Microsoft shows off its 'any surface' touch screen technology

Soon there will be no smartphones, but just projectors worn besides our heads that will work as a display and a touch screen. It sounds a bit ridiculous right now, but folks at Microsoft Research are steadily moving in that direction with their 'any surface' touch screen technology called OmniTouch

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In this video, Microsoft researcher Hrvoje Benko shows a bulky contraption that has a projector and a Kinect motion sensor working in tandem to provide a visual smartphone interface by simply touching on a solid surface like a wall. The moment the gadget is 'instructed' to display the interface, it projects an image which can be controlled by finger taps and gestures just like on a smartphone. Benko also used a notepad to project the image, showing the gadget's capability of adapting to surface size.

It's an impressive piece of technology although it is still years away from public consumption. Microsoft hopes to minimize the size so its easier to carry and implement into other technology.