With the hype around Apple's near-certain upcoming tablet PC seemingly cooling off, our attention now turns to Microsoft--as the company is rumored to be preemptively working on its own Apple-tablet killer.
ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley reports that Microsoft plans to create a tablet, which is based in part on the technology behind the company's Surface project and has been developed under code names including "Oahu" and "Alchemy Ventures." In charge of the project--Chief Experience Officer J Allard, who was the main guy behind the Xbox brand for several years.
But don't look for it any time soon. Mary-Jo says she "wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft is waiting for Apple to show its Tablet hand before trotting out its revamped Tablet."
A key difference between a Microsoft tablet and an Apple one would be that Microsoft would design the basic spec, and let hardware partners build the actual devices--allowing MS to sit back and enjoy revenue from Zune-like subscription services, rather than be in the hardware-manufacturing business (and judging from the Xbox 360's high failure rate, that might not be the worst idea).
This episode is all about your hands. So, put your clammy, pudgy, baby-like ham hands together for these handy gadgets.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
 |
EPISODE 132 |
Mouse doubles as hand dryer, triples as seizure inducer
The new TV remote: Your bare hand?
DIY Microsoft Surface clone you can make on the cheap
Vibrating touch screen enables Braille reading
Apropos (of) nothing
Toto Neorest toilets, now even more high-tech, self-cleaning
Bling RX (thanks, Fernando!)
Chevrolet’s Captiva gets the Swarovski treatment. For some reason.
What the hell? (Gender gap edition)
CJ7: The ever-so randomly shaped MP3 player
Kill Me
Le Whif: Don’t eat your chocolate, inhale it
Fug!
Sony’s crocodile skin Vaio has teeth
Tampa authorities will utilize Microsoft's Surface touch-screen device, along with other technologies, as part of Super Bowl Sunday security, according to Ars Technica.
For well over a year now, more than 60 federal, state, regional, local, and municipal authorities have been working with the E-Sponder technology partnership to plan security details for Super Bowl XLIII, one of the only major sporting events that receives national security status.
Beginning this week and continuing past the final game whistle, E-Sponder will connect on-site and remote authorities, allowing them to remotely track all activities in real time with mapping, as well as 3D displays, two-way radio integration, and immediate communication.
Together with Infusion Development's Falcon Eye technology, the Tampa Incident Command staff will use the E-Sponder portal to visualize all aspects of Super Bowl goings-on.
The Microsoft Surface device will display a Microsoft Virtual Earth map of the entire region, tracking events and incidents in real time using its large display and multi-user, multitouch, and interactive capabilities, and also allowing it to communicate with remote devices and PCs.
With a quick hand gesture, the map can zoom in and display a 3D image of the city, including detailed views of buildings and streets and real-time resource tracking.
BMW has been among the leaders in high-tech car innovation, occasionally even jumping too far ahead of what its older customers preferred to use.
So it should be no surprise that the German carmaker wants to lure in potential customers with another cool high-tech tool.
The BMW Product Navigator, which employs Microsoft's Surface computer, lets potential customers hand-pick options, then see a computer-generated video of their future car in action.
By placing mini discs on the computer table, customers at dealerships can add features like wheels in designing their customized BMW. Users can also use Microsoft's multitouch Surface gestures to rotate, move, and enlarge on-screen images.
Instead of showing the usual computer-generated image of a customized car, the program produces a video. The video, which is shown to users on a separate computer screen hung on a wall, shows the customer how their car will look from the inside and outside while being driven.
The results of each configuration a customer comes up with can then be printed, e-mailed, or saved to a USB drive to take home.
BMW has posted a video (above) on BMW-web.tv Web site and YouTube of Franz Wimmer, innovation manager at BMW Group, demonstrating how the Surface device works.
Don't go running out to your nearest BMW dealership just yet to check the technology out. The company has not yet specified when the BMW Product Navigator kiosks will be widely available.
The MultiTouch Cell. Be ready to impress your friends if you have the money.
(Credit: MultiTouch)MultiTouch announced on Tuesday that the Philip K. Dick future seen in Minority Report is here. Actually, that's not true at all, but the style of computer interaction in that movie was the first thing I thought of when watching the demo of the MultiTouch Cell.
This is a large LCD touch-screen display which, according to MultiTouch, is the world's first modular multitouch LCD screen. The screen is available in 32-inch and 46-inch versions in 1080p, and an "HD ready" (1366x768) version at 32 inches. Two or more screens (according MultiTouch, the amount is only limited by imagination and budget) can be combined to form a larger display and be used as a wall, floor, or table display.
The screens (cells) can be positioned in landscape or portrait modes and are compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. The screens can be used by multiple users simultaneously, with each person using both hands.
According to MultiTouch, other touch screens are only able to recognize each point of the fingertips touching the screen. The MultiTouch screen, however, sees that each fingertip is connected to a hand. So with two hands on the screen, rather than seeing 10 discreet points of interaction (each fingertip), it sees 2 unique points (each hand). This allows the screen to accept more complex interactions.
The demo shows a very impressive interaction between two users and eight running videos. Each user is moving, scaling, and playing multiple videos simultaneously. Since the screen runs are 60 frames per second it can accept this level of complex interaction.
By combining displays, you'll have room for multiple users to have their own interaction simultaneously.
