Last week, Microsoft showed off what it thinks the future will be like at home and at work. As it turns out, Microsoft's future is full of really big touchscreens. That sounds great, but there's one problem: What happens if the touchscreens of the future get too big?
After all, people come in all shapes and sizes. It stands to reason they might not be able to interact well with large touchscreens. Thankfully, Microsoft Research has a couple of ideas to make these large screens easier to use and they share them in their new YouTube video.
One of the proposals is to take a stylus and simply touch the screen, which would then bring up a menu of various selections. In this video's case, it's to select which color the stylus uses to draw on the screen. The menu can also be expanded by spreading it out with two finger touches.
The other method of interacting with the touchscreen is with a smartphone, such as a Windows Phone. The phone's camera can scan an image on the screen which activates a menu on the phone that can then be used for various functions. The phone can also be used in a way that's similar to the Xbox SmartGlass app to control the screen.
While large touchscreens are already being sold, it may take a while for the costs of such screens to go down low enough so that more businesses and home can afford them. When that happens, Microsoft's ideas will most likely be put in place in some form.
Source: Microsoft Research on YouTube
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