Mike had a chance yesterday to try out the new Microsoft TouchWall, which debuts at the CEO Summit today (more video at that second link). Watch the vid above to see how it responds to the touch of a new user. Not bad, I’d say, although it does get a bit jittery at times. It’s impressive that all of this is possible with just a few hundred dollars worth of off-the-shelf equipment (and some fancy software, of course). See CrunchGear for more. CrunchBase Information Microsoft Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Bill Gates will demo a new multi-touch computer and interface today called TouchWall at the Microsoft CEO Summit in Redmond. TouchWall refers to the touch screen hardware setup itself; the corresponding software to run TouchWall, which is built on a standard version of Vista, is called Plex. TouchWall and Plex are superficially similar to Microsoft Surface, a multi-touch table computer that was introduced in 2007 and which recently became commercially available in select AT&T stores. In a demo yesterday, though, Microsoft Office Labs GM Chris Pratley and Director of Envisioning Ian Sands said that the two products are completely different. Surface is a multi-touch and vision system that uses cameras to sense what is on the table, where it is and what it is doing. It can determine, for example, if a cell phone is on the table and then interact with the phone in a variety of ways, such as pulling photos off of it (see video here). TouchWall is a fundamentally simpler mechanical system, and is also significantly cheaper to produce. While Surface retails at around $10,000, the hardware to “turn almost anything into a multi-touch interface” for TouchWall is just “hundreds of dollars” says Sands. TouchWall consists of three infrared lasers that scan a surface. A camera notes when something breaks through the laser line and feeds that information back to the Plex software. Early prototypes, say Pratley and Sands, were made, simply, on a cardboard screen. A projector was used to show the Plex interface on the cardboard, and a the system worked fine (I’m trying to get Microsoft to release photos of the cardboard prototype, no luck so far). The TouchWall system I was able to test yesterday consisted of a PC running Vista and Plex, a 4×6 foot plexiglass screen, a rear projector, a infrared camera and the three infrared lasers. As you can see in the video, it worked, and well: Sands showed a number of activities in the video – scrolling though mixed media on a desktop with his hands, infinite zooming in and our, playing media, and even using a drawing tool to turn the entire screen into a whiteboard. Microsoft is quick to say that they have no current plans to productize and sell TouchWall. But the potential of the system is obvious – Prately spoke animatedly about a future where the computing experience is less monitor/keyboard/mouse and more like → Read More
http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcrunchgear%2Eblip%2Etv%2Frss&file=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Frss%2Fflash%2F800411&showplayerpath=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Fscripts%2Fflash%2Fshowplayer%2Eswf AT&T is rolling out Microsoft’s Surface today. There are no new features other than what we saw at CTIA a few weeks back. It’s ‘live’ now, but nothing ground breaking. I was disappointed because I wanted to be able to transfer data from a T-Mobile device to my iPhone. But that’s not an available feature just yet. I also wasn’t able to plop down my Samsung Blackjack II, but was denied. The only devices that will register on the Surface are the ones that are connected to the display. Sort of a disappointment. Oh well. Check out the video if you don’t live in one of the following four cities. New York City 381 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10017 350 Park Ave. New York, NY 10022 Atlanta 3429 Lenox Road NE Atlanta, GA 30326 San Antonio 13127 San Pedro Ave. San Antonio, TX 78216 San Francisco 1206 El Camino Real San Bruno, CA 94066 → Read More
http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcrunchgear%2Eblip%2Etv%2Frss&file=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Frss%2Fflash%2F800411&showplayerpath=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Fscripts%2Fflash%2Fshowplayer%2Eswf This video is unedited, so my apologies for the inclusion of any unwanted extra footage, but I wanted to get it up ASAP. → Read More
Earlier this year at CES I got to spend some time with Microsoft’s Surface device, and I was impressed by what they’re doing. I’ll admit I went in with the attitude of “oh, touchscreen table, big deal”, but it’s far, far more than that. Earlier today we brought you news that Surface was going to start appearing in AT&T stores, perhaps as customer service kiosks, and now we have a date: April 17. That’s rather soon. If you haven’t had a chance to check Surface out yet, make a stop in to your local store. It’s worth it. → Read More
And you thought the Surface was all hot air! Microsoft and AT&T have teamed up to place Surface computers in AT&T stores. By placing a phone on the machine, you can call up information and specifications for any phone in the store. We’re not yet sure if you can put your drinks on the Surface machines or order back rubs from store employees. These machines will have 30 inch screens and will appear initially in Atlanta, San Antonio, San Francisco, and New York. There should be 20 units in all in the next few weeks. → Read More
Microsoft’s Surface computer will make its commercial debut April 17 in AT&T stores in New York City, Atlanta, San Antonio and San Francisco. Microsoft first unveiled the Surface back in May 2007; the coffee-table like computer allows touch screen interaction with various surfaces, can recognize objects places on it and even interact with things like mobile phones. AT&T said it planned to use the Surface to allow customers “to learn about the growing universe of mobile applications and devices.” I had the opportunity to have a quick play with a Surface earlier this year and it’s one of the cooler things to come out of Redmond in the last 12 months, but I can’t help but wonder: isn’t putting a Surface in an AT&T store like driving an Aston Martin into a Ghetto? To be fair, interacting with a Surface at an AT&T store will be better than trying to interact with AT&T staff; not only will it be quicker (even if you queue for an hour to use it), it will actually be more polite and be able to explain the product its offering competently. A demo video from May as follows: http://admin.brightcove.com/destination/player/player.swf → Read More
