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Microsoft's Multitouch Coffee Table Display
longacre writes "Popular Mechanics takes the Microsoft Surface system for a hands-on video test drive. To be announced at today's D5 conference, the coffee-table-esqe device allows manipulation from multiple touch points, while infrared, WiFi and Bluetooth team up to allow wireless transfers between devices placed on top of it, such as cameras and cell phones. Expected to launch before the end of the year in the $5,000-$10,000 range, the devices might not make their way under many Christmas trees, but will find the insides of Starwood hotels, Harrah's casinos and T-Mobile shops."
Props to MS for coming up with a more-or-less unprecedented product. ;)
The emacs users will quickly be shaking from key withdrawal, of course.
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You are very correct! The concept has been toyed with, in idea and a few tests, but Microsoft is getting this out of concept phase and bringing what looks to be a usable product to market. The comparisons (slams) I am seeing to touchscreens is unwarranted and simply ignorant of what this product is, does and could potentially do. I am so tired of the constant Microsoft bashing - even though I am certainly no fan myself.
The size of the table top screen itself is intriguing to me...
No? Pfft...
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Microsoft has a long history of announcing new technologies long before they really exist in order to prevent a competitor from gaining marketing hype and momentum. This strategy goes right back to the earliest Windows versions -- you can read lots about this from an MS programmer's perspective in Barbarians.
Since Apple is about to announce their "top secret" features in Leopard, it seems obvious it will be this sort of touch screen technology and that Microsoft is trying to steal Apple's thunder by announcing this vaperware.
boxlight
At the time, there were some utilities that could help with housekeeping in the game, but it was really clunky to have a whole computer there behind the DM's screen. Imagine, your character sheet and virtual dice right in front of you; automated tracking for dice rolls, combat and spell recovery; fancy graphics for your map, characters, and monsters; maybe even a soundtrack and audio effects.
And yes, WoW has all the features I just described, and more, but the element of everyone getting together around a table and playing face-to-face cannot be replaced.
Needless to say, I want one of these, especially for when I retire and go back to gaming full-time :-).
this emerged at least partially out of their previous efforts with "media pcs." On of the obvious (but largely unspoken) problem they ran into there is that the PC with mouse and keyboard is just a shitty way to interact with media. Touchscreens, on the other hand, obviously aren't. So I think that despite the fact that they are initially of course selling this only to businesses, that will be the ultimate placement of this technology. It finally allows people to look at video, music, photos, etc, on a living room computer in a way that doesn't clash immensely with the intended atmosphere of the room. So bravo to Microsoft for making an appealing product, it'll be interesting to see what Apple's response is if this table ultimately becomes successful, as media is one of Apple's important domains. But either way, it's one of the few times MS may not be lying when they say a new paradigm is arriving. Should be fun to watch.
Relax I just want some peanuts.
My neck hurts just thinking about it.
True, but the "fluff" is exactly the point. There are always two parts to a successful project: implementation and presentation. Geeks are going to flip out over the implementation, but if it is going to be presented to the general public, it has to be in a slick package, and it has to have the bells and whistles -- the "fluff" -- that make people go "oooooohhhh". Consider the iPod, which was absolutely nothing new (as witnessed by CmdrTaco's infamous offhand comment). But Apple took an existing technology and wrapped it in a shiny case and interface, and sales exploded.
It is those little stupid things, like the soft glowing ring around a drink set on the table, or the little ripple effect when a finger hits it, or the way the pictures "explode" out of the camera when it is set down, that will make Joe Six-Pack sit up and pull out his wallet.
And honestly, you think having the Surface interact with devices set on it is "fluff"? As I said above, the little graphical flourishes that happen are definitely fluff, but the concept of merely having to set a device down on the table for them to communicate is utterly simple and intuitive. I'd say that's a huge point in Surface's favor.
owns most of the concepts
Am I the only one who finds this sentence disturbing?
