Enhancing Collaboration by Merging Screen, Video Images

I first learned of Facetop, a new videoconferencing system developed at UNC-Chapel Hill, through Roland Piquepaille's blog; it's also been featured at Technology Research News and Wired. By superimposing a transparent video image of the user on top of an image of the desktop, the user can appear to interact with the desktop, and view the desktop and the video simultaneously. A point-to-point version places a reflection of the two users side-by-side and allows them to share control of the desktop. Piquepaille has some nice screenshots, but there are many more included in the technical report prepared by the UNC researchers.