Surface: The New Old Way of Interaction
Thursday, May 31st, 2007
The freshly unveiled project Microsoft Surface just might redefine the way we use computers. Surface takes the good old real-life method of interacting with everyday objects and puts that on screen. It’s basically a coffee table with a 30″ flatscreen as the tabletop, controlled by a multi-touch sensor. No more need for a mouse or keyboard, everything appears to be very intuitive and allows multiple simultaneous users at once. A few of these features will also be found in the upcoming Apple iPhone, and movie-goers will undoubtedly be reminded of the movie Minority Report. If Microsoft stays on schedule, we’ll be seeing the first of these babies out in the wild around the end of this year. Might take a while to reach your living room, though, unless you have $10000 to spare. Prices are expected to go down significantly in the following 5 years.
Another very similar approach can be found in the research of Perceptive Pixel, Inc. Check out the following video for some really awesome computer interaction.
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