It’s a bit of a random time for a video like this, seeing as the announcement was back at CES and we had a nice, thorough hands-on with the new SUR40 Surface then, but hey. Maybe you missed it. If you don’t mind a little redundancy (and of course, the ever-present soft techno), this is a nice way to catch up on Microsoft’s Surface project. → Read More
Yesterday, Pioneer unveiled the WWS-DT101 Discussion Table [JP], which is essentially the company’s answer to Microsoft’s Surface – just bigger and better. The main component here is the 52-inch multi-touch “interactive” LCD display with full HD resolution that supports up to 10 points of contact simultaneously. → Read More
One of the main limitations on touchscreen interfaces these days is that all you can do is poke at them. We do all kinds of things with our hands, but when it comes to screens, we just poke at them all day. UIs are doing all right, since our phone OSes still mimic mouse-based desktop OSes to some extent, but Microsoft is looking to ways to integrate more natural hand gestures incorporating more… → Read More
Man, I love me some AR.Drone. It’s literally the coolest thing I’ve used in a long time. And the best part? It just gets cooler. This video shows us what I’m assuming is a non-doctored video of a WinWise employee using a Microsoft Surface to control a Parrot AR.Drone. → Read More
Hmm. What does this remind me of? Oh, that’s right, the Courier. The ability to use both finger and pen on the Courier concept seems like it would benefit from these UI elements — and probably is. I doubt the two projects could be working on ideas so complementary and not be aware of each other. Or could they? Whatever the case, it looks pretty cool. When I talk about touch-based interfaces… → Read More
Games like this are exactly why Microsoft Surface is going to be a compelling platform. Some students ported Texas Hold ‘em to Surface, but added the ability to look at your cards from a mobile device. Placing a bet is as easy as dragging a chip on to the playing field, and you can even split a chip’s denomination by tapping it. I’d be interested to see what the final version of… → Read More
We’ve told you about the iTable before, and PQ Labs. They showed off their latest stage in the development process at CeBIT this year, by installing the screen into a coffee table. The newest version can register up to 32 touch points and actually determine the shape of the object being placed on the screen. → Read More
One of the universal complaints about the Surface is its size — and competitors like the iTable, Displax, and FlatFrog are attempting to strike at that weak point before Microsoft comes out with the inevitable flat version. But if this nascent project being pursued by Microsoft Research bears fruit, the next version of the Surface might not have a screen at all. → Read More
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9361738&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1 I just returned from the Microsoft campus (well, I stopped for a panini), where students from Carnegie Mellon University are showing off their awesome project, a version of D&D that runs on the Surface. Now, before you start rolling… → Read More
If you’re coming up to the Emerald City to hit up PAX, there are a lot of things you’re probably going to want to check out. But I’m going to make a point of dropping by the console free play room, where it is whispered there will be a Surface loaded with every Penny Arcade comic as well as PAX-related media and games. If you haven’t gotten a chance to play with one of… → Read More
A couple weeks ago we got an early demo of the Surface SP1 update, and saw that one of the goals of which was to improve Windows-Surface cross-compatibility and encourage developers to make their apps touch-compatible. Looks like that work goes both ways, as it appears that Surface content and functionality is going to be kicking it with Windows 7.
Check out the video inside. Everyone loves… → Read More
This last Friday, a few of the developers behind Microsoft Surface took some time out of their schedules to meet with us and talk about what’s coming in their Surface Service Pack 1, due to be rolled out today. Now, it’s called a service pack for a reason — as opposed to a fun pack — this update is a response to the requests and concerns of the community using and developing for the… → Read More
Ladies and germs, behold the wonders of what’s to come. Someday we will live in a world that is filled with Microsoft Surface-like devices and everything will blend seamlessly together. Our notebooks will become manufacturing facilities and scanners. Shopkeeper’ countertops will be large touchscreens and our desks will be virtual desks. The future, according to Microsoft, will be grand and… → Read More
Microsoft is spending quite a bit of money to make sure you are going to be able to use their Surface technology with Windows 7. They are the major partner in a venture funding investment to a company that makes touch screen hardware. → Read More
Who would have thought that one of the coolest things we’ve seen at CES would be hidden in a 10×10 booth at the very back of the South Hall? Like a diamond in the rough, there sat the PQ Labs iTablet.
