Surface Computing

A surface computer is a computer that interacts with the user through the surface of an ordinary object, rather than through a monitor and keyboard.

The category was created by Microsoft with Surface (codenamed Milan), the surface computer from Microsoft which was based entirely on a Multi-Touch interface and using a coffee-table like design, and was unveiled on 30 May 2007. Users can interact with the machine by touching or dragging their fingertips and objects such as paintbrushes across the screen, or by setting real-world items tagged with special bar-code labels on top of it.

The Surface is a horizontal display on a table-like form. Somewhat similar to the iPhone, the Surface has a screen that can incorporate multiple touches and thus uses them to navigate multimedia content. Unlike the iPhone, which uses fingers' electrical properties to detect touch, the Surface utilizes a system of infrared cameras to detect input. Uploading digital files only requires each object (e.g. a Bluetooth-enabled digital camera) to be placed on the Surface. People can physically move around the picture across the screen with their hands, or even shrink or enlarge them. The first units of the Surface will be information kiosks in the Harrah's family of casinos.

Also receiving units will be T-Mobile, for comparing several cell phones side-by-side, and Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, which will use Surface to service lobby customers in numerous ways.

The Surface has a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, an off the shelf graphics card, a scratch-proof spill-proof surface, a DLP projector, and 5 infrared cameras as mentioned above. However, the expensive components required for the interface also give the Surface a price tag of between $12,500 to $15,000.

Surface computing is the term for the use of a specialized computer GUI in which traditional GUI elements are replaced by intuitive, everyday objects. Instead of a keyboard and mouse, the user interacts directly with a touch-sensitive screen. It has been said that this more closely replicates the familiar hands-on experience of everyday object manipulation.

Early work in this area was done at the University of Toronto, Alias Research, and MIT. Surface work has included customized solutions from vendors such as GestureTek, Applied Minds for Northrop Grumman,. Major computer vendor platforms are in various stages of release: the iTable by PQLabs, Linux MPX, the Ideum MT-50, and Microsoft Surface.

Surface computing is slowly starting to catch on and is starting to be used in real world applications. Here is just a sample of what surface computing technologies have been used.

The Microsoft Surface is starting to pick up popularity and has been used in various places and venues. AT&T became the first retailer to use Surface to help their customers purchase phones. Customers could place the phones on the Surface and receive full phone specs, as well as pricing. It has also been used in a wide variety of locations which include hotel lobbies, such as Sheraton Hotels, as well as venues which included Super Bowl XLIII to help police organize and monitor the event in great detail. It is also starting to gain use in the broadcasting industry and has been used by MSNBC during the 2008 US Presidential Elections. However, USD $15,500 (device only) is still considered expensive for most businesses.

There are other new surface computing applications that are still being developed, one of which is from the MIT Media Lab where students are developing wearable computing systems that can be used on almost any surface. The name of this device is SixthSense.