[photopress:msftsursph.jpg,full,center] Microsoft may be redesigning the Surface in order to make it more appealing to consumers. Current rumors point to a sphere-shaped Surface, which may or may not have been making the rounds in Redmond’s rec rooms. Apparently the thinking is that the current table-top design of the Surface isn’t consumer friendly enough, never mind the fact that we’re still several years out from the device reaching a consumer’s price. That’s just a factor of time, though; it’s up to Microsoft to convince us that we need something like Surface in our homes. It’s probably one of those things you need to use in order to become a believer. They won over Hickey, that must count for something. Sources: Microsoft readying sphere-shaped Surface [All About Microsoft/ZDNet.com] → Read More
Matt was impressed by the Surface back at CES so I’m inclined to go along based on his judgement. The Sarcastic Gamer gets up close and personal with the Surface’s first game called Firefly. Check out the video and see what it’s all about. It looks really neat. → Read More
When our own intrepid reporter took on the Surface at CES, he came away completely convinced and eager to acquire one to use as his coffee table since his current one (and his dog) were ruined by a vengeful and intoxicated lady friend. Well, Microsoft really, really wants to make his dream a reality, not least because they could charge him like $15,000 for the privelege. At the moment, they’re still struggling to get the things out to the early adopters — hotels, casinos, and the extremely rich and well-connected. They originally said it would be five years before you had one in your room, but they’re hoping to revise that number. I want to put a few together and use them as a bed! Microsoft wants to bring Surface home sooner [CNET News] → Read More
Big surprise here. The wonderful “multitouch” interface used by the iPhone, iPod touch, and new MacBook Air is; A) not Apple’s invention, B) famous because of Apple, and C) will begin appearing in more and more devices. → Read More
http://progressive.playstream.com/playstream/progressive/flashplayers/FLVPlayer.swf Matt Hickey got a chance to sit down with the Microsoft Surface and discovered that it’s not just a bigass table. → Read More
http://progressive.playstream.com/playstream/progressive/flashplayers/FLVPlayer.swf Hey, look at this doodad. It’s similar to a near-field technology feature that Microsoft showed off a while ago with its Surface technology except this is from Sony. You basically drop your camera on top of that cube, which is actually a media storage device. The cube senses that your camera is there and starts backing up your photos while whisking them onto the screen at a sustained rate of 375 megabytes per second with a maximum throughput of 560 megabytes per second. No pricing or availability yet but can you really put a price on flying pictures? I’d say yes and I bet Sony says yes too and I bet that after Sony’s done saying yes the price comes in around $400 or $500 just for the cube. → Read More
Another year and another keynote speech at CES tops the headlines on Techmeme. The team over a CrunchGear did a good job under the circumstances live blogging Bill Gates and others from Microsoft as they spoke on stage, but it’s a speech no one is yet seriously telling the truth about. The Microsoft keynote at CES sucked. Sucked is not a word I usually throw around with glee abandon, but after sitting through the live stream on the Microsoft site that insisted that I had to install Silverlight to watch it, my only reaction at the end was to yawn. And from what I can gather from the crowd, the CrunchGear chat room and Twitter, I wasn’t alone. Was Bill Gates to blame? It’s always awe inspiring to see the second richest man alive on stage, a man that has created so much and who has literally shaped the digital history of the world, and yet the best presenter with an empty hat cant make rabbits magically appear. There were some interesting announcements. Silverlight will get a big boost from the tie-in with NBC’s Olympics coverage, and the image recognition demonstration towards the end was cool tech wise, particularly with the tie-in to Windows Live 3D Maps (still the best product on the market), even if the demo unit looked like a radar gun, or a copy of War and Peace. The digital roast of Bill Gates with video of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was probably the highlight in terms of fun, but that’s about it. We saw a demonstration of Windows Live Events, a service that was launched last year; amazing, they all sync in together, just like most of Microsoft’s other competitors. Bill Gates demoed Surface, one very cool Microsoft product, but he showed how you can design a snow board with your hands….let me say that there were no shortages of WTF’s on Twitter and the CrunchGear Live chat room at that stage. There was a demonstration of Microsoft’s Sink…sorry Sync product in Fords. Wow, an MP3 player that hardly anyone owns works in a car that most people wish they didn’t own once they buy one (and I’d note, the last comment is from experience.) Apparently the XBox 360 made more in sales money wise than the Wii, but what they didn’t add is because the Wii is a whole lot cheaper. It’s hard to → Read More
Microsoft had hoped to get its Surface technology up and running by the end of the year. It’s now not going to be ready until Spring of 2008, which doesn’t surprise me a bit. This has been happening a lot lately. Before you ask me if and why I hate Microsoft so much, let me tell you that I’m typing this using Microsoft software on a Windows Vista computer. I’m not a Mac disciple by any means, although I do enjoy the iPod Touch quite a bit and I used to own a MacBook. But for the most part, I’m a Microsoft guy. I don’t hate Microsoft. I’m disappointed in Microsoft which, as any parent would tell you, is sometimes worse than being mad. → Read More
I thought UMPCs had gone the way of the Tablet PC and polio, but not so. Apparently Microsoft has just rewritten its Reader application for Origami, allowing at least a VW Beetle-load of people the opportunity to read ebooks in all their magical, blazing glory. Next: MineSweeper redesigned for maximum Microsoft Surface compatibility. Product Page via Origami Project → Read More
It’s not an iPhone, it’s a bigass table. via FurryGoat → Read More
Great parody video of the recently announced Microsoft Surface Computer. “One day, your computer will be a big-ass table.” → Read More
With the news of Microsoft Surface announced, we found detail behind how the technology might work. During the Popular Mechanics interview, Microsoft noted that the display uses a series of IR sensors to detect objects on the surface providing controls of objects. A recently published Microsoft patent application provides further insight (and images) on how these sensors work. → Read More
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