Apple's Magical Mystery Touch Screen

Arik Hesseldahl of BusinessWeek writes about the iPhone's new sophisticated multi-point touch screen. After reading through the 29-page Apple patent, he thinks out loud what the touch screen will bring to users. He doesn't think that the iPhone is the only application that will benefit from that screen. Laptops, remote controls, and other portable devices could use smart multi-touch technology. You could use the "pinch" (and anti-pinch) to zoom into and out of documents, control your music and other media, or even type onto a virtual keyboard without worrying about more than one finger touching the screen at the same time. Just think about a virtual piano and being able to play chords. You can't do that with single-touch technology.