on a section of a web page. Check out this video of Jeff Han as he demonstrates how touch driven computer screens will change the way we work and play. By the way, the background tunes are pretty cool so turn up that volume!
Check out Jeff Han Multi-Touch Interaction Research for more info and videos.
