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Microsoft Launches Multitouch Surface Computing
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But the video clearly showed the concept of customers at the bar pointing to the drinks they want, splitting the bill etc. - they are arguing you'll be sitting at a table that will interact with you. You'd have to have a pretty strong plexiglass cover for a New York bar, if you ask me (and how would the touch screen work then?)
And as for the staff - they already have touch screen registers that work perfectly well, thank you, for far less than $10,000. Why would the waiter need to shove your orders around on his register?
edit- sorry, just saw the post above that it is light sensitive, not touch screen. Still, nobody I know wants to have liquids on expensive computer equipment.
Texas04
macrumors 6502a
I originally posted that this was nothing new when I just saw the first webpage... I had not seen a product just the technology which was rather old, however the product is amazing!
For years we have said that we will connect all our media devices together on one platform.. blah blah blah... and Apple barely came close with the
TV. This however, really puts everything together in a way that can be used by more then just one person. It brings pictures, music, video, (Television soon I am sure) all together in the living room where friends and family spend most of their time and combines it with a very easy touch interface. It is brilliant.
For the first time in my life...
Go MS! Wow! 😕 🙄 😱 😀
For years we have said that we will connect all our media devices together on one platform.. blah blah blah... and Apple barely came close with the
TV. This however, really puts everything together in a way that can be used by more then just one person. It brings pictures, music, video, (Television soon I am sure) all together in the living room where friends and family spend most of their time and combines it with a very easy touch interface. It is brilliant.For the first time in my life...
Go MS! Wow! 😕 🙄 😱 😀
Again, please look at the technology, the top is just a sheet of plastic, the technology is 2 infra-red cameras placed below the surface to record the touches... it is NOT a touch screen!
FoxyKaye
macrumors 68000
So M$ re-created the computer panels on the starship Enterprise 1701-D. Good for them, I suppose, but who's got $5-$10K to drop on a multi-touch surface in their bar, only to get beer, wine and booze spilled it and shattered in a bar fight? Or put it in their mall where it can get scratched and tagged?
Neat idea, but I'd be much more excited if it cost $500 - $1000. And, as others have pointed out, the iPhone has it and it's probably pending on the Mac lineup by the middle of next year for all we know. I mean, at the end of the day, isn't this where the computer world is heading anyhow? And, isn't the ability to drag photos to a cell phone or wherever nothing more than clever synchronization of Bluetooth and position sensors?
I dunno - Palm's new product seems much more interesting to me...
Neat idea, but I'd be much more excited if it cost $500 - $1000. And, as others have pointed out, the iPhone has it and it's probably pending on the Mac lineup by the middle of next year for all we know. I mean, at the end of the day, isn't this where the computer world is heading anyhow? And, isn't the ability to drag photos to a cell phone or wherever nothing more than clever synchronization of Bluetooth and position sensors?
I dunno - Palm's new product seems much more interesting to me...
johnee
macrumors 6502a
well i don't see apple making anything like this. and if you mention the iphone, you're just grabbing straws.
this goes way beyond the iphone. give it two years and these will start showing up in peoples' homes.
what? if apple made a product using this technology, you would be rubbing it in everyone's face.
Eraserhead
macrumors G4
One thing that interests me, have they actually got deals with Visa/Mastercard/The banks for the credit card feature, or is it a theoretical use in 5 years, personally I'd be inclined to go with the latter, and I suspect that could apply to many of the other uses too.
MrCrowbar
macrumors 68020
True. Hands are cool and all but not perfect for everything.
Our early early ancestors started using tools because they knew that 😉
johnee
macrumors 6502a
I don't think people see the point of this. Everyone saw the Jeff Han videos and said "wow, i hope to see that in an apple product", and you're settling for it on the iphone?
Sure, apple will have something like this, and i bet MS got word of it and rushed this thru to beat them to the punch.
I'll be impressed if the "revolutionary" imac design will incorporate this.
I give kudos to MS for getting it out there, but the better solution will be to deliver it to the masses in a practical and efficient manner. THAT'S innovation.
eenu
macrumors 65816
i do have to say though the principle of this idea is great. I'd love to be able to come home and drop my camera onto my surface and view the pics with no cables.......maybe send some via wifi to my mac aperture vault.
