The idea of Microsoft Surface would no doubt be amazing for Home Automation (http://www.microsoft.com/surface), but the fact it is too expensive and complex would mean it is years off being used... well not for much longer
Check out this guys very crafty use of the Wii Remote, especially the second part with the multi-point surface, it would also work with big LCDs
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/