Synaptics is showing off some of its new touchscreen control technology here at CES, the latest of which is the ASIC Clearpad 7300, a single chip that can read up to ten fingers at a time while still maintaining a refresh rate of 100Hz. Synaptics says that this single chip can do the work that not too long ago was done by as many as fifteen — and the company ripped apart a TouchPad and replaced its 15-chip solution with the single-chip 7300 to prove it. Using a single chip should reduce power consumption as well, aiding battery life.

We also dished a bit on touchscreen and trackpad support for Windows 8. Synaptics has click pads that can support five fingers and offer drawing and gestures on Windows, but it's also involved in trying to hash out a final gesture language with Microsoft. While Microsoft has already codified several touchpad gestures on Windows 8, there are still areas where the trackpad gestures and touchscreen gestures aren't quite as analogous as they might be. Synaptics says that Microsoft is asking OEMs to standardize on a 4.9-inch or higher size for trackpads on laptops, the better to enable gestures in Windows 8. We can only imagine that's something a trackpad and touchscreen technology company would be pleased to see happen.