Ideum, which makes Microsoft Surface-like computer tables such as the MT-50, has now revealed its 65-inch MT65 Presenter display that hangs vertically, on a wall. The multi-touch 3D display is meant for public consumption and is thus covered by tempered glass. It can recognize and track up to 32 touch points.
Microsoft on Monday confirmed that the first Surface 2.0 table, the Samsung Surface SUR40, was shipping. Coming out a year after it was first shown, the multi-touch table introduces optics in the panel itself that can see objects and react accordingly. It can now react to as many as 50 simultaneous contact points and uses a quicker 2.9GHz AMD Athlon II X2, a Radeon HD 6700M graphics chip, and runs on Windows 7.
Samsung's more technical side started mass production on two key breakthroughs on Wednesday. Its micro SATA SSD line has received a major leap through a variant on the PM830 family. Although small enough to fit in the MacBook Air and Windows-based ultrabooks, it can hit fast read speeds of 500MB per second and writes of 260MB per second.
The first Microsoft Surface 2.0 multi-touch table, the Samsung SUR40, has gone up for pre-order. Those in 23 countries can request the new Surface ahead of its launch in January. A handful of companies have already publicly lined up, including aircraft maker Dassault, Fujifilm, and Royal Bank of Canada.
Microsoft's Office team has put out a concept video (below) outlining what it imagines in its long-term future. The Productivity Future Vision demo shows a world dominated by touch and gestures, where smartphones are transparent blocks and tablets, walls, and tables all recognize either touch, voice, or in-the-air gestures. It imagines users physically dragging what they're working on from device to device and even includes 3D holograms that go beyond the edge of the display.
A Sydney-based outfit called nsquared has just shown off its so-called seamless computing framework in a video (embedded below). The name is appropriate, as Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Surface, Windows Phone 7 and Kinect devices are very smoothly tied together on a common project that allows a user to move around the room with a tablet or sit at the Surface and drag and drop or view content on it. Navigation, normally handled through body gestures using the Kinect, is supplanted by the tablet's touchscreen interface.
The Microsoft Surface has had a special application written by an enthusiast so that it can act as a remote control for Parrot’s AR. Drone. The AR. Drone model quadricopter was developed in the first instance for remote control by Apple’s iPod touch, iPhone or iPad. In this instance, the Microsoft’s Surface has taken on the mantle as the world’s largest touchscreen remote control as the video embedded below demonstrates.
Microsoft and Samsung have teamed to reveal the next generation Surface 2.0, the Samsung SUR40 multi-touch computer. The latest iteration of Microsoft’s Surface incorporates Microsoft's PixelSense technology in its display. It allows the display to recognize fingers, hands and objects placed on the screen, including more than 50 simultaneous touch points. Pixels in the display ‘see’ what's touching the screen and that information is immediately processed and interpreted.
A new Microsoft patent filing published on Thursday could lead to touchscreens that could change shape to create keyboards and other tactile objects. The technique for a "light-induced shape-memory polymer display screen" would send ultraviolet light to a plastic layer above each pixel to change its topography. Different UV wavelengths would make different parts hard or soft, creating bumps and ridges that could replicate a real surface and provide tangible keys.
Microsoft this weekend was accused of inflating its Windows revenue figures. An SEC filing has shown that the company's record revenues could have boosted Windows revenue by as much as $259 million through diverting sales from the Entertainment and Devices group. Microsoft explained the measure to InformationWeek as part of the "organizational shakeup" from the exit of Robbie Bach that moved embedded devices and Office for Mac to different groups.
Microsoft today bought chip designer Canesta in what's believed to be a strategy to move gesture recognition to the PC. The deal will give access to a processing system, CanestaVision, that can convert the image from a camera's CMOS sensor into 3D data for gestures with depth. Microsoft already uses camera-based motion in the Xbox 360's Kinect system launching just next week, suggesting that it's moving beyond its existing technology.
At the Kintex show in Korea this week, Hyundai IT is showing off a touch-enabled computer concept that resembles a coffee table. This should sound familiar, as Microsoft has had a similar product a couple of years back with the Surface. Specs of the 70: Table Monitor are relatively scarce, but the 70-inch screen offers 1080p resolution and multi-touch inputs. Whether the table has some kind of mechanism for lifting it up to use as a regular TV is also unknown.
The Microsoft Surface table-like PC will soon get its first real competition, thanks to Sony and its atracTable. The device is due out this June, and is powered by technology from Swiss company Atracsys, which sold the tech to Sony. Sony will create a 35-inch atracTable, prototypes of which are now out and feature a full HD screen with a high contrast.
