When will we start seeing Wired headlines along the lines of “3D — the Next Multitouch” or some other such goofball thing.  Certainly, compute power is at the threshold of delivering compelling 3D applications, so this movement should be about more than just buzz.

So how will new graphics capabilties that allow rich, interactive three dimensional experiences look like?  More to the point, how will the positively improve use experience and provide functional capabilities beyond what’s currently possible?  Sure, 3D online maps are already surfacing.  What else?

How about being  able to us screen real estate better via the combination of touch screens and 3D?  Sure, bigger monitors keep getting cheaper.  There’s a limit, though, to how much screen size a human brain can actively process and use.  Allow pressure sensitive touches to push a window into the background or pull it forward and suddenly you can run many simultaneous applications that interact with one another.

More radical?  Maybe things like 3D object modeling for application design and development.  This sort of technology has long been part of design.  Now, with prices coming down, we should see all sorts of things of this nature.  Won’t that be interesting?