Halx

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

It's like this table that you can do a lot of stuff with. It's a photo album, video screen, device interface, kiosk, map, point of sale, and drawing board in one. If I can remember the date, I am going to try to go to the live demo here in NY.

It may be a slick site with actors and fake smiles, but I seriously was impressed when I saw them split the check.

Here's to a new way to watch porn!

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ShaniFaye

Yeah I heard about this on the news this morning, the first ones will be between 5k-10k and it will be awhile before home versions are available

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aberkok

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QuasiMondo

This is like a C & C dream come true.

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MexicanOnABike

that's pretty amazing IF they can reduce the cost compared to other similar technology. Wacom has something similar but for a 21 inch, it's around 2500$.
http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/index.cfm
I know theres still the pen but ya know? who wants to get a 3000$ or more screen ? unless it comes with the whole interface(computer-HD, soundcard, etc..).

but if it accepts anything on it, i will be very interested!

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vanblah

Remember this from early LAST year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp-y3ZNaCqs

Microsoft is really good at buying up cool stuff. I wondered who would get it first.

Willravel

ROFL

Cynthetiq

I had seen something like this back in the late 80s in development for DoD for battle planning and strategy. I don't know if the guy who I worked with on it still holds the patent but it is nice to see this kind of development.

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fresnelly

A real potential for this sort of product is for editing CAD files on jobsites.

Rather than printing a large blueprint that everyone marks up with red pen and highlighters, and then going back to a computer to update it to reprint sometime later, you could make the changes on the spot.

I've wanted something like this for lighting installs for a long time. Hopefully someday they'll be cheap enough. Cool!

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SecretMethod70

There is a lot of potential for this, and a lot things stupid about this. For one thing, to echo the comments that were made when the original video of the technology was making the rounds, computers are supposed to help reduce clutter and disorganization. Watching the videos, the way photos are handled has got to be one of the least attractive aspects of this product. And then there's the fact this is extremely cost prohibitive. The counters have got to be at least the cost of some of the biggest LCD TVs out today. I'm baffled as to why they seem to be marketing this technology to the home consumer when they really ought to be concentrating in businesses who may actually be able to afford it. I could see some nice restaurants or 5 star hotels potentially being interested in this. Or, as fresnelly mentioned, it could be useful for CAD. Splitting the check was cool, and using it to compare products was also neat (although I guess that would mean more and more products would get RFID tags, which is not neat). But the home consumer? Between the cost and how the product gets rid of some of the most basic benefits of computers, I'm not sure too many people would actually be interested in buying it.

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MexicanOnABike

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ngdawg

Why is "Touch Me in the Morning" suddenly playing in my head?

Seriously, while it's a cool concept, considering how long touchscreen computers have been around, I'm really surprised this took so long....

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MexicanOnABike

apart for using it as a pressure sensitive drawing board, or possibly in 3dstudio max, there's no way i want to use that atleast not for now.

they'll have to make it much more organized. in the video i just posted, the only applications they've made was the picture zoom, map zoom, and little pointless games. I would like to see how this screen would be like on the internet or any regular softwares used today. (office, photoshop, firefox, windows explorer to browse files.)

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abaya

What would this kind of touch-based interface do for porn viewing?



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World's King

Yes... but does it vibrate?

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Cynthetiq

after looking at more than just what has been discussed here, I found an interesting link on the wired blogs.



I see that and just shudder that going out to dinner or drinking will be more adverts shoved under my nose. McD's in Times Square now uses LCD screens to show the food "in action" to make it more enticing.

durability will be the crucial factor, but I sense that even if they lose the touch screen, the advertising potential is already there since it is the table top.

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777

Neat, when my date isn't looking, I'll put her purse on the table, and have her pay.

But what if something falls out of her purse and lands on the Surface? Like her BC or a diaphram. Will it ask, "Feeling Frisky?"

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Martian

Yeah, this is pretty evolutionary stuff. The necessary technology to build one of these suckers has been around for the better part of a decade at least. It's just that nobody thought to put it together this way before.

Colour me skeptic, but I see this as being a niche product at best. There's a number of commercial applications, true, but I don't really see the home user having a lot of practical use for it. And really, even the bulk of the commercial applications depend heavily on the thing's durability and MTBF. It's no good to anyone if it can't stand up to the rigors of daily use.

The keyboard and mouse have been around for decades and there's a reason for that. It's a simple, practical, reliable interface. Other stuff has come along and some of it has even carved out a market - Wacom tablets are a prime example of that. But as for you and me, I don't think we ought to be rushing to throw our mice in the bin.

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SecretMethod70

You know, for businesses, I thought this idea could be pretty cool. That image of the menu you linked is a perfect example. Then you had to go and mention advertising, which somehow I hadn't thought about. Now I'm stuck thinking that nothing good can come of this

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analog

Yes, because an interface you have to lean over to use won't cause or exacerbate back problems.

MexicanOnABike

it could also be vertical like in minority report. That movie seems so much less futuristic now that we get this thing. even in the movie, they needed to put on some special gloves to work the machine and every file was on a separate disc.