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MS is developing a product that uses multitouch, among other things, that offers an entirely new means of user interaction. Apple, on the other hand, is using multitouch as a buzzword to create the image of revolutionary technology, despite the fact that it's barely multitouch (two inputs rather than one) and it does nothing new for the user. Frankly, it doesn't matter whether the MS gestures are copied or not, Apple's are too, because MS's device performs an entirely new function. I don't see how this can possibly be seen as "FUD'ing Apple" except in the eyes of a hopeless cheerleader. You did watch the video, didn't you?
How do you know all the gestures are copied? Where are all the gestures documented?
I love to complain as much as the next guy, but sometimes Slashdotters come off as the worst kind of internet poser that isn't impressed by anything. Sure there have been examples of this inthe past. The difference is a company like Microsoft takes the idea and makes a commercial product with it. Taking an idea out of the academic world and actually making something useful is the whole idea research like this. If Apple did this there would be a line a couple kms long on this site to fellate Jobs.
Apple is using multitouch as a gimmick to create buzz. It doesn't actually do anything useful. Nothing like some facile Apple-bashing. Watch the Apple demos to see how useful multitouch is for a cell phone. And Apple's "postage stamp"-size screen will be something I can own myself & use every day, as opposed to the MS display, which costs $5k-$10k.
Unless the memory stick or other flash media has some sort of wireless built in, there's no way that the "Blue screen of coffee tables" is going to "download" the contents into the PC running the display on the table. It might be able to get your contacts off your phone via bluetooth (but note that this won't be the demo's automagic version either, as most phones require user interaction to do transfers).
The fact that the whole media card "spilling" images onto the surface was reported as such a "Wow! Brilliant! The BEST thing EVAR!" just goes to show the poor state of technology journalism today.
And the demo of this particular feature isn't very Apple-like. An Apple interface wouldn't "spill" a random pile of crap onto the desktop. As for providing links to cell phone plans when you put your phone down on the table, that's such a bad idea it's hard to know where to start the critique. New from Microsoft! Spam on your coffee table! Yes, Bill, whenever I put my phone down I want to be bombarded with ads. Thanks so much! Most folks who have a plan (in the US) are locked in because that's how they got the cheap phone. Which shows the deep thought put into this product. And on, and on, and on.
As for the bar codes on everyday products, that sounds suspiciously like the CueCat business plan.
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Each little touch you mentioned, while contributing its own degrees of wow-factor to the package, also contributes functionality.
The glowing ring -- confirmation of an established connection. Ripple effect -- an interstitial "sandbox" to ease users into this mode of interaction. Exploding pictures -- making it clear that the photos aren't being simply triggered by the phone's contact with the surface, obviously establishing their source as the phone itself.
Sure, you could pop up a centered Windows dialog for the first, have a guided tutorial for the second, and just draw in the photos starting in the upper left for the last. But the animated flourishes actually carry information, improving the interface's functionality.
Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
Surely a flat-screen technology (TFT, Plasma, whatever) coupled with one of the newer multi-touch sensitive technologies would be better?
Um, not really.
First thing to note is that it is not 'multi-touch', but image sensing input, so it can distiguish all aspects of a hand, pen, or recognize items placed on the surface, this is far far beyond a multi-point touch screen technology.
This also means that with work, barcodes on the items will not always be necessary, as the system will eventually be able to image recognize devices, however this will be an evolution, just like developing drivers for every device.
The second thing is they are using DLP for imaging. DLP has features over Plasma and LCD in both refresh speed, contrast ratios, etc.(Anyone that owns a projector for watching movies and using their computer in the last 5 years knows the benefits of DLP.)
I don't know how thin this specific device will get, but a rear projected image can get fairly thin using a distorted directional optical system, so they could make the display a couple of inches thick if needed. Go look up some of the new DLP display technologies that are being pushed for mobile devices, because they can get the size down to smaller than most people expect.