We got to see some of this in Redmond earlier this year, and now Robert Scoble has some video of some of the Surface technology being explained by Andy Wilson. There are three videos and make sure you check out the third one where you can see Surface interacting with physical objects above the screen. When the car comes off the screen onto his hand it is really jaw dropping. Amazing stuff.

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III

Microsoft researchers are showing off their stuff at the 4th Research Road Show, and as a part of the fun, Andy Wilson showed off a new multi-touch system that is based on a low-cost infrared camera and lasers that are used to track how a user touches a screen. Supposedly this is an inexpensive system although no prices were put forward on the research project, which of course comes with the same caveat as the TouchWall. There are no immediate plans to make this into a product yet.

Rob and I got to meet with Andy Wilson on our recent trip to Redmond, when we talked about another of his projects, Microsoft Surface.

Picture and link via CNet’s News.com

Here’s a video of TouchWall and Plex in action.

And some more info from CrunchGear:

TouchWall consists of three infrared lasers that scan a surface. A camera notes when something breaks through the laser line and feeds that information back to the Plex software. Early prototypes, say Pratley and Sands, were made, simply, on a cardboard screen. A projector was used to show the Plex interface on the cardboard, and a the system worked fine

And also, Microsoft doesn’t have immediate plans to turn this into a product. Let’s hope that changes. Think of all those CSI labs that are just waiting to file those budget requests.

Microsoft is hosting the Microsoft CEO Summit beginning today for 115 CEOs from around the world. In the keynote, which will be given by Bill Gates, it looks like they will unveil TouchWall and Plex. Described by TechCrunch as “superficially similar to Surface,” TouchWall is the touchscreen itself in this Minority Report-like setup, and Plex is the software to run it.

Since the only info scheduled to be shared outside of the CEO Summit is the keynote, perhaps we’ll get to see some of this in action later. Note that from the TechCrunch articles TouchWall and Plex seem to be different from Surface in one other interesting way as well. To “turn almost anything into multi-touch interface” they are talking “hundreds of dollars” as opposed to Surface’s $10,000 price tag.

Interesting Note: Chris Pratley, who for a long time was one of the Wonders on the OneNote Team, (I used to call him the OneNote Wonder) seems to be involved with TouchWall and Plex.

Don’t want to wait for Microsoft Surface to make it to a location near you, or impatient with the pace of Surface becoming a consumer product. Why not do it yourself?

Eyebeam is taking multi-touch tables open source with Cubit, and have put their info online for those who want to roll their own. Cubit was demonstrated at the recent Maker Faire. Not many details on this to report at the moment, but I’m sure we’ll hear more in the future, which means you’ll be waiting for this table as well.

Via Engadget

Given that there are very few AT&T Stores (only 5) equipped with the Microsoft Surface table after yesterday’s launch, this video should give you a little virtual look at what you could do if there was one in your local AT&T store.

Another highlight of our visit with Microsoft Research was getting to know the man behind Microsoft Surface - Andy Wilson. His office is full of adaptive interaction - a dream for people who love touch, pen, multi-touch, speech, and more.

I can't share a lot of what he showed us, but this video demonstrating rough terrain, video object interaction with real objects shows quite nicely the kind of work he's doing. Along those lines, this video of two people playing checkers just blew me away. Be sure to peruse the rest of his site for a lot nuggets.

I would love to be a fly on the wall just watching Ken Hinckley, Raman Sarin, and Andy Wilson work. It excites me tremendously to think about what lies ahead in the natural input / adaptive technologies we talk about frequently here.

By the way, you can check out the fruit of Andy's work by checking out some of the AT&T stores where Surface is now deployed.

Most of us won't have the pleasure of seeing a Surface computer in a AT&T store. However, we can live vicariously through this video demonstrating what customers in those 4 cities will touch and experience for themselves:

Microsoft and AT&T are collaborating by placing 22 Surface computers in 5 AT&T stores across the country beginning April 17: San Antonia, San Francisco, New York City, and Atlanta.

The Surface will be used to help customers review phones, customize phones, do side by side comparisons, and view coverage areas.

According to a Microsoft rep I spoke with earlier today about the program, plans for further rollouts to the rest of AT&T's 2200 stores will be based upon the success of this pilot project.

Check out this announcement at the AT&T site, as well as the one at Microsoft.

Here are the store locations. If anyone goes by to check them out, be sure to take some pictures and let us know what you think.

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

The last we heard Microsoft was saying that they were aiming to get their Surface technology into the consumer market as soon as possible. Now we perhaps have a better definition of ASAP (although I’m sure it is really to early to tell.) CNN Money/Fortune says that Microsoft is aiming to put a consumer version of Microsoft Surface in homes in 2011.

