For the many east Europeans already working in London, either on student visas or illegally, prospects have become markedly better.

ECONOMIST: The new Europe is easing British labour shortages, slowly

And companies like Panasonic and Omek and Optrima and Softkinetic have a head start on Microsoft Kinect in a sense: they are already in talks or working with other companies to use the technology beyond the living room.

FORBES: Amid Tablet, 3-D TV Deluge At CES, Gesture Tech Could Be The Next Big Thing

And if people's -- if the retirement age is already 67, and now you want to get it up to 68 or 69, if you're working on an assembly line, and you've been doing that for 50 years, or 40 years, that's some tough stuff.

WHITEHOUSE: Town Hall in Arnold, Missouri