Surface Computing And The Zune: Live in NYC

Microsoft’ Surface Computing table made its first public appearance last Saturday at the Sheraton, downtown New-York City. Since I was in the area, I dropped by to touch the screen by myself.

Wow! The screen is simply awesome! Moving objects like pictures and album arts with your fingers is very intuitive. Even though I used the screen for the first time, understanding how it works was very easy. Even computer neophytes were able to use the screen with almost no instruction. The gesture recognition also works very well.

After only a few minutes, it becomes obvious that this technology will change the way we interact with machines. In ten years from now, interfaces used today will be part of a bygone era.

I was curious to know more about the interactivity with devices like cell phones, cams and music players like the Zune. In the official demo released by Microsoft, we see a Zune on the table being immediately recognized by the Surface software. But in a real life demo, I found out that this version of Microsoft Surface is nothing more than a prototype. Stickers with unique patterns have been applied on the back of the devices, and this is what is being recognized by the Surface computer. No real communication between the Zune and the table is possible for the moment.  The same thing applied to cell phones and credit cards you see in the demos.

The technology will be available to commercial applications for a few years. According to the Microsoft representative on place, we should see consumer products using the technology in a three to five year timeframe. That gives the Zune team plenty of time to find a way to communicate with the Surface computer.

Comments

[simon]

That´s a post I was looking for! Credit cards, moible phones don´t work for real now! But what´s with the digital camera, looking the viedeo it seem´s to communicate pretty fast - is it real or fake? And what kind of tecnologie is behind it - bluethoot???

[neon]

Your site is very easy in terms of expression and open. I think everyone who enters your site is very gratifying, but also sharing a very nice opportunity to give ...