The technological wings of the blogosphere are all of a flurry about the revealing of Microsoft’s new touch-based interface technology, known as ‘Surface’ – and from looking at the footage, it’s easy to see why. It looks a whole world more fun and friendly than mouse and keyboard. Futurismic essayist Jamais Cascio* believes that this sort of new interface will have it’s biggest impact not in the document-based applications that computers are used for, but in the ‘metaverse’ applications like augmented reality, where the more intuitive mechanism of hand gestures will enable greater control over large flows of data.

*Yeah, I know – we’ve not had an essay from Jamais or anyone else for a long time, thanks to ongoing technical issues. We’re still working hard on a new iteration of Futurismic which should be not just more enjoyable for you the reader, but easier for us to maintain and keep filled with quality content. Don’t think we’ve forgotten you – we’re just trying to fit it all in between our other commitments in the world outside the internet!