(Credit: MultiTouch)As for pricing, well it's not consumer-level stuff here. The cheapest of the three solutions--the HD-ready 32-inch version--will cost around $7,000, with the 1080p 46-incher coming in at about $15,000.
More exciting than this actual product, however, is the technology underneath it. Multitouch technology is nothing really new ,as it dates back to the early '80s with the current and most popular implementation today being the iPhone. Also, Microsoft recently showed off a very impressive display of its Surface multitouch technology.
This is the most probable future for mainstream computer interaction right now. In a few years there will be a generation of children born who will grow up having never used a mouse to interact with a computer.
In targeting casinos, restaurants, and hotels, Microsoft knows it is barely scratching the surface of the demand for its tabletop computer.
The company is convinced there is a mass market for an interactive touch-screen computer, but perhaps not in its current $10,000 version. CEO Steve Ballmer told financial analysts last month that Microsoft had a plan to speed up the arrival of a consumer version of the tabletop computer Surface.
Mark Bolger, marketing director for Microsoft's surface computing unit, shows off the tabletop computer in May. Microsoft hopes to have a version for the home market by 2011.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)Originally, Microsoft had said it could take up to five years for a home version of Surface, but Microsoft is now aiming to have that out in three years' time, according to an interview that Microsoft's Tom Gibbons did with Fortune magazine.
"In the three-year time window, we absolutely see how to get there," Gibbons told Fortune. "If we can beat that, we'll try to beat that."
But before it can focus on the home market, Microsoft still needs to work on satisfying the initial customers for the product. When it announced Surface in May, Microsoft was aiming to have its initial customers with products in hand by years' end. By the fall, though, CNET News.com reported that Microsoft was unlikely to meet its goal.
"We're running a couple of months later than I'd like with our deployments, Gibbons said in the Fortune interview. "While I was hoping we'd have something out now, we'll definitely have something out in the next couple of months."
Microsoft's Surface has yet to become a permanent act on the Vegas Strip, but the tabletop computer did play a one-night gig at Caesars Palace last week.
The it-list gadget was shown off at Caesars Pure nightclub at the drawing party for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Among the celebrity hands that got to touch the Surface were those belonging to Jason Alexander, Don Cheadle, and Shannon Elizabeth, along with the fingers of some pro poker players, including Howard Lederer.
But it will still take more than a good card on the river to get your hands on the thing. The first units should make their debut in the coming months at early customers like Starwood hotels and Harrah's, which plans to put a unit inside the Rio.
For those who aren't counting cards, that's later than Microsoft had originally planned. However, Microsoft is accelerating plans to try to get the technology behind Surface into the home.
When people get a chance to try out Microsoft's Surface touch-screen tabletop computer, they often wish they could take one home.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Monday that the company is trying to speed up that process after getting a lot of demand for a consumer version.
Mark Bolger, director of marketing for Microsoft's surface-computing effort, shows off the company's new touchscreen tabletop PC last May. The company is still working to ship the product.
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)When Microsoft announced its plans for Surface last spring, the stated plan was to bring the technology to consumers eventually, but the company warned that it could be five years before a version of the products would be on shelves at the local Best Buy.
But the company got a lot of pushback on that timing, Ballmer said.
"We're going to follow our nose," Ballmer said, indicating that Microsoft hopes to shorten the gap before a consumer version is available.
That said, at the moment, Microsoft still has its hands full trying to ship the first machines to its handful of early customers: folks in the hotel, casino and retail businesses. The tech giant had hoped to start having models up and running for those customers by the end of last year, but now is aiming to do so by spring.
Like every year, the Consumer Electronics Show is jam-packed with gadgets, from shiny new cell phones to giant TVs.
But this year, reporters scouring the CES show floor found a few goodies for the foodies too.
Microsoft's Mark Bolger gives a demo of Wine Bar on the company's surface computer.
(Credit: CNET Networks)CNET News.com's Ina Fried sat down Wednesday with Mark Bolger of Microsoft's surface computing team to see what types of applications the tabletop technology could be used for. One of the ideas they've come up with is a system called Wine Bar that would allow restaurant-goers to select from a restaurant's wine list based on their taste preferences. So you can imagine selecting traits like acidity or fruitiness and having the tableside computer bring back appropriate wines from the restaurant's wine list. Or those who buy wine based on the pretty labels (you know who you are) could visually scroll through the list and look at each bottle.
Bolger also suggests the system could then make food recommendations based on the wine that's been ordered. That might be the reverse of how most people order their meals, but I like the way he thinks.
Click here to see Fried's video.
Microsoft shows off its Surface computer in May
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)DENVER--On Thursday, Microsoft plans to show its partners the Surface computer that it introduced in May. But it will be a little while longer before most partners get a chance to do more than look at the tabletop computer.
Allison Watson, the head of Microsoft's partner efforts, plans to show off the touch-based device as part of a talk she is giving on Microsoft's innovation pipeline. Watson also plans to announce the company is forming a partner advisory council to help the company decide how it should open up the product to outside developers.
"Starting in April, I think the hope is we can launch an actual (software development kit) for partners," Watson said in an interview at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference here. "Before we do that, we thought we'd bring in real partners to help us."
For now, Microsoft is focusing the device, which costs around $10,000, on the hospitality and gaming and retail markets. Software development is limited to a few handpicked partners.