They’ve essentially taken the idea behind the Microsoft Surface and have done it better in every way. It’s cheaper, it’s gorgeous, and perhaps most notably, it’s not a hulking monster. → Read More
I guess you don’t know you’re leading the pack unless you hear the other dogs barking at your heels. GestureTek is a company that puts out touch- and gesture-based interactive screens in more various forms than the Microsoft Surface project. From what I can tell, it doesn’t track as exactly or as reliably as the seriously stress-tested Surface, but it also has a more attractive… → Read More
At this week’s Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft is set to make a slew of announcements about its product lines, and hopefully show a glimpse of some exciting new ones. One of the first gems to surface is that the company is about to give a broad group of developers the ability to create applications for its Surface tabletop computer for the first time.
Everyone who attends the… → Read More
No, Microsoft is not getting into the car-wash business. But it is releasing “Touchless,” multitouch software from Microsoft Office Labs that uses a regular Web camera and everyday objects as input. You can think of this as a low-end version of its Touchwall technology, which uses more precise lasers to detect movement and objects. The software developer kit is available now under an… → Read More
Excellent. Microsoft will be doing the unveiling at the Professional Developer Conference at the end of the month, so it should get some good exposure. I got to watch a developer put together an app at Surface HQ a few months ago, and he convinced me that the library and SDK are such that fun and interesting apps can be made relatively easily, and taking advantage of the Surface’s unique… → Read More
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/26610613#26610613 Remember that Election 08 iPhone app I wrote up a couple days ago? Looks like Microsoft Research has been thinking along the same lines and in honor of the voting season has unleashed some election-orientated applications for the Surface. And because of the “M” in “MSNBC,” they got a pretty extensive little segment… → Read More
In the Home Appliances section of IFA 2008 in Berlin there are dozens of brands of coffee makers, most doling out freshly-brewed Joe to bleary-eyed conventioneers. Interestingly enough, some of the companies are using cool interactive displays, much like Microsoft Surface, in an effort to catch our attention. → Read More
MultiTouch, a company specializing in, you guessed it, multi-touch technology, today launched the world’s first modular multi-touch LCD screen, which will allow owners to create screen tables and walls to their desired size.
Dubbed The MultiTouch Cell, each LCD screen unit is available in both 32- and 46-inch sizes and offers Full HD capability. The Cells can be positioned in portrait or… → Read More
What can you do with a Microsoft Surface touch-screen computing table, other than use it as an expensive interactive kiosk in AT&T wireless stores? Design shop VectorForm has a few ideas. It has been pumping out prototype Surface apps for the last five months, and now has a Surface blog to document it all. For pure tactile enjoyment, it’s hard to beat the Vector Drum Kit (see video… → Read More
Remember TouchWall, the experimental Microsoft touch interface operating system we wrote about in May (here’s me playing with it)? We’ve been trying to get Microsoft to send us a copy of the operating system so that we could build a touch interface computer the size of a wall, but they have yet to agree. Today they say the technology is still years off in terms of development. But the… → Read More
Conceptual products are fun. There’s no denying that. Everybody wants to see a car that looks like a jet, spaceship or rocket. Just the problem is, more often than not, the concept car does not exist in real life. A recent article by Kontra alleges that concept products are actually bad for the company, citing the success of Apple as evidence. Apple internalizes all of its concepts, even going… → Read More
Microsoft is rolling out the Surface into a bunch of Sheraton Hotel lobbies tomorrow. Unfortunately, it’s not the Surface Sphere, but from what I saw back in June, the flat one should be quite enough to keep people’s attention. It’s free to use and of course free to look, so stop by a lobby tomorrow on your lunch break and give the thing a touch. If you haven’t seen enough… → Read More
http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1526070353 When I got to play around with the Surface back in June, I was excited about the possibilities of other shapes and applications, but Microsoft responded to questions on that front as they responded to almost every question: “There are many possibilities and we’re looking into things” or some analogue thereof. → Read More
Not content with a PC on every desktop, Microsoft wants to see every available surface become a computer screen. It has already developed a multi-touch Surface Computer (which is being used in AT&T stores), and turned that vertical in a multi-touch wall. Now, it’s latest project at Microsoft Research is a Sphere (see video above). A prototype of the spherical display is expected to be… → Read More
Reports from Japan are showing a very Surface-like product from Panasonic, called the Digital Wall. While it appears huge, first hand stories say it doesn’t yet offer all of the same features of Microsoft’s Surface, but that it is really big and could even be cheaper than Redmond’s interactive table. Check out this video from Digital World Tokyo, for the Digital Wall in action. → Read More
There were still a few surprises up Microsoft’s sleeve today at this little conference I’m at. They’re talking about the SDK, testing the surface with robotic arms, and they demoed some totally freaking awesome apps they’ve got running in launch or alpha state. Believe me, you do wish you were here. Lots more pictures inside. → Read More
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