Next-Generation Tabletop

"Microsoft Surface Demo @ CES 2008"
YouTube (January 08, 2008)

This ten-minute video (9:57, to be precise) is a very impressive marketing demonstration of a new Microsoft product: a tabletop. An interactive tabletop. A home version is probably a few years away, but things like this will probably soon be in places I can't afford.

In a way, it's not much more than an oversize touch screen. One that you can put tableware on.



This is not (quite) a toy. The narrator demonstrates a number of functions, from making ripples in water, to sorting out what that fancy wine is and customizing a skateboard.

With my background in graphic design, I can see this as a next-generation light table. Or kitchen table. Some of the wine-list functions could be transferred to food preparation.

What struck me as the demonstration went along was how this soon-to-be-released gadget is like something out of the science fiction shows I watched, a decade or three back.

Very cool interface.