What could make a game of Missile Command more exciting? If you said playing it on a gigantic multi-touch screen, you're probably right. Luckily for you, someone has gone to all the trouble so you won't have to. A gentleman named Steve Mason has created a large-scale version of the game that can be played by hand using multiple contact points. The result? Extreme awesomeness. Don't believe us? See the video after the break, then just try and tell us you don't want to get in on that action.

[Thanks, Penny]

DIY multitouch surfaces may be relatively new to the do-it-yourself library, but we have a feeling they won't be fading anytime soon. Engineering and design firm Eyebeam has spent the weekend demonstrating a kit (Cubit) that enables folks to build their own multitouch tables, and all individuals will need to provide in order to enjoy their very own is an "inexpensive" video camera and projector, among other small pieces of hardware. Unfortunately, details beyond that are pretty scant, but we'd count on hearing a lot more in the coming days now that it has stolen the limelight at Maker Faire.

[Thanks, Duke]

Want your own multitouch control surface? Have a webcam, cardboard box, and photo frame? The folks at Hacknmod MacGyvered their own with just those materials. By simply pairing a fixed camera and controlled light surface, they were able to mimic what others have paid hundreds for, albeit in a decidedly less attractive package. Peep the somewhat uncomfortably porn-like vid after the break. Oh, and seriously, Hacknmod guys, what's with the sexy techno and slow-mo insertion of the USB cable?

[Thanks Dan S]

Hold on to your touch panels, folks, as Wacom has just made known its plans to reveal "a major innovation in capacitive touchscreen technology" at next month's International Society for Information Display Exhibition. The tech, dubbed Reversing Ramped Field Capacitive (RRFC) touch, relies on "reversing ramped electro-static fields" to bring unprecedented precision and "drift-free performance" to touchscreen users. Reportedly, it can be integrated into dual-input applications with the firm's EMR pen-input solution or can operate on its lonesome on devices that require just a finger touch interface. Of course, there's way more pizazz to the whole thing than we can cover in this space, but feel free to don your nerd suit and hit the read link if you're thirsty for more.

It's likely that the Kindle's popularity is going to spawn a whole slew of e-books vying for the eyes of readers. A concept from a student named Nedzad Mujcinovic at Monash University could very well stoke the fires of competition if his Livre ever makes it to store shelves. The system uses an e-ink screen overlaid with a touch surface, thus forgoing the multitudinous buttons of the Kindle for an ultra-simple, gesture-based input scheme. Pages can be turned by sliding your finger from corner to corner, though double- and triple-finger gestures will advance the book by ten and 50 pages, respectively. Most notable for real book fans is the inclusion of a leather stitched cover, meant to evoke the look and feel of the device's analog counterpart. Amazon's designers would be wise to, uh... take a page from Nedzad's book for the Kindle 2.

[Thanks, Nick B.]

Come one, come all, and let us once again look into the hazy crystal ball that is the United States Patent and Trademark Office database. What's this, here? A newly published patent filing hinting that Apple is working on Surface-like interfaces? Close your eyes and let your wildest fanboy fantasies unfold -- yeah, it's yet another incredibly dry Apple patent filing, we're just trying to spice things up a bit. The latest details a larger touch system than we've previously seen from Cupertino, designed to be used by two hands at once and supporting different actions depending on the location of your palms. Since the details are mostly to do with the actual touch interactions and not direct applications, this is basically a nerd Rorscharch test -- we see, oh, a touchscreen iMac, maybe, or possibly a large, lap-based tablet. Or is that a giant Cintiq-like display? Too bad, your time's up -- Ms. Cleo doesn't do free.

Although the MacBook Air's multitouch trackpad is pretty nifty, it looks like Apple has even grander plans in store -- a recent patent filing describes the MBA's current features as "Basic Multitouch" and contains descriptions of "Advanced" touch operations like system control, file management and browser navigation. While the filing details using a combination of the thumb and two fingers to cut, copy and paste -- something that seems awfully relevant to that little iPhone thing Apple sells -- what we're most intrigued by is the description of the "side pinky swipe" to control system functions like volume and screen brightness. Since the side of the pinky produces a different shape than your fingertip on the touch sensor, the system can automatically recognize it, making it ideal for quick adjustments -- we're already dreaming up lists of macros to trigger. Of course, there's no telling if and when we'll ever see this stuff in a product, but it's probably not a coincidence the iPhone, iPod touch, and MacBook Air all use the same Broadcom touch controller -- let's hope those long-awaited new MacBook Pros join the club, eh?

[Via AppleInsider, thanks Kiwi616]

Despite the clear advantage of a physical keyboard in a business handheld, Apple's iPhone is obviously making just about everyone in smartphone land a tad uncomfortable -- even if they won't admit it -- which means we could be seeing some new BlackBerry form factors from RIM in the coming months to keep consumers interested. Of course, there's no telling if those new form factors will have a tilt-and-slide mechanism, or multitouch, but these here patents are certainly a start. The tilting mechanism aims at giving users the best of both worlds: a true keyboard and a big display, but the multitouch mechanism is interesting as well, and uses a different tech than the capacitive touch in the iPhone. Only time -- and hopefully Mobile World Congress next week -- will tell if these patents are going to be put to good use (hopefully as a team) in your next BlackBerry, but we're certainly intrigued.

Teclast has always turned out some decent-if-unspectacular PMPs, and its latest, the T50, is basically more of the same -- but adds in a capacitive multitouch display. Apart from that, details are rather sketchy -- and the product shots pretty renderiffic -- so there's not much else to judge, but the promised RVVB, FLV, and dual independent audio processors will make this one to check out if it ever hits our shores.

[Via thegadgetsite]

If you've absolutely, positively got to have a multi-touch display system right this second, look no further than the Germany company Lumin and its creatively named MultiTouch. For an undisclosed price (available on request) you and your loved ones can be pawing all over the 42-inch, 1024 x 768 display, which is powered by a Mac Mini and can be coupled with Apple's wireless keyboard and mouse. The screen -- which is quite similar to the LG.Philips display we got our mitts on at CES -- is driven by Lumin's proprietary software, and allows you to do all Surface-esque manner of tricks, like zooming, rotating, and panning with various finger / hand combinations. The company also appears to be offering rear-projection, front-projection, and "shaped" screens, though none of those seem to be sporting touch capabilities. Check out the super-cool video after the break and see what's happening over there.

[Thanks, Mike]

That's right, it's like you're looking into some crazy crystal ball, one which is showing you how all your future interactions with your Mac will be carried out... probably. Feast your eyes on this glimpse into the soon-to-arrive apocalyptic nightmare-world of gestures.

There's a lot of noise about MacBooks with multitouch trackpads coming out at Macworld, but we're wondering why there's no similar frenzy over Taiwanese ODM Elantech, which is tucked away in the International Pavilion at CES demoing a multitouch trackpad technology called "Multi-fingers Smartpad." The prototype is actually in an older Asus laptop, but it's got all the pinching and spinning action you'd expect -- check it out after the break!

We just got back from the super sneaky secret LG.Philips room at CES where the totally Surface-esque 52-inch multitouch display was being shown off. The 1920 x 1080 screen rocks an interesting infrared image sensor to get data about hand placement and movement, and is capable of doing all kinds of gesture and area recognition from two separate touch points. Check the gallery to get a better view, and watch the video if you're excited about the prospect of a flipping, zooming Google Earth on a screen with multitouch.