If you’re coming up to the Emerald City to hit up PAX, there are a lot of things you’re probably going to want to check out. But I’m going to make a point of dropping by the console free play room, where it is whispered there will be a Surface loaded with every Penny Arcade comic as well as PAX-related media and games. If you haven’t gotten a chance to play with one of these things (you can’t be blamed, they’re mostly in Hiltons and Las Vegas), there’s no time like the present.
A couple weeks ago we got an early demo of the Surface SP1 update, and saw that one of the goals of which was to improve Windows-Surface cross-compatibility and encourage developers to make their apps touch-compatible. Looks like that work goes both ways, as it appears that Surface content and functionality is going to be kicking it with Windows 7.
Check out the video inside. Everyone loves videos.
This last Friday, a few of the developers behind Microsoft Surface took some time out of their schedules to meet with us and talk about what’s coming in their Surface Service Pack 1, due to be rolled out today. Now, it’s called a service pack for a reason — as opposed to a fun pack — this update is a response to the requests and concerns of the community using and developing for the Surface, so it’s not about flashy new gizmos and eye candy, but usability.
There are still a few new visible features, and it’s always fun to play with a Surface, so there’s a nice video for you to watch if you’re interested in how the Surface is changing and how Microsoft is responding to developer feedback. It’s easier to show them than explain them at length, so check them out in the exclusive video inside.
Ladies and germs, behold the wonders of what’s to come. Someday we will live in a world that is filled with Microsoft Surface-like devices and everything will blend seamlessly together. Our notebooks will become manufacturing facilities and scanners. Shopkeeper’ countertops will be large touchscreens and our desks will be virtual desks. The future, according to Microsoft, will be grand and wonderful.
Watch the two videos after the jump about Microsoft’s vision of XUI – experience user interfaces – to experience the future too.
Microsoft is spending quite a bit of money to make sure you are going to be able to use their Surface technology with Windows 7. They are the major partner in a venture funding investment to a company that makes touch screen hardware.
Who would have thought that one of the coolest things we’ve seen at CES would be hidden in a 10×10 booth at the very back of the South Hall? Like a diamond in the rough, there sat the PQ Labs iTablet.
They’ve essentially taken the idea behind the Microsoft Surface and have done it better in every way. It’s cheaper, it’s gorgeous, and perhaps most notably, it’s not a hulking monster.
I guess you don’t know you’re leading the pack unless you hear the other dogs barking at your heels. GestureTek is a company that puts out touch- and gesture-based interactive screens in more various forms than the Microsoft Surface project. From what I can tell, it doesn’t track as exactly or as reliably as the seriously stress-tested Surface, but it also has a more attractive form factor in this thing (autoplaying video warning). I can’t tell what it’s using to track movement, but it looks to be sufficient for the basic applications that would be running in, say, a mall kiosk: a map, sales, basic product browsing and so on. Read More
Excellent. Microsoft will be doing the unveiling at the Professional Developer Conference at the end of the month, so it should get some good exposure. I got to watch a developer put together an app at Surface HQ a few months ago, and he convinced me that the library and SDK are such that fun and interesting apps can be made relatively easily, and taking advantage of the Surface’s unique interface is facilitated very well. Although it may be mighty difficult to get a test unit, it should be easy enough for developers to slap together a prototype.
MS also mentions the hand-in-hand aspect of Surface and Windows 7, which is supposed to multitouch it up in a couple years here. Makes sense; I know a lot was learned about touch interface design (Windows and otherwise) from working on the Surface.
Remember that Election 08 iPhone app I wrote up a couple days ago? Looks like Microsoft Research has been thinking along the same lines and in honor of the voting season has unleashed some election-orientated applications for the Surface. And because of the “M” in “MSNBC,” they got a pretty extensive little segment, seen above, demonstrating some of the little widgets they’ve put together.
As usual with Surface stuff, it’s pretty underwhelming to watch, but actually interacting with these things is always fun. I can only imagine the arguments people are going to have over these things in hotel lobbies across the nation. Me? I’m a Cascadian Separatist.
Conceptual products are fun. There’s no denying that. Everybody wants to see a car that looks like a jet, spaceship or rocket. Just the problem is, more often than not, the concept car does not exist in real life.
A recent article by Kontra alleges that concept products are actually bad for the company, citing the success of Apple as evidence. Apple internalizes all of its concepts, even going so far as tearing down the prototype of their first retail store before unleashing them on the public. With real-world parameters and a drive to market as the main focus, designers and engineers are forced to produce results that will sell.
Microsoft externalizes at least some of its concept products. Surface, and now Sphere are two examples where concepts have been introduced to the public above and beyond the needs and means of most people. At least for now. A more pure example of Microsoft’s conceptual wanderings might be their all digital concept homes and kitchens. Read More
Microsoft is rolling out the Surface into a bunch of Sheraton Hotel lobbies tomorrow. Unfortunately, it’s not the Surface Sphere, but from what I sawback in June, the flat one should be quite enough to keep people’s attention.
