Haptic (force feedback), 3D mouse, a variety of trackballs, are all available, all suffer from missing the spot, either due to expense, unneeded complexity, or just disinterest. Trackballs are an example, the one ongoing use I've seen is for film color correction workstations, but are used for a specific mode in a color wheel where it's natural to nudge on a few axis simultaneously.
Phones also have vibration feedback, I've rarely seen it used, and dare I say, never well (love to seen an example of an app that uses vibration frequently and effectively).
Slide areas on a screen are effective when the domain of attack is narrowed to the standard 3-7 options. Mouse interaction is best with a narrowed selection of areas/icons/corners, love those 4 pixel boxes. And they are both cost effective. As the tech to 'understand' the users domain becomes more sophisticated and 'early' in the interaction cycle, gesture interaction and eye tracking will be more effective, the participant will begin to feel the system knows their needs.
As much as I love thumbing through a book and can imagine a dance interface, the future is probably less and less pointing and more just single tap to “go ahead, just what I want” than elaborate touchable interaction.