While I’d have to get a new and larger home to put one of these in, I’d still love Microsoft to think a bit beyond the big business approach they are taking with the initial push and donate one of these babies to our small not-for-profit theatre for our lobby. We’d be a terrific test case on a smaller level of how this could work. (Sorry for the subtle suggestion there. )

By the way, make sure you check out our video of the GBM Team checking out Surface at CES.

Microsoft demoed its Surface Technology to the government sector at the Microsoft U.S. Public Sector CIO Summit in Redmond last week. This only makes sense as I’m sure there are numerous ways to integrate the technology into the public sector. Just look at any episdoe of CSI these days. Of course the real question becomes, who is going to pay for all that high flying new technology.

One interesting line in the article from Government Technology, they talk about Surface debuting between $5,000 and $10,000. Maybe I’ve missed something along the way but that’s the first time I’ve heard of a price below the $10,000 mark.

Thanks to Wesley Delk for the link.

 Mary Jo Foley is reporting about a prototype spherical Surface being demoed around Microsoft recently. If true, it would line up with Steve Balmers recent comments about taking the Surface to a more consumer friendly market.

I'm not totally sure how a round Surface would play out, but it certainly sounds fascinating.

From Mary Jo Foley:

Microsoft hasn’t been talking as publicly about even more offbeat Surface form factors, such as a sphere. But sources say the company is showing a spherical Surface prototype around campus lately.

Harrah's Entertainment, operators of several casinos in Las Vegas, gave a preview of Microsoft Surface at PURE Nightclub at Caesar's Palace on Feb 28 at the National Heads-Up Poker Championship Drawing Party. Celebrities were able to have their picture taken and immediately interact with the photo on a Surface, including autographing the photo. Some of the poker players, like Erik Seidel (pictured right), seemed to really enjoy trying out the Surface capabilities. There's a full slideshow of the preview event with celebrity photos - and signatures - on Harrah's Windows Live Space.

This spring, Harrah's plans to do a pilot program with Surface at the Rio casino in Las Vegas, showcasing innovative new usages for Surface. It should be fun to take a trip to Vegas and check out how people react to Surface in real life.

Here is where Surface gets fun - games!

Checkout this video of a new game, called Firefly, the Surface team and Carbonated Games have  developed that brings in multi-players touching the screen at the same time. Awesome!

I've been saying for quite sometime that one of the big draws of Surface will be the ability to play games with other people. Imagine sitting at  restaurant with a bunch of friends playing a game while waiting for your food.

Surface is where Microsoft is one-upping Apple with multi-touch BIG TIME! 

via Engadget

We’re seeing more and more (probably because we’re looking) news about touch on tables and surfaces lately. Here’s another that just popped on to our radar. The TouchTable 84 is designed as a collaboration tool that is networkable so that multiple users in the same or different locations can work with data.

Additional TouchTables can be networked to allow synchronized remote collaboration.  This means that different groups can connect to the network and share data over long distances.  Each device on the network displays the same information and is updated concurrently.  Control of the displayed information can be handed off as needed and shared among groups as the discussion warrants. This shared virtual space allows all groups of users to contribute, regardless of their physical location.

Via BornRich.org via SlashGear

Interested in checking out Surface-like technology without the $10,000 price tag? ToyQuest’s 21–inch Touch Table EES for kids weighs in at $499, and it certainly won’t have all of the bells and whistles of Microsoft’s Surface (it doesn’t even connect to the Internet.) But it certainly looks like a fun educational tool and apparently will hit the Big Box toy stores this fall.

Via Engadget

If you happen to be in the San Diego area and want the opportunity to see a Microsoft Surface up close and personal, then you're in luck! This Wednesday there's a free demo at the Sheraton. I got the chance to see the Surface at CES and I was really impressed - more so than I expected. Let us know what you think!

Microsoft Surface Sheraton San Diego

• Where: San Diego Sheraton Marina – 1380 Harbor Island Drive
• When: Wednesday, February 20
• Time: Noon – 5 PM
• Cost: Free and open to the public

Microsoft is shifting gears a bit when it comes to Microsoft Surface. Apparently there is enough interest that they are looking to speed up the timetable for making Surface available to consumers. Planned for large clients intially, (like casinos, hotels, and retail clients), Microsoft is responding to interest on the consumer front. Don’t hold your breath though, I don’t think we’ll be seeing them in big boxes all that soon. Make sure you check out our CES video of the GBM team checking out Surface.

Via CNET

We got some great private time with the Surface, including some demos only seen by a few people.

This is some totally cool stuff.

Click To Play

We had a private briefing today on Microsoft Surface and it was quite impressive. We got the lowdown and got to see a few new demos that most folks haven’t seen yet. We all got hands on with the Surface table and Matt even got to go snowboarding. We’ll be posting this video up Tuesday morning, so keep your eyes peeled for that one.