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Cynthetiq

OH SNAP!!!! I didn't even see it before but it is already there...

circled around the glass, "try our new specials!"

upsell upsell upsell!!!!

maybe when you are done, the dishes are cleared away, a movie of Juan Valdez comes up showing him picking the coffee beans...

upsell upsell upsell!!!!!

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Redlemon

Or not.
Stolen from GlobalNerdy.com ...

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Nimetic

Very good. I like.

Cynthetiq

WTF!!?!!?!!? why is the paperclip there!?!?!?!?!?!?

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kofspades

My guess is it's a photoshop.

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Baraka_Guru

The technology appears to be the next logical step in computing. It certainly has its applications (i.e. it's not for everything). Personally, I'm more excited about the future of digital paper.

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MexicanOnABike

i saw it announced tonight on a french show. 10,000$ US. it has a built in vista interface in the computer.

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777

Wow, 10 grand...

Ok, I don't won't one now.

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Roger Zelazny

Nimetic

No way... This thing will compute very little.

It'll spend more time displaying soaps and supporting breakfast than computing, as such. To use the term "compute" in relation to this sort of technology is starting to become somewhat offensive to me.

But I suppose they'd have some uses. It's just a touch-screen display on it's side though.

greytone

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The paperclip is there to make sure you wife swap the Microsoft way.

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Nimetic

What the hell do you mean - Vista inside the computer.

Where you think Vista normally runs? In the mouse.

(I've said it once, I'm going to say it again. It's a f*** touch-screen on it's side).

MexicanOnABike

No. Go check the specs again. it's not just a touch screen. the whole box is a computer. check on wikipedia if you want a better page than microsoft's.


and since it's a new technology with more than 1 touch screen point, i can see people paying that much. Have you ever seen the price of a tablet that big? the wacom cintiq is 21 inch and that one is just a screen for the price of 2500$. it's totally worth it too.

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Redlemon

So, using a camera to determine location is a new thing? No, it's already at the mall. My son loves the Reactrix advertising game thing.

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MexicanOnABike

No none of this is really new but the way it's put together is kinda new. when was there a system like this available to the public? plus, it runs on vista.

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KungFuGuy

I'm surprised to see so much negativity going on in this thread, I think this technology is awesome in a grand scale!

Like most emerging technology, the 1st waves are always going to be super pricey, remember how much the first round VCR players cost? (i don't personally but my parents say they were a lot) How about the first round camcorders?

Did the high cost for these devices keep the general populace from getting them? Or did it prevent technological improvements allowing manufacturers to produce the product at a significantly lower cost? The answer is no.

It's expected that the first adopters of this technology will probably be businesses and high end restaurants and hotels, but I see it increasingly becoming a facet of every day life.

as far as advertising goes... advertising is insiduous in that it appears in everything everywhere. do pop ups or banner ads keep you from viewing certain websites or using a web browser? No. You just find ways to ignore them, such as pop up blockers. Did commercials stop people from watching television? No... And only until recently did Tivo and DVR become mainstream in use.

So... will advertisements stop people from using this awesome mutli touch technology? NO! It won't!

As far as porn goes, this might not enhance viewing, but it will increase interactivity with games. Imagine rubbing the touch screen and watching the titties go up and down correspondingly.

A lot of the negative talk in here reminds me of what I read about the nay-sayers when "talkies" came out.

MSD

It's hard enough to get people from spilling their drinks on a pair of $35,000 pool tables, a computer with a touchscreen table won't last a day near anyone I know.

SecretMethod70

Actually, before pop-up blockers and adblocking extensions became available for browsers like Firefox, advertisements on a web page were pretty influential in whether or not I would visit the page with any frequency. It is precisely because we are bombarded with ads so much already - on TV, before/after movies, at the bus stop, on the sides of buses/subway trains, on billboards, on the sides of buildings, etc, etc - that I have absolutely no desire to see it even more. They already have advertisements on menus at some restaurants, and it ruins the dining experience for me so I don't go to those places often. Make those advertisements flash and spin around my drink, and I won't be a repeat customer.

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"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Martian

The difference between those examples and this is that those examples were offering something new and exciting that no other product could do. They were revolutionary; this is evolutionary. All Microsoft has done is taken existing technology, repackaged it and hyped the hell out of it.

The real test of this product is when the consumer asks 'what will this do for me?' In fact, I can use myself as an example. I'm a twentysomething male, single, apartment dweller, live on my own. I'm not an artist, I don't paint or draw and I already have a computer with a nice, big display. What will this thing do for me that my existing PC can't do already? What will it do for me that will make it worth $10 000? VCR's were worth the initial cost, because they allowed us to record and watch at our leisure our favourite television programs and movies. Camcorders were worth it because they allowed us to capture our memories and best moments on videocassette. What will this thing do to make it worth it?

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I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Pesto

I can see this being used for interactive exhibits in childrens' museums or technology museums. Like someone else said, it would have to be pretty durable.