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Build your own multitouch pad
Haven't got $10,000 to buy a Microsoft Surface? The video below shows you how to build your own from an old cardboard box.I like the kindergarten-style construction here - it's all sticky back plastic and pieces of paper. And it shows just how low-tech multitouch hardware really is. Presumably the finger-tracking software is a little more complicated.The video reminds me of Microsoft's experimental LucidTouch, another low-tech multitouch gadget.The only way any of these devices will succeed is if they can be useful and easy to use though, which is where LucidTouch might win out. I think that using your fingers on the rear of a handheld gadget is far more intuitive than poking at a tiny screen with finger and thumb, like on an iPhone.Colin Barras, online technology reporter
