MultiTouch designer desk idea
Here’s a reply of mine to a discussion on the impractical GUI of Touch Screen desktop PCs:
Have you seen graphics designer desks? They have a big inclination and their top (the side that’s away and opposite from you) is around your neck, whereas the close side is a bit above your lap. Of course you can’t put things on that desk, but it’s useful for designing stuff. Also they have special chairs, some with a front instead of a back that hold your chest as you work inclined a bit to the front.
My idea is that you could use a webcam and software like the opensource SwisTrack (can connect to it using TCP and get NMEA GPS text formatted coordinates from multiple moving items [it's for tracking cockroaches and robots, but could also track fingers or whatever quickly moving thing]) to do multitouch and still have a screen in front of you that shows the items on the desk (and your hands) augmented with meta-information layers
