Finding new ways to interact with computers has become an important area of research among computer scientists, especially now that touch-screen smart phones and tablets have grown so popular. A tablet computer, developed collaboratively by researchers at Intel, Microsoft, and the University of Washington, can be controlled not only by swiping and pinching at the screen, but by touching any surface on which it is placed. The project that produced the new device, called Portico, could eventually result in smart phones or tablets that take touch beyond the physical confines of the device. The project team included Jacob Wobbrock, associate professor of the iSchool, Daniel Avrahami , senior researcher at Intel Labs Seattle and Shahram Izadi, Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK on Portico. Read the full article in the M.I.T. Technology Review www.technologyreview.com/computing/38662/?p1=A1