Sit down with the gf and plan a meal or our holiday trips via maps and then stick them on my phone and use google maps whilst i am there.
Me and her to drop our music devices on the surface and swap effortlessly..... control my media library from it. Maybe even the house lights etc.......view a security camera from my front door etc.
Point is that is still years away 🙁
Sit down with the gf and plan a meal or our holiday trips via maps and then stick them on my phone and use google maps whilst i am there.
Me and her to drop our music devices on the surface and swap effortlessly..... control my media library from it. Maybe even the house lights etc.......view a security camera from my front door etc.
Point is that is still years away 🙁
Multitouch systems have a history of twenty years.
The iPhone is based on Wayne Westerman's 1998 dissertation and patent work, which makes it more akin to a 2D array of theremin antennas. This is just the first commercial implementation in a portable device.
Jeff Han's work is based on the Frustrated Internal Reflection Principle in Physics. You put a finger, it absorbs light rather than reflects.
MS's Andy Wilson's PlayAnywhere - which is the basis is based on light sensing via infrared cameras.
an overview of past research here
Still, the key to it working properly is in software.
And exactly where isn't digging through a 1200+ album music library time consuming?
I assume that to jump to a certain album starting with a certain letter you'll just press that letter on the keyboard... oh, wait... no keyboard. I'm sure you'll just draw the letter. Wait, not character recognition that I can see. I don't even see a letter selector...
I did see how they completely copied how Apple's albums flip over and have the tunes on the back. But they weren't daring enough to steal cover flow.
jakebot
macrumors member
I wonder if you can interact with the blue screen of death... I'm assume there is a gesture for ctrl-alt-delete.
hopefully the spyware will be as pretty and interactive as its interface.
🙂
on a serious note though, definitely a pretty impressive piece of technology. Definitely would love to play with it.
hopefully the spyware will be as pretty and interactive as its interface.
🙂
on a serious note though, definitely a pretty impressive piece of technology. Definitely would love to play with it.
Is this really new?
Wow, I'm pretty sure Sony demoed something pretty similar to this several years ago. It was purely conceptual. Here's an example from Panasonic from maybe a year ago.
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/panasonics-interactive-table
So, yawn, MS now has a 5-10K coffee table that:
a) No one would buy as anything but a novelty - at that price.
b) Been done, probably several times - see above
c) Target market = bars and restuarants? As many have said, who the heck is going to spend 5-10K on a table that is likey fragile and virtually guaranteed to be abused.
d) Ice cold canned beverages cause "blue table of death." Fix not expected until service pack 2.
e) Attention hackers of the world - step 1 place smartphone on table - step 3 profits!
Wow, I'm pretty sure Sony demoed something pretty similar to this several years ago. It was purely conceptual. Here's an example from Panasonic from maybe a year ago.
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/panasonics-interactive-table
So, yawn, MS now has a 5-10K coffee table that:
a) No one would buy as anything but a novelty - at that price.
b) Been done, probably several times - see above
c) Target market = bars and restuarants? As many have said, who the heck is going to spend 5-10K on a table that is likey fragile and virtually guaranteed to be abused.
d) Ice cold canned beverages cause "blue table of death." Fix not expected until service pack 2.
e) Attention hackers of the world - step 1 place smartphone on table - step 3 profits!
Undeniably cool. The drag & drop interaction with physical objects is the stand out feature IMO.
There's multi-touch Tablet PCs? Where?! and why is M$ making a big table like this if there are.....🙄
Impressed!
Vista, Zune - Microsoft products typically don't impressive me greatly. A little 'oh thats nice' but nothing more. However, after seeing the promo vids on microsofts website I'm pretty impressed by this product. Ok, so they're using an idea thats been banded about by Jeff Han and is soon to be implemented in the iPhone, but what I am mostly impressed with is the thought and approach Microsoft have appeared to focus on with regards to the markets and niche they want 'surface' to appeal to.
Clearly the emphasis is on a clean to use interface that can be easily operated and adapted for businesses, restaurants, coffee shops etc, and some of the potential examples I found extremely interesting and beneficial to make life more convenient and easier.
