Microsoft unveiled a coffee table shaped "surface computer" Wednesday. The "Surface PC" promotes Bill Gates's view of a future where the mouse and Keyboard are replaced by more natural interaction using voice, pen and touch.
The Surface, which has a 30-inch interactive display under a hard plastic tabletop, allows people to touch and move objects on screen for everything from digital finger painting and jigsaw puzzles to ordering off a virtual menu in a restaurant (with pictures like in oriental restaurants!).
It also recognizes and interacts with devices placed on its surface, so cell phone users can easily buy ringtones or change payment plans by placing their handsets on in-store displays, or a group of people gathered round the table can check out the photos on a digital camera placed on top.
Microsoft said it will manufacture the machine itself and sell it initially to corporate customers, deploying the first units in November in Sheraton hotels, Harrah's casinos, T-Mobile stores, and restaurants. The company is selling the Surface for between $5,000 and $10,000 each, but aims to bring prices down to consumer levels in three to five years and introduce various shapes and forms.
The possibilities with this new PC are almost endless. If we can finally get rid of the mouse and keyboard interface, it brings the PC to almost everyone. Also moving the PC to the coffee table gets us out of these uncomfortable office chairs and back into couches and comfortable side chairs! It will put a strain on your neck to look down. I look for Holographic PC projections next so we can really lounge in our massaging lounge chairs!
The Surface, which has a 30-inch interactive display under a hard plastic tabletop, allows people to touch and move objects on screen for everything from digital finger painting and jigsaw puzzles to ordering off a virtual menu in a restaurant (with pictures like in oriental restaurants!).
It also recognizes and interacts with devices placed on its surface, so cell phone users can easily buy ringtones or change payment plans by placing their handsets on in-store displays, or a group of people gathered round the table can check out the photos on a digital camera placed on top.
Microsoft said it will manufacture the machine itself and sell it initially to corporate customers, deploying the first units in November in Sheraton hotels, Harrah's casinos, T-Mobile stores, and restaurants. The company is selling the Surface for between $5,000 and $10,000 each, but aims to bring prices down to consumer levels in three to five years and introduce various shapes and forms.
The possibilities with this new PC are almost endless. If we can finally get rid of the mouse and keyboard interface, it brings the PC to almost everyone. Also moving the PC to the coffee table gets us out of these uncomfortable office chairs and back into couches and comfortable side chairs! It will put a strain on your neck to look down. I look for Holographic PC projections next so we can really lounge in our massaging lounge chairs!
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