Bill Gates demos a prototype touch-screen interface that could be used on any surface
Posted 05.15.2008 at 1:54 pm
6 Comments
Microsoft Touchwall
Microsoft
Speaking at yesterday's CEO Summit in Redmond, Washington, Bill Gates - that guy from Microsoft - demonstrated the TouchWall, a four foot by six foot touch-screen computer prototype. TouchWall uses infrared and laser technology to register your manual input, and turn it into action. One writer described it as a giant version of Microsoft's Surface technology oriented vertically.
This isn't the first such large touch-screen interface - Panasonic revealed a similar system at CES (plus, it's also reminiscent of the interface featured in Minority Report). What's interesting is how Gates described its potential impact. He said that it could turn every surface in your home or office, every wall, into a computer. As he put it in his speech: "Think about the whiteboard in your office becoming intelligent."
Read the full speech here.
Via CNET
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"Think about the whiteboard in your office becoming intelligent."
yea, cause that's a new one......oh wait: http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Boards/default.htm
my school has had these for a few years now. They're not perfect, and you can only really use them for teaching, but what Microsoft came up with is definitely not a new concept.
yeah i've seen pretty great touch screen whiteboards too.
I wonder if it's multi-touch, you'd think i would be, but still, it's microsoft... =_=
The technology that Gates is demonstrating here is much more sofisticated then your in school smartboards. I have the smartboards in my school myself. The difference between this technology and smartboards is that this technology can be used on any surface. The smartboard is one big touch screen. However, this technology requires no touch screen and uses lasers to sense where you touch. So you can, effectively convert your wall into a computer. Without spending 10,000 dollars on a large and problem prone smartboard
-Kholodenko
With Microsoft running things, you will have the largest "Blue Screen of Death" EVER !
Acer Aspire 5315-2153, $348 Walmart Special,Mandriva Linux 2008.1 Spring Edition. The fist Linux distro where everything worked, on this laptop, the first time !
I'd buy Apple before Linux, and thats something that if I saw it on fire, i wouldnt even pee on it to put it out.
pretty cool. this wont be available for mass consumption for atleast 5 years. i can see this at conventions, hotels, resorts, business oriented places.