Microsoft’s British researchers are literally bringing another dimension to the company’s Surface touchscreens, writes Barry Collins in Los Angeles.

The original Surface tables are one of the chief attractions here at PDC, with attendees clambering to get their hands on the dozen or so tables dotted around the conference halls.

However, the highlight of today’s keynote from Microsoft Research was a demonstration of a new Surface prototype called SecondLight, which is being developed at the company’s labs in Cambridge.

The new table projects an image through the table itself, so that any translucent material (such as tracing paper or perspex) held above the Surface screen displays a different image to what you see on the table’s display.

This means you can have a satellite image of a town on the table, and have the street names projected on to a piece of paper that the user holds above the map. Or you could have a photo of a car, with the tracing paper displaying images of its innards as you pan the paper across the screen. Microsoft described the technology as a “magic lens”.

Free Wi-Fi for Apple’s iPhone users is finally available from AT&T.

After two false starts, this time the notice posted on AT&T’s Web site is accurate. The company is indeed allowing all iPhone users to access its 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots around the country for free.

Earlier this year, the company inadvertently published information on its Web site telling customers that they could access AT&T’s hot spots for free. But this time it’s true. I double-checked with AT&T’s public relations team myself.

On Wednesday Google formally announced its support as a provider for the OpenID 2.0 protocol, offering some site owners a way to let users log-in and register for new accounts using existing Google account information. More importantly, Google will be letting these same users manage all their linked account information in one central location.

This new log-in offering is not available to all site owners just yet. Google has set up a sign-up form where developers can apply with their URL and OpenID identification to get access. Plaxo and Zoho are two of the first sites to already have the new system in place, with Zoho having offered a similar option since mid-April.

WunderWorks, an Interaction Solutions Company, Announced Today it Has Made Available a Free Version of its TeamPlayer Multi-User, Multi-Mouse-Keyboard Software.

It enables multiple users to work together on a single standard Windows computer. The software works with multiple mice and keyboards or other input devices in all existing software.

The Dutch company developed the knowledge and software that allows multiple users to work together on one PC. Its products are already delivered to OEM’s around the world; it will now make WunderWorks’ TeamPlayer software available to the rest of the world.

WunderWorks will add new features monthly, including multi-user white boarding, a Sandbox to create your own multi-user apps, Teacher modules, remote PC/IP input etc. Other releases such as its BrainStorm+(R) application and a PowerPoint(R) plug-in are planned for December 2008.

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Videoconferencing is often heralded as the next best thing to being somewhere - a cheaper, simpler alternative to traveling in person to attend a meeting. Yet a small study raises questions about whether videoconferencing distorts interactions in a subtle but important way.

The study found that doctors and nurses who attended seminars via videoconference were more likely to be influenced by the charisma of the presenter. In contrast, people who were face-to-face with the presenter were more likely to base their judgment of the presentation on the arguments that were used, the researchers said.