Windows users envious of the touch/gesture capability of Apple's Magic Mouse don't have much longer to wait for a response from Microsoft's hardware division.

Respected analyst firm Ovum says that while reports of Microsoft and Windows’ “imminent demise are somewhat over exaggerated”, it notes that the somewhat tardy software maker still has a lot of work to prove that Windows 8 will rate.

Apple has filed suit with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and the US District Court in Delaware about the alleged violation of multiple patents by mobile phone maker HTC.

Rumours are circulating that the next iPhone may have a touch-sensitive panel on the back of the case. That's not as radical an idea as you might first think.

HP has released a raft of systems aimed at the commercial and consumer markets, including touchscreen models. Also new is the company's first 42in HD digital signage touch display.

Lenovo has boosted the specs of two members of its ThinkPad range to include multitouch screens. One is a tablet, the other is a regular notebook model.

After an initial period during which the Surface SDK was only available to selected companies, Microsoft has lowered the drawbridge to admit more than 640,000 registered developers.

There's been a resurgence of rumours about an Apple 'tablet' computer. The device is being tipped to arrive in October, in time for the holiday buying season.

Although Nokia seems to let phone retailers sell its phones sometimes weeks before any company launch, the long-awaited N97 has finally launched on an official basis, along with the official Australian unveiling of the Ovi “app” store, now with a claimed 20,000 apps!

Although Microsoft itself is lowering expectations of large new hardware sales thanks to Windows 7, and could yet set its Win 7 upgrade and retail prices lower in response to the $29 OS X 10.6 challenge, one of Windows 7’s very touching benefits is something you’ll want to put one, two or even more fingers on!