Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Computing on a coffee table

Microsoft has taken the wraps off "Surface", a coffee-table shaped computer that responds to touch and to special barcodes attached to everyday objects.

People who have had a look at the Surface say that it is essentially a Windows Vista PC tucked inside a shiny black table base, topped with a touch screen in a clear acrylic frame. Five cameras that can sense nearby objects are mounted beneath the screen. Users can interact with the machine by touching or dragging their fingertips and objects such as paintbrushes across the screen, or by setting real-world items tagged with special barcode labels on top of it.

Unlike most touch screens, Surface can respond to more than one touch at a time. It has a price tag between $5 000 and $10 000 per unit and the company says it expects prices to drop enough to make consumer versions feasible in three to five years.

Some of the first Surface models are planned to help customers pick out new cellphones at T-Mobile stores. When customers plop a phone down on the screen, Surface will read its barcode and display information about the handset. Customers can also select calling plans and ringtones by dragging icons towards the phone. Also guests sitting in some hotel lobbies will be able to cluster around the Surface to play music, then buy songs using a credit card or rewards card tagged with a barcode. In some hotel restaurants, customers will be able to order food and drinks, then split the bill by setting down a card or a room key and dragging their menu items "onto" the card. Surface also indulges users with interactive maps,which will allow them to book,show tickets or make dinner reservations.

Microsoft is working on a limited number of programs to ship with Surface, including one for sharing digital photographs.

Historically, Microsoft has focused on creating new software, giving computer programmers tools to build applications on its platforms, and left hardware manufacturing to others.For now, Microsoft is making the Surface hardware itself, and has only given six outside software development firms the tools they need to make Surface applications.

But overall, people who have seen it themselves seem to be wowed by Surface.

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