How to do you perceive your home in 2013? Do you want all the devices in your home to run with your voice common and simply want to navigate through using your hands? Then you can surely dream about it because human touch and natural user interface is something that companies are seeing their future in. Some laptops and handheld devices already use biometric finger scans to access stored data and can easily recognize the human touch as input device. Well, these things might come into other device within your home too making your life much easier than ever before.

The real growth of these touchscreens will come when companies adapt it into home use devices where the touch screen technology can be used to navigate data, applications and functions. Touch screen is rapidly being developed by various companies and it won’t be much when you can find almost any devices coming with a built in touch screen facilities and input devices like keyboard and mouse might take a back seat.

Even today Apple’s iphone and Microsoft’s’ Surface technology have gained enough of credibility among the users because of their innovative touch screen functions and seamless integration with older version of devices. With more and more competition for these products in market one can be sure that many more companies will join the foray to create more amazing products with built in touch screen facilities to stay ahead in consumers demand and satisfaction.

Touch screen technology is divided into two distinct features; single touch and multi touch. In a single touch system users can only interact with one single area of the screen at one time which is found in smart phone like Palm Treo. Single touch technology is not expected to be around in the digital home in 2013 and the other version of touch screen, multi touch can enable you to handle different parts of the screen simultaneously with your own finger.

The multi touch gives much more flexibility in development and helps users interact with multiple point of the device at same time. Multi touch is expected to break into digital homes by 2013.

Microsoft’s surface products are expected to come into market by 2010 which will not only bring in huge demands for their products but will also motivate many more companies to pitch in their devices lapsed with touch screen and interactive handling features capable to recognize human touch and primary input device. Though Microsoft speculates its commercial viability but Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates have speculated to roll it out with their next version of operating system called Widows 7.

The “Multiplayer Roulette system developed by Sweden’s TouchTable with built-in 56-inch touch LCD and a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 can accommodate up to seven players and can even recognize each person’s bet separately. Developed with intensive research and company’s proprietary technology this touch- screen roulette table is already making waves in various casinos and roulette clubs.

Different digital products for enhancing the fast play in casinos have been developed in recent years to speed up the games and decrease the chances of any cheating and discrepancies in the casinos games. Besides being fast aced and sleek in its outlook this touch screen tables are going to increase the efficiency of the game handling more numbers of players simultaneously on single table which will significantly increase the business of casinos.

Already touted as digital avatar of casinos this roulette Touch screen tables may not see the real world as soon because many veteran players are going to oppose it because of its fast paced games which won’t allow them using their cheats and hacks which they have learned after years of experience.

The Digital Touch screen roulette tables can change the way a game is played in casino which might simply eliminate the use of chips and money on the tables. Decreasing the time of a game cycle it will also reduce the chances of any dealer cheating in the game. Bets can be placed effortlessly with repeated bets making in their way back to the game. Besides that built in features like Help functions and other tools can help a newbie player’s use and play the game more easily.

The biggest problem, these touch screen roulette tables are going to face is from the traditional players who prefer to play using chips and money in hand. They would certainly not be interested to lose their grip on games and allow the casinos to take over their experience with any digital devices. Besides that there will also be chances of casinos molding the software in the game to their own favor which can seriously change the games at crucial point of time.

Microsoft is betting highly on this natural user interfaces. This is something Microsoft and Bill Gates will invest in future years after his retirement besides working for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates had a well planned departure from the most exciting post ever in this industry. He gave up his post as CEO to Stave Ballmer in 2000 and three years ago decided to step back from the post of Chairman too.

