"If I'm going to be able to use screens where I find them, like in a coffee shop or an office conference room, I don't want to pick up my device when I'm done and find out I now have a virus," Olsen said. "I don't want the same problems we have with the Internet. I don't want pop-up screens trying to sell me land in Nigeria."

BYU computer science students Richard Arthur and Brian Whitmer, who are doctoral candidates, demonstrated the system for reporters on Thursday.

They sat across the table from each other on blue foam conductive pads placed on their seats. A cord ran from the pad to the smart table, establishing an electrical circuit through the table top and the user's body.

The table has antennas underneath the surface that sense where a person touches the screen. Arthur and Whitmer showed how they could play a computerized version of Risk. The game map was projected onto the table from a Sony Viao-UX handheld. One player could make a move and then rotate the map 180 degrees so the other could see it just by rotating the Sony on the table.

The only thing a handheld would need to work with a smart table is a plate on the back. The computer device then synchronizes with a ceiling projector pointed at the table top.

Olsen and his students presented their work last week in Rhode Island at TableTop 2007, a conference on moving computing away from desktops.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com