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Microsoft's Multitouch Coffee Table Display
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Wed May 30, 2007 08:36 AM
from the ok-admit-it-you-want-one dept.
from the ok-admit-it-you-want-one dept.
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."
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Hitachi Does Microsoft Surface Without the Table 110 comments
An anonymous reader writes "According to CNET.co.uk, who randomly stumbled into a booth at CES, Toshiba has created a Microsoft Surface-type system without the unwieldy table. 'The StarBoard system is really two technologies in one. Firstly, it features Hitachi's short-throw LCD projector. This is important, because the projector sits mere inches from the interactive surface. This means you get a huge — 50-inch, in fact — bright screen, which doesn't get blocked out by your head as you lean over the table. The image it projects is incredibly high-quality too, and there was no noticeable distortion.' The video attached to the article shows the system in action." It should be noted that the implication that leaning over the table blocks a projection from above is spurious; the Surface projects an image from below. The 'overhead' setup at CES was a camera designed to show onlookers what was taking place on the table.
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Entertainment: Why Microsoft Surface Took So Long To Deploy 187 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Nearly a year after all the fanfare unveiling a new touchscreen tabletop interface, Microsoft's Surface computer will finally appear in select AT&T stores later this month. Popular Mechanics tech editor Glenn Derene, who first introduced us to Surface in May, seems to have done a complete 180 in this rant, blasting Microsoft for being more obsessed with Surface's novelty as a magnet for image-conscious partners while messing up a rare hardware device — and, surprisingly, the simple software he was told came with it. From Microsoft's official excuse in the article: 'It's actually been a good thing for us,' Pete Thompson, Microsoft's general manager for Surface, told me. 'We were anticipating that the initial deployments were going to be showcase pilots using our own software applications on units to drive traffic. What our partners have decided is that they want to skip that stage and go to an integrated experience where they build their own applications. That's pulled the timeline until this spring.'"
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Your Rights Online: Movement Sensors a Less Invasive Alternative To CCTV 103 comments
holy_calamity writes "Researchers at Mitsubishi say cramming buildings with movement sensors, not cameras, is a safer and less invasive alternative to CCTV. They covered their office building with 215 low-cost sensors to watch over their colleagues and show how it works. A video shows how a user can see people's movements on a map of the building in real time. Data from the sensors is much easier to handle than video footage, and it can easily be searched." The Surface-like UI is pretty neat too.
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Where do ideas come from? (Score:3, Funny)
Tron? (Score:5, Informative)
Granted it only displayed VT-100, but it was still the first example I remember of a useful PC built into the furniture.
(yes, those old coctail arcade machines were cool (especially tennis) but I don't consider them a "PC")
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A Chiropractor's dream (Score:3, Insightful)
Nice vid (Score:3, Interesting)
Inductive charger? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's all about marketing (Score:5, Interesting)
So what is this all about? The Vista and Office '07 launches haven't gone well from a marketing perspective - there has been a lot of press basically saying that Microsoft is losing its competitive edge. Couple that with the iPhone, and the fact that Apple is almost certainly going to be launching new products with multi-touch capabilities over the next year or so, and I think it is clear what is going on. Microsoft really want to improve their image in relation to Apple - they don't want Apple to be seen as the innovator and them as the company that's lost it.
Notice on the website [microsoft.com] that they have a section called "origins" giving the history of the technology within Microsoft - I think they are trying to reverse the image that they copy Apple. Now when the touch-screen iMac is launched (or whatever) Microsoft will have done a fairly good job at taking some of the shine off the launch, even though they don't have a consumer product in the area, nor will they have for some years.
Note, I am not saying that Microsoft are not serious about this as a product -- just that this news launch (about a product that doesn't exist) is all about addressing people's perceptions of the company, and trying to piss on Apple's fire a bit.
Origami (Score:3, Interesting)
Perhaps Apple fanboys should take this as being a sign that Apple is going to announce something really big at the WWDC in a couple of weeks time!
vaperware to steal Apple's press (Score:5, Insightful)
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
Imagine the possibilities for tabletop gaming ... (Score:5, Insightful)
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 :-).
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Expect Apple to unleash the Legal Nazgul (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple has been patenting the hell out of the multitouch UI concept, and I can't imagine this is going to slip by Steve Jobs without a fight. Apple purchased FingerWorks and owns most of the concepts shown in that video.
Hidden in the recent demo for the Iphone was a glimpse of Apple's multitouch technology. If you knew where to look, it was hidden in plain site during the demo of the photo album and rolodex functions.
Re:Expect Apple to unleash the Legal Nazgul (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Expect Apple to unleash the Legal Nazgul (Score:5, Insightful)
Am I the only one who finds this sentence disturbing?
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FTFA (Score:4, Funny)
Now, excuse me while I try to nudge my mouse with my mouth...
Mr Blobby (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it just me, or does the choice of hardware technologies seem a bit, well, crappy? Back projection - that means the table itself is huge underneath - if you're eating in a restaurant you want a table you can streach your legs under.
And infa-red cameras tracking the movement..? Notice when they do the paint demo - it looks like the system isn't actually very accurate. They do blobby finger painting, but if I was going to buy ones of these I would want something I could draw fine, accurate lines on with a pen. And I'm not convinced of the idea of having to put barcodes on everything so the system can recognise them.
Surely a flat-screen technology (TFT, Plasma, whatever) coupled with one of the newer multi-touch sensitive technologies would be better?