Gates is not planning for an overall departure from MSFT but will focus only on few aspects of companies business which involves natural user interfaces and related activities. The 30-inch large Surface tabletop computer used in Gates office is now probably going to shift in Ballmer’s office which shows where the computers are going. This high – tech interactive touch screen tables are generally used to display maps and order food are used only in AT&T phone stores and Harrah’s Rio hotel in Las Vegas

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has expected surface computing as multi billion dollar business as they have invested heavily in its Research and development process to bring in high quality and effective devices that will recognize any human touch and respond accordingly. With aggressive competition from companies like Apple and Google, Microsoft has geared its belt tight against the innovative products from this company in the post Gates era which was completely over showed by the companies like Apple and Google.

To break into the market of internet enabled devices and gadgets, Microsoft have decided to achieve its past success by bringing in more innovative products and designer apps which can give Apple and Google a run for their money.

Though Microsoft has seen the future of Keyboard and mouse as alternate input device for the computer system but they have expressed their interest in human voice and hand touch as major input methods in future generation computers which can seamlessly be integrated with many other devices like mobile phones, X-box, PDAs and many other hand-held devices.

Microsoft’s surface technology might be a distant dream for the consumers as of yet but the latest innovation from the guy called Seth Sandler an undergraduate at UC san Diego has at least brought the touch screen computer into his dorm. Using a cardboard with a webcam, portable multi-touchpad, a piece of glass paper and Philips SPC900NC he has built a touch screen that can handle his computer with the command from his fingers. The camera recognizes the shadow of the fingers as they are placed in the pad’s surface. Tracking software then transfers the motions to the computer screen for further processing.

Inspired somewhat from the Microsoft’s Surface Technology which was announced last year this cardboard touch screen box can recognize the finger touch with the help of webcam fixed in it. Though it might not be as useful as the original variants which will cost you some good amount dollars but it shows how an innovative mind with knowledge of technology can bring things from nowhere. Check Out the Video Below:

It was all excitement let loose when the recently retired Microsoft CEO, Bill Gates showcased the TouchWall for the first time in the recently concluded Microsoft CEO Summit. The TouchWall technology from Microsoft has surprisingly come at a time when the world is applauding the much-awaited yet astounding debut of Microsoft Surface.

If one remembers correctly, it was not so long ago when the then Microsoft chief had announced the launching of the Surface technology to the much amazement of the technology freaks around the world. The tabletop Surface computer was first of its kind of technology, which took user interactivity to new heights with the appropriate convergence of the virtual world with real life experiences.

There has been quite a debate over the tactile interfaces, used in Surface tabletop computers. While there was an earlier announcement about the upcoming Windows 7 to feature all the interfaces; Apple Inc. can very well be lauded for have created the most thriving tactile computer till date , i.e. the iPhone. iPhones are one of the very first successful interpretation and integration of touch technology or Multitouch which allows file browsing, web surfing, zooming, and rotating pictures, with just the movement of your fingers.

In Bill Gates words, TouchWall is “intelligent whiteboard”. This device operates almost similarly to the iPhone – pinch to zooming and swoosh fingers for movement. To the amusement of all the delegates at the Summit, Gates displayed the easy navigation around a complex word document filled with multimedia, with the help of the interface.

The TouchWall allows you to flip through pages of a Word document, showing off various touch effects; while a PowerPoint document can be presented with astounding flair with moving around and zooming-in on select features. However, the most fascinating part of TouchWall is the pen feature, which allows you to circle items, or jot notes, all with your finger.

The gathering was impressed with the easy user interactivity of the interface; and it did not take the Microsoft CEO to categorically, raise his hopes for the TouchWall to become a vital tool for use with Microsoft Office’s next iteration.

Multitouch has almost single-handedly allowed Apple back into the game and that is exactly why Microsoft has decided to get very serious with it, dedicating the biggest change introduced in Windows 7 as being one that has a lot to do with Multitouch technology.

Specifically, Microsoft is going to be introducing Multitouch functionality into the Windows 7 system, a sure sign that Microsoft has a number of things planned for Multitouch at some point in the near future. This is not surprising news in the least, but it is definitely news that goes a long way towards showing intent on the part of the highest echelon of power at Microsoft.

