Microsoft Surface
by John Paczkowski
Posted on May 30, 2007 at 12:01 AM PT
With his appearance today at D: All Things Digital, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil Surface, the first in the company’s new category of surface-computing products that it has touted as “breaking down traditional barriers between people and technology.” Surface has a 30-inch display that can recognize physical objects. It allows, according to Microsoft, “hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps. … through natural gestures, touch and physical objects.” And it looks like it would make a hell of an air hockey table and perhaps even a Ms. Pacman game.
Surface can also recognize objects embedded with identification tags similar to bar codes. For instance, according to Microsoft, customers could set a wine glass on Surface and a restaurant could provide them with information about the wine, pictures of the vineyard it came from and suggested pairings with food on the menu. Surface, as Microsoft sums it up, brings an “opportunity to create technology that would bridge the physical and virtual worlds.”
Microsoft will begin rolling out the device–which some have likened to a sophisticated toy–in hotels (notably, Starwood Hotels and Resorts), T-Mobile stores, restaurants and entertainment venues (such as Harrah’s in Las Vegas) by the end of the year.
Find more D5 coverage at The Wall Street Journal.
Comments
I’m sorry, but looking at it in the picture, this looks like a gray Walmart plastic storage tub (about $8) with a Home Depot sink cutout sitting on the top (about $4) and a computer Big Screen monitor mounted in it (evidently about $9,988 to $4,988). Maybe is shows better in real life. Good idea, but at PC prices plus $12. As far as MS getting into my living room, this looks like a better idea from Microsoft’s viewpoint than maybe it does from mine. Keep trying, but no cigar.
Posted by stewart stanton at May 30th, 2007 at 11:45 amHere are some of the minor things you’ve left out of your extenive parts list, Stew.
* HD resoltion DLP (probably 1280×720 or 1920×1080) = $2000~5000
* 5 High sample rate/high resolution (probably 60z or better) infrared/video camera = $1000~2000 or more?
* 30″ diagonal multi-touch sensor surface = no idea but not cheap
I think it’s amazing that this thing is less than $10,000 WITH a fast enough computer to run everything smoothly.
Posted by Brian Eun at May 31st, 2007 at 11:41 am