Microsoft has quietly shown off a new touchscreen implementation that could potentially close the gap between stylus and finger input. Manual Deskterity uses the same multi-touch technology as Surface but with a special infrared stylus and a custom drawing app that recognizes both fingers and the pen at once. At a virtual work desk, the user could not only pan around with fingers but use them to hold photos and perform a second function with the pen, such as cutting out a segment of an image, copying it or using it as a stencil.
Microsoft today was spotted developing a new concept for a portable multi-touch interface. Mobile Surface (link currently inactive) combines a camera and a projector to create a multi-touch interface from a much smaller device, such as a smartphone. Unlike the table-based Surface of today, it would respond in 3D and would allow interactions based on the distance from the surface and the camera.
Very similar in concept to the Microsoft Surface comes a table-like PC from Intact Lab, dubbed Touchy Remix. The Touchy Remix is slightly different in execution from the Surface, however, as its fiberglass base caves inwards, giving users space for their knees when seated, unlike the box-like Surface. In the center of the device is a 40-inch touchscreen with 1366x768 (720p) resolution, while a fully integrated Mac mini powers the device.
MOTO Development Group on Tuesday showed off its first round multi-touch casino gaming table prototype at the Global Gaming Expo 2010 in Las Vegas. Similar in concept to the Microsoft Surface, the touch table has Blackjack and Texas Hold ‘Em poker games built into it. The table has one large integrated touchscreen that supports multi-touch inputs from many players.
Microsoft this evening preempted its arch-rival Apple in the tablet game with the Courier, its own self-developed tablet. The rough example discussed at the Gizmodo Gallery event is shaped like a book and has two 7-inch multi-touch displays that fold up when the system isn't in use. It would also support a stylus for handwriting and include a 3-megapixel camera on the back. While not yet certain for final production, Microsoft also suggests that the Courier might use inductive charging to power the device without having to plug it in.
At the currently ongoing PDC show in LA, Microsoft is holding demonstrations of its Surface PC for members of the industry and developers. At the same time, Microsoft showed off a notable new version of the Surface PC developed by the software giant's engineers from Cambridge, England. Called SecondLight, it allows the table to project different images than those projected on its screen on a translucent surface such as tracing paper held above the surface. The images are projected through the table itself, with Microsoft describing the technology as a magic lens.
At next week's Professional Developer Conference, Microsoft will offer a developer version of its Surface computer to developers for $13,500, including a 10 percent discount, according to a Friday report. Interested developers are paying more for the Surface than commercial customers, whose version costs $12,500, because it includes the Software Development Kit (SDK) promised earlier this month. Either price is significantly higher than the $5,000 to $10,000 range Microsoft said the Surfaces would cost back in May of 2007.
Dell's multi-touch screen is still undergoing teething issues According to an online report published on Monday. The N-Trig digitizer used in Dell's multi-touch Latitude XT Tablet PCs has issues that, nearly seven months since the products' launch, have not been resolved. According to users, some of the problems include errors that prevent the digitizer software from being found, making the tablet useless in auto and dual modes. While this problem goes away after a couple of reboots, many see it as frustrating and counter-productive. The report goes on to name an additional flaw that has the digitizer clicking items while the stylus is hovering when the tablet is exiting standby mode.
Microsoft will release the long-promised Software Development Kit (SDK) for its Surface tabletop computer at its Professional Developer Conference set to begin on October 27. according to a Tuesday report. Apart from distributing the SDK to developers other than current partners AT&T and Starwood hotels, both of whom have been using Surface computers in their retail and hotel locations, the software giant will hold a tutorial on how to take advantage of the new platform when writing Surface applications.
Zest Prod has developed a new photo app designed to take advantage of the iPhone's multi-touch capabilities. Photoboard allows users to pick a variety of images to display in the app, and then solely through the use of gestures, manipulate their content. Photos can be resized by pinching, moved around by dragging, or organized by holding a finger on the screen, which bring up a circular menu. The software resembles concepts presented in Microsoft's Surface technology, which looks to make viewing photos more intuitive by using natural commands.
Microsoft's highly talked-about Surface technology, previously known to exist in AT&T stores and Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, is now being adopted at five Sheraton Hotel and Resort locations, in New York, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco. The Sheraton locations will take advantage of the multi-touch Surface to provide travel and activity itineraries, musical entertainment from featured Sony BMG artists, and photo libraries from Sheraton hotels around the world.
Microsoft today provided a promised demo of Sphere, its next-generation multi-touch device. The device expands on the lessons learned from the Surface table and shows how future electronics could apply complex finger input to curved surfaces. In addition to altering the picture to ensure it displays properly on the ball-shaped screen, Microsoft has also switched to an infrared sensor system at the center that registers multiple fingers and palms regardless of their position on the sphere.