Another positive that was stressed in all the promotional videos was the communal/group emphasis placed on the product which is a great thing. Potentially it can benefit interaction with its seemingly easy to use interface which I like and may attract businesses for developing team-working and group cooperation, but also create a more positive image for technology as a tool that can bring people - friends and family closer together.
These seem very much like hypothetical situations that were promo'd and I will wait to see more reactions to the product. But I personally am impressed with what seems like a very clear, crisp and easy to use interface by Microsoft, and a very well-thought out marketing campaign. It seems the 'surface' could potentially satisfy a different market, or use from the iphone, which is really more of an individual/personal experience - whilst still encouraging multi-touch technology to be challenged and bettered.
Vista, Zune - Microsoft products typically don't impressive me greatly. A little 'oh thats nice' but nothing more. However, after seeing the promo vids on microsofts website I'm pretty impressed by this product. Ok, so they're using an idea thats been banded about by Jeff Han and is soon to be implemented in the iPhone, but what I am mostly impressed with is the thought and approach Microsoft have appeared to focus on with regards to the markets and niche they want 'surface' to appeal to.
Clearly the emphasis is on a clean to use interface that can be easily operated and adapted for businesses, restaurants, coffee shops etc, and some of the potential examples I found extremely interesting and beneficial to make life more convenient and easier.
Another positive that was stressed in all the promotional videos was the communal/group emphasis placed on the product which is a great thing. Potentially it can benefit interaction with its seemingly easy to use interface which I like and may attract businesses for developing team-working and group cooperation, but also create a more positive image for technology as a tool that can bring people - friends and family closer together.
These seem very much like hypothetical situations that were promo'd and I will wait to see more reactions to the product. But I personally am impressed with what seems like a very clear, crisp and easy to use interface by Microsoft, and a very well-thought out marketing campaign. It seems the 'surface' could potentially satisfy a different market, or use from the iphone, which is really more of an individual/personal experience - whilst still encouraging multi-touch technology to be challenged and bettered.
Don't panic
macrumors 603
it looks like a cool tech, and some people here should really take their blinders off.
i can see tons of commercial applications for it, but restaurants are not one of them.
It's not the cost, as even at the current price (which will drop like arock in the future) it's not that much for a commercial venue, and it's not the spilling issue (as many said, it is not a touch screen, so it will be made solid and waterproof.
it is the concept: most people would like to have a table cloth when they eat, especially in nice places.
and even if they don't, during meal the surface will be basically unreacheable, and you have to wait for the waiter to clean evarything out before you can pay. so the investment in the table would be only for paying the bill, there would be no added entertainment value.
i can see a few places having them for the novelty, but not many and not for long.
i can see tons of commercial applications for it, but restaurants are not one of them.
It's not the cost, as even at the current price (which will drop like arock in the future) it's not that much for a commercial venue, and it's not the spilling issue (as many said, it is not a touch screen, so it will be made solid and waterproof.
it is the concept: most people would like to have a table cloth when they eat, especially in nice places.
and even if they don't, during meal the surface will be basically unreacheable, and you have to wait for the waiter to clean evarything out before you can pay. so the investment in the table would be only for paying the bill, there would be no added entertainment value.
i can see a few places having them for the novelty, but not many and not for long.
Not neccessary. It's simply cash register software. Visa isn't splitting up the bill, it's being done beforehand and then, assuming it all adds up right, it charges the 4 cards. Yes, of course you'd need a merchant acct to charge credit cards, but nothing special.
Belly-laughs
macrumors 6502a
Makes for a fat Zune.
Behold the huge glimmering screen and smooth graphics! It´s all very interesting, but: people working in product design/software/displays have seen these concept for years.
xyian
macrumors 6502
No? But you Mac geeks will spend 5-10k on a MacPro any old day. That on a machine that's outdated and underpowered for the time being.
I don't get it. People should be happy multi touch is gaining steam. I think it will only be time before we see tablet multi touch and then everyone will be bitching about how Apple has missed the boat on this. Hopefully they don't.
All I know is that Jeff Han is one rich bastard at the moment!😎