Microsoft develops double-sided touchscreen

A two sided touch screen tablet...now this one has me thinking and dreaming a bit...BD

Microsoft is pioneering a new touchscreen that can be operated from both the front and back. The device aims to overcome the conventional touchscreen flaw of the hand covering-up much of what is being displayed. Microsoft's existing prototype, called LucidTouch, allows users to view the front screen without obstruction by entering text, navigating maps and clicking links from the back. Beginning with a commercial touchscreen, the researchers at Microsoft bolted a multi-input touchpad to the back and then fitted a webcam on a boom to record the motion of the user's fingers. This video is then fed into software running on the PC which filters out everything except the fingers, adds pointers to the fingertips so that users can select items precisely on screen and then feeds it back to the display.