The Microsoft Kinect has proved popular among gamers, pushing what can be done with affordable technology into new areas.

Now the release of Kinect for Windows promises to begin the pushing of boundaries in the desktop PC market, and experts at Microsoft are already looking at how they can develop this technology ever further.

What they have come up with is an insight into a mouse-free future, with fold-out desktops using interactive 3D screens.

On display at the company's recent TechForum, the 3D desktop begins as a flat panel, before the top unfolds to reveal a transparent Samsung OLED screen with a keyboard on the base.

The screen sits at an angle of around 60 degrees, with a 3D image filling out behind it. Users reach behind the screen to use the screen, but this is where the Kinect technology comes in.

Rather than use a mouse to move a cursor around and make selections, the operator uses their hands. Scrolling through files and manipulating objects on screen is done by physically moving the 3D images.

The Kinect technology also monitors head and eye movement, potentially leaving the way open for 3D webcams.

It is not the first time that Samsung has shown what its OLED display can do, but Microsoft has taken it to new heights with the Kinect technology.

Microsoft's Applied Sciences team is quite open about the new tech it is working on, and many of the wacky projects it works on never make it into production.

However, the popularity of the Kinect and the fact that Samsung is planning to make its OLED screen a viable production option could mean 3D desktops are a realistic proposition for the near future.ADNFCR-1220-ID-801306070-ADNFCR
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