By incorporating Multitouch technology into their main flagship product, Microsoft has stated a desire to move beyond specialty products like the Surface and towards mainstream products that everyone can afford to buy. One can expect these mainstream products to start including Multitouch functionality at some point in the near future, since the operating system that will be running on those products will most certainly be able to support it.

While the revolution of Multitouch technology has not come to pass, there are a number of different people that see it coming at some point in the near future. With Microsoft releasing details about making Multitouch compatible with the next version of Windows and Apple racing ahead to create more products that use the technology, people seem to be continuing along the path to Multitouch dominance.

While that is certainly something for the average computer geek to be proud of, at the same time it is also important for that average geek to realize that there are still alternatives in the market that could demolish Multitouch before it gets anywhere near the top of the input method world. Multitouch will be facing stiff competition from keyboard and mouse input methods along the whole way and of course there will be alternatives such as voice recognition software and virtual reality input methods to contend with along the road.

The simple moral of the story is that while the Multitouch revolution is starting to look more likely with each passing day, it is also important to remember that at this stage it is by no means a sure thing.

You know that the DIY craze has gotten to ridiculous levels when Microsoft begins to get involved.

But that’s exactly what has happened. Perhaps taken aback at the backlash against their $10,000 Surface computer in the form of DIY Multitouch proliferation, Microsoft has introduced the Microsoft TouchWall. This handy piece of hardware will actually give you the chance to set up a Microsoft Multitouch display on one of your walls, putting the whole device together yourself. It is shipped in pieces and assembled by you, including the three infrared lasers that make the whole thing work. Microsoft’s DIY TouchWall product will give you a very significant discount over the Surface and it represents an effort by the technology giant to gain back some of the market share that the Surface has lost to DIY products.

The main problem with TouchWall is that most of the people that use computers are not DIY people. Putting together a desktop computer is enough for most consumers, but putting together an entire wall Multitouch display is not something that many will likely go for. This is why Multitouch has yet to penetrate into the market at large in desktop form (the only really successful Multitouch product was the iPhone and that is not a desktop device) and why the status quo is likely to remain in effect until someone creates a more affordable version of the Surface computer.

Oddly enough however, Multitouch technology, arguably developed first by Microsoft, appears to already be at a time when it is getting obsolete. While we love to joke about the computer that you buy being obsolete by the time you leave the store with it, strange things in computer labs appear to be giving a shred of truth to this notion as far as the Microsoft Surface computer is concerned.

And interestingly enough, these strange things are from a Microsoft computer lab!

A lab that Microsoft has in Cambridge has just reported that they have created a system that not only allows touch interaction like Multitouch technology, but it also happens to allow you to twist, bend, pull and squeeze different parts of the interface in order to make certain things happen. As one person put it, this is almost like Multitouch on steroids.

While this is something that should make many people excited, a word of caution is necessary because this is not even in the prototype stage yet. Eyes need to be kept on further developments to see if anything more comes from this Multitouch on steroids technology.

However, what was once a big strength of Microsoft has become a hindrance according to many analysts, since the operating system code for Windows has become so large and bulky that changing it to adapt to any piece of hardware is something that takes a very long time to do. By contrast, Apple’s refined OS X is something that can be changed almost at will for mobile computing, desktop interfaces and everything that happens in between.

Why is this important? It’s important because Multitouch technology is as close as it is possible to come to a round two in terms of computer markets. Microsoft and their PC machines really smoked Apple in round one, reducing the Macintosh Corporation to something that was little more than a joke to the vast majority of computer users around.

However, with the advent of Multitouch technology, Apple has already proven that their refined operating system code allows them to target markets with Multitouch extremely quickly. They have already introduced phone and notebook products that work on Multitouch before Microsoft’s Surface Computer has even hit the market. The largest reason for that is the fact that Microsoft’s operating system is bulky and hard to control; Vista users saw that firsthand when they bought their new computers.