Re:Mr Blobby (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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I suspect (Score:4, Insightful)
Cool possibilities for architects (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, sure, you'd need an insane adapter to drive it (with about 4800x7680 resolution - QuadHD), but that's just the way things are. Now that I come to think of it, it might be useful for digital photo/image manipulation. At 200dpi, you could work with the images from the newest Hasselblad digitals at 1:1 pixel mapping. And, hey, if you've got $32k to drop on a camera body, you may as well pony up for the post processing, right?
Obvious practical issues with horiz. touchscreens (Score:5, Interesting)
There are some very obvious practical issues. With a vertically-oriented touchscreen, the issue was what sort of gadget you could use to prop your hands so that your arms wouldn't be trembling an aching in half an hour.
WIth a horizontally-oriented table-sized touch screen, the obvious issue is that if you put it under a thick sheet of Lexan it won't be touch-sensitive any more... and if you don't put it under a thick sheet of Lexan it won't be touch-sensitive for long.
It would be an interesting contest to see whether one of these $10,000 gadgets lasts longer in a typical American home or in a "Starwood hotel, Harrah's casino or T-Mobile shops." I figure a week, tops, before someone spills a cocktail on it or tries to see whether they can operate it with their butt.
Better applications (Score:5, Interesting)
There are applications for this sort of thing, but finger-painting isn't it.
Given that the basic property of this device is that output resolution is good and screen size is large, and input resolution is poor but you can use multiple touches, an obvious application is video editing. An interface for quickly putting together a news show would find a high-end market. There are tools for this now, like Avid NewsCutter, but they rely heavily on keyboard commands and have too many modes.
The big advantage of multi-touch is that it's a way out of the mode limitations of a single-pointer interface. Right now, your options are usually verb-object (get into mode, select thing), or object-verb (select thing, go to menu to indicate what to do with it.) This breaks down when you need to talk about more than one thing at a time. With multi-touch, there are more options.
Somebody will probably do a DJ console with this interface.
That's no table! (Score:5, Funny)
Llama or sherpa not included.
Re:Similar tech (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Similar tech (Score:5, Informative)
There ya go.
And there was yet another that allowed you to mix music and create synthesized effects in real time by arranging various oddly-shaped prisms on the surface. I have two (large) videos of that but I don't know where they came from.
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Re:Kudos (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Kudos (Score:4, Interesting)
Apple is using multitouch as a gimmick to create buzz. It doesn't actually do anything useful.
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You're kidding, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple is using multitouch as a gimmick to create buzz. It doesn't actually do anything useful.
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Re:Kudos (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Kudos (Score:5, Informative)
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Conception (Score:5, Informative)
But like rearing a child, we'll see the person in 5 to seven years... Or, in a month when the iPhone is released.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The size of the table top screen itself is intriguing to me...
Other Articles (Score:5, Interesting)
Not quite. Even tho Microsoft was the first to market with something in the $10,000 range for places like Vegas. I wonder what the Blue Screens look like?
More info the MS product here [electronista.com], here [nwsource.com] and here [i4u.com].
I imagine that Jeff Han [nyu.edu]'s own Fascinating [multi-touchscreen.com] multi-touch [nyu.edu] system [ted.com] just might not use Windows as a fundamental foundation. Don't forget about the 16 foot long interactive wall [siggraph.org] So I can imagine several patent fights coming out of this, even though the research lines are likely independent. Microsoft might even get accused of stealing somebody else's research, regardless of the facts.
Of course, this happens a little while after Apple revealed their own multitouch interface [apple.com]. Microsoft must hate that. After all, Microsoft can't get a patent on the use of fingers, even tho they can try.
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Re:Other Articles (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Credit where due department (Yeah To Jeff Han) (Score:5, Informative)
Check out the Jeff Han video from last year then watch the MS video.. The original is a much smoother interface.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/65 [ted.com]
Yeah MS added some fluff by making it interact with devices placed on top the the basic idea is not some new "Top Secret" project
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Re:Credit where due department (Yeah To Jeff Han) (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Not really fluff at all (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Re:Credit where due department (Yeah To MIT) (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Credit where due department (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Credit where due department (Score:5, Funny)
I *really* hope no one else has thought of that.
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Re:Credit where due department (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Exactly. Everyone should go read The Myths Of Innovation [oreilly.com] (O'Reilly) before making comments about innovation.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
TED [ted.com], where I first saw the photo enlarging/spinningidea shown, isn't an obscure venue. The idea of putting objects on a touch surface and having them interact I believe was Reactable's [youtube.com] The Reactable interface showed up at a Bjork concert. Again, not an obscure venue.
What tweaks a lot of people isn't that ideas evolve but
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: Microsoft's Multitouch Coffee Table Display (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/ [apple.com]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Actually, I'd be pissed if someone set their coffee cup on my $10,000 electronic multi-touch coffee table anyway. I think the warnings should say "Even if this driver is signed by Microsoft...USE A COASTER!!.
Not much of a coffee table if you can't set your coffee cup on it.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
MS' interactive displays use near IR, not thermal IR. Probably because:
1 - NIR gear is incredibly cheap, whereas thermal IR gear is still very pricey.
2 - There are lots of materials that are transparent to NIR but translucent to visible light. Their displays have a NIR camera and an NIR LED array in addition
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I shall be just as clever:
1999 called, it wants it's joke back.
Re:Porn has to be the killer application for this (Score:3, Funny)
For example, imagine if your 'computer wall' could display an electronic companion that followed you around the house (naked) and did various tasks that you asked of it. (sort of like a nude clipy) The possibilities are endless.