I need information on current touch screen technologies and expected
future developments. Thank You

Hi! Thanks for the interesting question.

Our first two links provide a list and discussion of the current touch
screen technologies in the market.

"Touch Screen Technology"
http://www.idat.com/a-touchtech.html

"Comparing Touch Technologies"
http://touchscreens.com/intro-touchtypes.html

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The future of touch screen technology is quite interesting as can be
seen from these articles.

Virtual Touch Technology:

"The first virtual-touch application Wang invented was a computer
mouse for blind people. It allowed users to scroll over a screen and
feel through the mouse when they hit an icon."

"More ideas have been brewing since Wang pooled his research and
realized he could "virtually" shake hands with someone hundreds of
kilometres away. The technology allows a user to shake hands with a
robot, causing a partner robot in another location to mimic the
movement of the user's hand."

"Handshake can install a computer-screen dashboard, eliminating most
dials, buttons and control mechanisms. Need to turn on your wipers?
Just touch an icon on the screen."

"Details would be worked out with the automaker, but the most likely
set-up would be a touch-screen over the dashboard."

"Handshake grasps a virtual future"
http://www.guelphmercury.com/business/techspot/business_techspot_02102314446.html

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Touch Screen Books to Preserve Old Books:

"'Turning the Pages' uses computer animation, high-quality digitized
images, and touch screen technology to simulate the action of turning
the pages of a book. 'The sensation of actually leafing through a rare
volume is uncannily real,' said NLM Director Donald A.B. Lindberg,
M.D. 'It reveals the significance and beauty of rare volumes in a way
never before possible, and we are grateful to the British Library for
creating the system and letting us be the first to use it in this
country,' he added."

"Innovative Technology Helps Public Touch Treasures:"
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/press_releases/ttppr01.html 
 
Search terms used:          
"touch screen" tecnology trends future forecasts research experiments
         
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
         
Thanks for visiting us.          
         
Regards,          
Easterangel-ga          
Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by ajsze-ga on 24 Mar 2003 23:55 PST

Anything on the limitations of touch screen technology?

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Request for Answer Clarification by ajsze-ga on 24 Mar 2003 23:56 PST

oops forgot to thank you for that previous answer, great stuff! Will really help me

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 25 Mar 2003 00:22 PST

Hi again. Thanks for the nice rating!

I have found the following limitations discussed per technology.

Capacitive Touchscreens
"Since a capacitive touchscreen is made of glass, it is susceptible to
breakage."

Infra-red Touchscreens
"A few limitations are (1) that they usually require low resolution
output of the monitor, (2) can produce activation without touching the
screen and (3) the cost to produce the special Infrared bezel is quite
high."

Resistive Touchscreens 
"Limitations include: Low light output, diffused resolution images and
a plastic surface which can be scratched if improperly touched."

"Touch Screen Technology"
http://www.vartechsystems.com/products/topics/touchscreen.asp

I hope that this additional information would be of help to you. 

Best Regards,
Easterangel-ga

Great stuff! was straight to the point and extremely useful.