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]

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]

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]

Multi-touch LCD displays are suddenly all the rage, and it looks like Sony's planning on joining the party soon -- the company is touting a new 3.5-inch multi-touch LCD that uses optical sensing technology today. The 640 x 480 screen is made of what Sony's calling "low-temperature polysilicon thin-film transistor" tech, and it supports recognition of up to five fingers at a time, as well as pen input. Of course, there's no word on when we might see these screens pop up in actual devices, but let's hope Sony's product designers find a better use for them than chicken-scratching holiday greetings like the press photos.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Regardless of how Tablet PCs have actually done in the marketplace, Microsoft has always been a staunch proponent of touch interfaces, and it looks like the next version of Windows, currently under the codename Windows 7, will bundle in multi-touch features like those found in the iPhone and Microsoft's own Surface. The news comes from Microsoft engineer Hilton Locke, who blogged about Dell's multi-touch capable (but not enabled) Latitude XT earlier today, and added, "if you are impressed by the 'touch features' in the iPhone, you'll be blown away by what's coming in Windows 7." Locke went on to imply that it's been challenging selling touch to manufacturers, saying "Now if only we could convince more OEMs that Windows Touch Technology is going to drive their sales." That's a surprise to us -- that Big Ass Table demo pretty much sells itself, don't you think?

[Via News.com]

We've seen projectors used in multi-touch applications before -- most notably in Microsoft's Surface -- but researchers at National Taiwan University have extended the concept by using two projectors at once. The i-m-Top system allows high-resolution overlays to appear over the main display, which can cover a 47-inch by 31-inch surface. NTU says that as soon as it lands a production partner, the $3000 system will be ready for market within six months, with costs expected to fall dramatically after that. Here's hoping -- we just watched Minority Report again the other night and we can't wait to have a Big-Ass Table of our own.

[Via TG Daily]

Sure, you've had the space of a few minutes without Apple rumors, but be honest with us: it felt lonely, didn't it? Well don't worry, because the rumors are back... with a vengeance. According to 9to5mac (who recently nailed news on the iPod nano), Apple is readying a new line of black and silver aluminum laptops, which might be the slimmer MacBook Pros mentioned previously. Details are, of course, totally speculative and entirely unconfirmed, but it sounds like the systems will be considerably thinner and lighter than current models, will have screens that reach further to the edges (which apparently suggests a smaller footprint), have keyboards in the vein of the new Apple Bluetooth models, and are set to be priced "extremely aggressively." In addition, the report says that there is "something strange about the touchpad," which could mean we'll be seeing some sort of multi-touch functionality, or it could mean nothing at all. We'll keep you posted on what the mill has to say.

Apple is up to its old tricks again: filing crazy patent requests for wild devices like the process is going out of style. This time, the boys and girls in Cupertino have really delivered a doozy: a wide touchpad for a portable computer. Okay, honestly, it does seem to be just a very large trackpad with some "multi-touch" capabilities. The pad would take up some of the space where you typically rest your hands when typing, though according to the patent documents, the system would be smart enough to distinguish between desired input and accidental movement. Clearly, this kind of technology puts Apple one step closer to its ultimate goal of really, really huge touchpads.

Update - While this is a continuation of an older Apple patent, this is a new application filing, just in case there was any confusion.

[Via PC Joint]

You can't help but think that the term multi-touch is a shoe-in for Buzzword of the Year, as we've seen it on tables, in a regular old phone, and now we're getting it on a laptop -- at least according to Microsoft's on10 (blogging about the company's Cambridge-based research team). Whatever the case may be, this multi-touch screen looks pretty damn good to us (kind of like Surface on a notebook), and the technology they're using (off-the-shelf laptop, IR sensors) gives us the impression that these might come to market sooner rather than later. Be sure to watch the video after the break.

[Via istartedsomething, thanks Mitchel T]

The plot is starting to thicken ahead of HTC's press conference on the fifth of June -- and as we suggested before, it appears that the company does indeed have its sights set on stealing some of Apple's thunder. As far as consumer electronics releases go, the crown for the month of June had pretty much been handed to the iPhone; yeah, pretty much any Apple release is considered something of a landmark event, but one of the iPhone's big draws is its support for multi-touch. So what if HTC were to announce its own multi-touch device -- based on the lovely Elf -- just days before the iPhone's release? A little deflating for Apple, yeah? Smartphone Thoughts is reporting that HTC plans to introduce said device at its June 5th event with the intention of releasing it quickly on a global scale. Microsoft was showing off its "Shift" touch-based interface not long ago; while we don't know that the rumored HTC device uses it, this could all work out very nicely indeed considering the cozy relationship Microsoft and HTC enjoy.