Microsoft will demonstrate its previously only hinted-at spherical Surface display next week, the company has inadvertently revealed through its own floor map for its Research group's DemoFest event. Booth 110 at the show is listed as offering a "multi-touch spherical display" that resembles a previously described variant on the company's Surface touch computer, which for now is only available as a table-sized device for businesses such as AT&T stores and casinos.
Panasonic is working on a wall-mounted surface computer with an enormous touchscreen. What the company aptly calls the Digital Wall is reportedly twice the size of a normal 110-inch display, and allows users to drag folders and windows across it. Unlike the similar Microsoft TouchWall currently under development, which is based on its Surface computing technology, the Digital Wall does not yet support multi-touch inputs, although Panasonic is said to be working on it.
Microsoft and Harrah's Operating Company on Wednesday announced the first deployment of the former company's surface technology at the iBar in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. The move represents the first official setup located in an entertainment scenario, having already been deployed at AT&T stores as interactive product demonstration centers. The Surfaces include a number of custom-designed applications for patrons to use, as well as a few Microsoft-supplied apps, customized for the lounge.
Microsoft is preparing to unveil a vertically-oriented, wall-mountable version of its Surface multitouch computing system, which the company calls TouchWall. PC World writes that Microsoft's Research and Office Labs department developed a prototype for the technology, citing that it is ideal for board rooms or other locations where interactive presentations are given. TouchWall uses integrated hardware, which includes laser and infrared lights which pick up touches to the display, through the embedded Plex software.
AT&T on Thursday became the first deployment of Microsoft's Surface computing, a new computing paradigm that leverages projection, cameras, and computer running Windows Vista along with a special management layer. As announced earlier this month, the company rolled out its new 22 "multi-touch surfaces" at five locations in four different cities around the US, including New York, Atlanta, San Antonio, and San Bruno ("San Francisco"). Microsoft Surface is made up of a 30-inch screen built into the top of a rugged, clear plastic surface that has the ability to "sense touches" and gestures as well as read barcode-like tags to identify and present information on products placed on the surface.
Luxology has announced a modo 302, the newest version of its 3D content creation software. Free for registered modo 301 customers, modo 302 adds new natural lighting capabilities, additional layered Photoshop file support, an animation Track View, new modeling tools and numerous other enhancements. Luxology is also making available the first version of the modo File I/O software development kit (SDK), which allows developers to import or export data directly from modo. modo combines a real-time subdivision surface modeling engine with an artist-focused set of tools.
AT&T on Wednesday announced it will be the first company in the world to use Microsoft's Surface computer in select retail stores. The multi-touch screen will allow customers to explore the mobile service provider's products and services. The computer's object recognition abilities also allow it to transfer digital content to devices via integrated Bluetooth 2.0 or built-in Wi-Fi and network capability, giving AT&T the ability to upload content to shoppers' cell phones.
Microsoft's Surface technology, which currently enables multi-touch computing on a table-sized display, may soon develop into a new shape, sources claim. Microsoft is reportedly demonstrating a spherical prototype at the company's main campus, though for what purpose remains unclear; it may be a proof-of-concept device, illustrating the ability of Microsoft engineers to produce touchscreens in unusual shapes. Most touchscreens must remain flat due to the use of glass or hard plastic.
Microsoft is accelerating the development of its Surface touchscreen technology for the home after customer requests, company chief Steve Ballmer said today at an analyst conference. The Redmond, Washington-based company had initially warned that a consumer-friendly version of the interactive table would not be available until four or five years after its early 2007 introduction but has since received a large amount of demand for a release sooner than the 2011 timeframe suggested by the schedule.
Two new apparent unlocking solutions for Apple's iPhone firmware v1.1.2 have surfaced, allowing owners of the cellular handset to sign up for wireless service with carriers other than Apple's exclusive partners. The new techniques, dubbed SonicSIM and StealthSIM, both claim to unlock iPhone v1.1.2 for use with all wireless carriers that use the same technology as Apple's cellphone. SonicSIM is a special card rumored to partially unlock the iPhone by tricking the device and dual booting operating systems, while StealthSIM is a similar card produced by a company hoping to sell the solution for $90 on eBay.
Microsoft's next version of Windows will support complex multi-touch features, according to a claim by company test engineer Hilton Locke. So far referred to only as Windows 7, the operating system will receive a Windows Technology update that should allow multiple points of contact and significantly more complex input options than the iPhone. Users of the Apple handset will be "blown away" by the additions to Windows, Locke hints without providing specific details.
