"The vision technology allows that surface to become interactive, so that while the computer is projecting the information on to, say, your table top, the worker can interact with that the thing which is basically just light by using light, " Lai said.

CNN: Your desk, chair are watching you

There is loss in efficiency--it now takes 34 worker-hours to make a dining room table, up from 25--but Green thinks that price is worth paying.

FORBES: Green Wood

"It probably takes off the table the creation and rapid implementation of any major new guest-worker program, " says Craig Regelbrugge of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.

NPR: Hispanic Turnout May Spur Immigration Overhaul

You go to the table for your election district, sign in, and then wait while an election worker laboriously writes onto a paper form your voter identification information.

FORBES: New York's New Voting System Is a Disaster