A friend sent me a link to a video (watch it!) on Microsoft's new mind-blowing coffee table named Surface. You read it right --- a coffee table. But not just any simple coffee table. A computer housed as a coffee table.
History
It all started with a proof of concept named T1, which used an IKEA table to showcase its possible features. Upon Bill Gates's approval, the team started the project codenamed Milan last 2001.
Going back to the video mentioned above, PopularMechanics.com had a first hands-on look into it just this March 2007, therefore counting six years of secrecy.
Architecture
MS Surface is composed of the same components of a typical desktop: Core II Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, 256MB graphics card. It uses WiFi and Bluetooth to connect to wireless devices and has a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. Of course, the huge difference is its a coffee table so it has a wider range of display and interaction so multiple users could work together per se using the same screen.
A more in-depth diagram is provided in PopularMechanics.com to picture its structure.
Multi-touch Capability
The multi-touch display has been around since the 80s but has not been so available till now. Only recently, Apple launched its new iPhone that has multi-touch capability.
MS Surface has the real hands-on feel. Just like in resizing pictures: you put tips of your fingers at the sides of the image and pull/push from there on to get the size you want. Dragging objects in Surface is really a literal drag since you point to one object and drop it somewhere else in the table.
Meanwhile, Jeff Han launched Perceptive Pixel last year "which builds six-figure-plus custom multitouch drafting tables and enormous interactive wall displays for large corporations and military situation rooms." He delves into the multi-touch universe in an interview of PopularMechanics.com with him.
Wireless Convenience
The convenience of wireless connection is topped off in MS Surface because just by putting a wireless device on it, Surface will just "spill" the data (example in video: pictures/videos) across the table. Sending this data to another wireless device is such a breeze since you just drag and drop it literally to the target device.
Availability
Microsoft intends to release Surface first to its partners: T-Mobile, Starwood Hotels and "Vegas casino giant" Harrah's Entertainment by the end of 2007. Its cost will range from US$ 5,000-10,000; not a user-friendly sum, if I may add. But through the years, technology would always outdo itself and will lessen that cost to be available to the household.
Indeed, Microsoft Surface is just the tip of the iceberg for new technologies that might captivate us all over again.
