Error message   Inner Workings: Inside a Touchscreen Remote
True, it's not as cool a user experience as moving holographic
frames in midair, like Tom Cruise did in Minority Report. But
admit it: You get the slightest thrill when you work a
touchscreen. And if that screen just happens to be built into a
remote control, well, you feel as finger-empowered as E.T.  So
how is it that touchscreens give you such great command, while
laying your paws on regular old TV screens gives you nothing but
smudgy fingerprints? The answer depends on which screen
technology you're talking about.  Touchscreen home theater
remotes operate via a resistive overlay. On top of the LCD
screen rests electrically conductive transparent plastic with a
conductive film coating. On top of that, separated by spacer
dots, lies another plate with conductive coating underneath.
When you press your finger - or stylus, pointer, whatever - on
the screen, the top layer flexes at the pressure point, making
contact with the bottom, charged plate. Th