Last week we featured a project from the MIT Media Lab that explored how everyday objects could function as a keyboard. Here's another project from the experimental technologists, this time looking at how we might interact with virtual objects using our mobile devices.

The T(ether) project, devised by students Matthew Blackshaw, Dávid Lakatos, Hiroshi Ishii and Ken Perlin, lets a person see a virtual three-dimensional design through an iPad screen as if it's placed in front of them in the room. It's a bit like Augmented Reality in that you use a computer screen to see digital information that exists within a physical space. But unlike AR, the digital informationin T(ether) is purely virtual, rather than existing as a layer within a visual of the real world. In other words, the iPad functions as a window to see an otherwise invisible virtual world in front of you.

What's more, a person using the system can change the virtual design using a special glove, which they wear while they hold up the iPad. The software can even let two different people simultaneously manipulate digital the form. The system could therefore be a useful tool for designers who create 3D objects using CAD software, giving them a much more realistic perspective.