Dr. Vertegaal and his team at Human Media Lab study the interactions between humans and technology, with a focus on organic user interfaces. Organic UIs let you use the physical shape of a device to control it – in the PaperTab's case, that means you can bend the corners to change pages or even to fast forward and rewind through video. With a set of PaperTabs, you won't even need windows – each device can be used to display one single subject. It's a more intuitive, natural and universally understood way of getting tech to do your bidding.

"We've been living in a flat world with one dimension," Dr Vertegaal tells Stuff.tv. "Organic UIs bring with them the opportunity to turn any 3D product into an iPhone". He claims it's a revolution in industrial design – and it's certainly pretty exciting stuff.

"Just think," he says, "as opposed to having hundreds of apps on each device, each product could be its own app. Instead of seeing an augmented reality image layered, for example, over a can of Coke, I'd much rather see it on the can itself with no extra tech required. Of course iPhone-like devices will still exit, but I envision a future where newspapers, crisp packets and other everyday objects can offer information and interactivity completely independently".