It’s free to use and of course free to look, so stop by a lobby tomorrow on your lunch break and give the thing a touch. If you haven’t seen enough video of the thing yet, here’s some Microsoft marketing for you.
Update: Click below to see if your city is included in the rollout. (it’s kinda limited)
When I got to play around with the Surface back in June, I was excited about the possibilities of other shapes and applications, but Microsoft responded to questions on that front as they responded to almost every question: “There are many possibilities and we’re looking into things” or some analogue thereof.
Well, they’re letting one shape out of the bag this week, the totally expected spheroid version of the Surface and our local journalists have dirtied it up with their little paws (and taken video). To be honest, it doesn’t appear that different from the flat surface, although the fundamental change from a limited shape to a continuous one is something I’m sure the designers are excited about. They take interface design very seriously and seemed very good at it as well, so maybe I’ll be as impressed by the sphere Surface as I was by the flat one — as soon as I get my hands on it.
Reports from Japan are showing a very Surface-like product from Panasonic, called the Digital Wall. While it appears huge, first hand stories say it doesn’t yet offer all of the same features of Microsoft’s Surface, but that it is really big and could even be cheaper than Redmond’s interactive table.
There were still a few surprises up Microsoft’s sleeve today at this little conference I’m at. They’re talking about the SDK, testing the surface with robotic arms, and they demoed some totally freaking awesome apps they’ve got running in launch or alpha state. Believe me, you do wish you were here. Lots more pictures inside.
I’m here at a Microsoft event where we’re getting into the nitty gritty details of Microsoft’s touch-screen table, Surface. If you want to see an earlier version in motion, check out Matt’s hands-on from CES where he makes a fool of himself. Meanwhile, we’ll be learning about what the thing is made up of, its parts and history (it used to be called “Playtable”), and what the plans are for the future. I got to play around with one for quite some time last night and I’m with Matt and the others in thinking this thing is really incredibly fun. Click on the link below for rest of the info and lots of pictures, and as more events occur I’ll keep you informed.
Microsoft Surfacedebuted at Harrah’s in Las Vegas yesterday. The tables come with several programs that make throwing your money away all the more enjoyable. One such program, called Mixologists, lets gamblers create their own drink, which then presumably sends the order out to the bar. There’s also one to watch YouTube videos (oh, great), and one that lets people chat and flirt and so on. Gambling brings people together.
The casino rollout is one of the first commercial uses of Surface; AT&T rolled them out a few weeks ago in its stores.
The $10,000 table is still a little while away from mass consumer adoption. Ask Santa for one in a few years.
Microsoft seems to think the future of the computer doesn’t lie in traditional keyboards but in gesture-based controls, such as those used on the iPhone and its own Surface device. And the next version of Windows, for now just called Windows 7 or Vienna, will have much touchscreen and gesture support built in.
While we’re still a few years away from all having Surfaces in our homes, Microsoft recently showed off a new, cheaper application of gesture control that could be integrated into monitors or laptops fairly easily. Is this what Microsoft wants to do? You bet. Microsoft knows that gesture-based input is hot, as iPhone’s popularity shows, and the surface and touch wall devices, when coupled with Windows 7, could change the way we use computers. If it works.
AT&T is rolling out Microsoft’s Surface today. There are no new features other than what we saw at CTIA a few weeks back. It’s ‘live’ now, but nothing ground breaking. I was disappointed because I wanted to be able to transfer data from a T-Mobile device to my iPhone. But that’s not an available feature just yet. I also wasn’t able to plop down my Samsung Blackjack II, but was denied. The only devices that will register on the Surface are the ones that are connected to the display. Sort of a disappointment. Oh well.
Check out the video if you don’t live in one of the following four cities.
New York City
381 Madison Ave.
New York, NY 10017
350 Park Ave.
New York, NY 10022
Atlanta
3429 Lenox Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30326
San Antonio
13127 San Pedro Ave.
San Antonio, TX 78216
San Francisco
1206 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94066
Earlier this year at CES I got to spend some time with Microsoft’s Surface device, and I was impressed by what they’re doing. I’ll admit I went in with the attitude of “oh, touchscreen table, big deal”, but it’s far, far more than that.
If you’re coming up to the Emerald City to hit up PAX, there are a lot of things you’re probably going to want to check out. But I’m going to make a point of dropping by the console free play room, where it is whispered there will be a Surface loaded with every Penny Arcade comic as well as PAX-related media and games. If you haven’t gotten a chance to play with one of these things (you can’t be blamed, they’re mostly in Hiltons and Las Vegas), there’s no time like the present.
I guess you don’t know you’re leading the pack unless you hear the other dogs barking at your heels. GestureTek is a company that puts out 
When I got to play around with the Surface 
