New Microsoft "surface"

[yourmom]

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

[Adam G]

Hmm, a large touch screen computer running what looks not unlike the new Vista OS w/ a few specific programs. I bet the novelty of swinging your arms across a "surface" that big would get old quick, but admittedly, it is kind of cool.

**EDITED BY THE WEBMASTER**

[cjwilhelmi]

Reminds me of Minority Report

[Brent Burns]

Of course, I can not hear the demo, but I am just curious if there may be medical problems associated with using Surface especially repeated motion injuries (formerly known as carpal tunnel syndrome) and backs. All I see are people bending their backs. Will the screens also be put upright as well?

Pros- speed of moving things around.

Cons- probable physical injuries

I also wonder if that would revolutionize the workplace or just a passing fancy?

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

Ive looked at multi touch surfaces before and theres a few good videos on youtube about them. I just dont know how to embed them. Im sure someone will do it below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcKqyn-gUbY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ftJhDBZqss[/youtube]

And my personal favorite (biased of course)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaKehq6qsdY[/youtube]

There dont seem to be many super practical functions yet (other than the pictures) but im sure several applications will lend themselves to this type of interaction.

Edit:
Heres another cool bar one
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTwcageiJnM[/youtube]

[laxfan25]

Conceptually it looked great - lay your digital camera on it and it downloads your photos. Put your Blackberry on it an upload directions from a great-looking GPS system - all without wires or pushing any buttons. Reality is still a ways off.
I also liked sizing things with your fingers. I wonder how they handle the need for a keyboard? - you're not going to write many documents with finger paint on the screen.

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

I also liked sizing things with your fingers. I wonder how they handle the need for a keyboard? - you're not going to write many documents with finger paint on the screen.

Thats addressed in the first video I posted.

I wonder how much a bar top like those cost. It would be quite the novelty and attract lots of people I would have to expect.

[agentogden]

I saw a demo a couple weeks ago -- and i was not impressed with the response. it seemed sluggish. took more than one try to drag something on occasion.

you would think after 5 years of development they would get that right. not to mention touch displays have been around for 20 years so you think that would be the easy part.

AO

[Campbell]

from the videos it looks as if they are not marketing it as a "home computer" in the traditional sense of the word or even a work computer. I do a lot of writing for my job and that machine looks very impractical for what I do, however, that would be a great conference table. For businesses I think that will be very appealing for bars, hotels, restaurants, coffee houses, conference rooms, etc. For home use I see it as something more for the soft computer user, like my wife. Sit on the couch, look at photos, email, browse the web, watch videos, etc. But, for all situations it seems the focus is group computing, sharing the computer amongst several people rather than crowding around a single monitor and keyboard.

What I would really like to see is some sort of house mainframe computer that has all your stuff on it. Then distribute interface devices around your house. Like this thing in your living room to access your media fiels, movies, radio stations, TV channels, phone, etc. Put a flip down monitor in your kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc. Then in your office you have your keyboard, mouse, stylus, or whatever you choose to use.

This thing is probably a ways off from being available to a lot of people, but I think it is great direction for computers.

[Brent Burns]

I just emailed this information to a graphic design instructor and see what he thinks about it. Since it was publicly revealed yesterday, it is still new to me, but I agree with Campbell that it would probably be useful for businesses and possibly by the graphic designing businesses/ad companies, etc. The current cost of the Surface table console (not sure of how to really call it) would be between $5,000 to $10,000.

I am really trying to recall a Sci Fi movie several years ago where there was a character using his hand to touch on the screen (it was sort of invisible in that show), and it was fun seeing that person act as if there were something on the screen when he was moving his hand from one spot to another and at the same time touching to commence something.

I'm sure it is a "long" way off before it can become commericalized.

[Steno]

i agree - it seems must more useful for restaurants or other commercial ventures. it's private uses just strike me as too limited for what I can guess will be a price almost as novel as the device itself.

[Champ]

Remember when the first plasma's that came out were $20k? Initial sticker shock is large but it will come down.

I echo most and say this will be more of a novelty item than a really useful PC. Good for restaurants/bars/hotels just like the demo movies showed.

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

Another interesting possibility would be for DJing. I imagine you could do some pretty cool stuff if you had your turntables and entire music library on there. Although the sound quality wouldnt be as great because you are going digital.

I just remembered that it is shown in one of the videos. But still, I think that could be a niche market. Also, perhaps people could set up little kiosks for directions and what not using this technology.

[OAKS]

MIT has done research with some pretty cool interfaces. Here is one based off their sense-table. This is actually 4-5 years old.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te2FuvkfS9g[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxAD1QIv_dw[/youtube]

We got to see a lot of cool new interfaces in the computer science department at Tech. One was from Sony from a few years ago, which was basically a conference table sized version of the Microsoft Surface. The cool part was that you could place your laptop on the surface, and it would wirelessly connect, and move your mouse off your laptop screen and onto the table. You could drag your desktop files onto the actual table, where other people could grab them. If you put down a photograph or document, the cameras would take a picture, so when you removed it from the table, there was a digital copy underneath that you could interpret with OCR software or save as a photo.

[Gvlax]

http://www.macrumors.com/2007/02/12/more-multitouch-from-jeff-han/

this video reminded me of minority report