I need to have one of these right now

[Roto13]

Someone buy me one.

www.cyberthing.net :: You are watching Microsoft No More Keyboards Needed (http://www.cyberthing.net/video-play.php?id=78)

[Ichimonji]

Holy crap. We are officially in the future now.

[CimminyCricket]

The future is here and I'm setting my glass down on it.

[Miriel]

YouTube - Microsoft Surface Parody (http://youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY)

[CimminyCricket]

That was awesome.

[Aerith's Knight]

touch screen is noting new, bu it was very elegantly done, i must say.

[Big D]

A good development, especially when it eventually incorporates a virtual keyboard and a mouse substitute, so it can do absolutely everything a contemporary PC can do. Also, combine these ideas with the flexible plastic screens that are being developed, add an ultra-compact hard-drive, and you've effectively got a completely portable PC. Especially if they make the HD a cylinder - simply wrap the monitor around it like a scroll, and you've got baton-sized practicality...

[Vermachtnis]

Do want the big ass computer table.

[Aerith's Knight]

A good development, especially when it eventually incorporates a virtual keyboard and a mouse substitute, so it can do absolutely everything a contemporary PC can do. Also, combine these ideas with the flexible plastic screens that are being developed, add an ultra-compact hard-drive, and you've effectively got a completely portable PC. Especially if they make the HD a cylinder - simply wrap the monitor around it like a scroll, and you've got baton-sized practicality...

one of the biggest problems with the flexible screens they are making is longlivity.. because they use chemicals and alkeli metals that degrade in oxigen. The plastic isnt totally air proof, as the molecular spacing just isnt dense enough. Therefore it would degrade in periods ranging from 1 minute to 1 year.

its a lot of trouble.. however, the thin glass models should be on the market soon.

[Big D]

one of the biggest problems with the flexible screens they are making is longlivity.. because they use chemicals and alkeli metals that degrade in oxigen. The plastic isnt totally air proof, as the molecular spacing just isnt dense enough. Therefore it would degrade in periods ranging from 1 minute to 1 year.They'll eventually overcome that, though - after all, that's what 'progress' is all about. Every new technology has its flaws, and they'll perfect it while working on the next big development...

[blackmage_nuke]

Was it really that hard to do things with a mouse and keyboard? (is this new technology even that much more convienient or quicker?:rolleyes2)

edit: lol pretty much what that parody link said.

[Bakamut]

If I was at a restaurant I'd rather look at my food than a computer table.

[cloud21zidane16]

We looked at this in business the other week, it looks so cool but also expensive:(

[Roto13]

Manipulating things directly is always better than using a mouse. Always.

[Big D]

Was it really that hard to do things with a mouse and keyboard? (is this new technology even that much more convienient or quicker?:rolleyes2)Mouse + keyboard + monitor = 3 gadgets. This thing would let you roll them all into one.

[Bakamut]

But... if you don't have a keyboard how are you going to write stuff? And if there is an alternate way it's probably a lot slower than a keyboard.

[Bahamut2000X]

Meh I don't foresee this replacing home PC's anytime soon, if ever at that current state. For the more hard core PC users like some of us here, can you just imagine staring down at a table all day, it'd be murder on the neck. I already have back and neck problems with standard PC usage too long, just imagine gaming on a table or what not.

Case in point being, I don't see this as more then a novelty thing that will do well in businesses and such, and in homes where computers are rarely used. But with those of us that play games and nearly live our life on it, unless they do some drastic changes to the interface to make it easier to use for long periods of time and for the more intensive usage (i.e. gaming) I don't foresee it being that much of a leap but rather a step back.

[Big D]

They're obviously not going to spend the next 10 to 50 years trying to convince people to do all their work at a horizontal tabletop. That's just their way of showcasing the new technology and marketing it, by giving it a commercial use that'll get it bought by wealthy companies, and seen by the public. It goes without saying that any 'home PC replacement' type thing will be in a more user-friendly format.

As for keyboard functionality... it'd be exceedingly simple for the screen itself to function as a keyboard - you could bring up a fully-customisable keypad along one part of the screen, using the whole thing for word-processing or whatever, as well as any number of other concurrent functions.

A logical home-friendly version of this technology would be something akin to the computer terminals in the more recent Star Trek shows - a series of flat panels at different appropriate angles, that can each serve as a keypad, graphic display, library interface, or whatever's needed at any given moment.

[Madame Adequate]

I agree with Big D. Think of the kind of terminal Data sits at in TNG - we're more likely to see that than a coffee table we're expected to hunch over for 15 hours a day.

[Old Manus]

Microsoft Surface (http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html)

Also, the only reason you may think using mouse and keyboard is easier is because you're so used to doing it. To somebody who's never used a computer before, this is so much easier.

[Bahamut2000X]

Now don't get me wrong I think the thing is good for businesses and the like, but when it comes to gaming it will fail, I just don't see mouses/keyboards/controllers being out done by a touch screen in that sense anytime soon. Not to mention they require less effort to use then having to touch everywhere on the screen. For some things it's better, but for a lot I think it just can't win out unless they find some sort of way around it.

That and my whole argument was out of hearing so many others (and in the broadcast too) make it sound as if a table will replace all PC's as we know it within 5 years, which honestly I doubt we'll see that technology in the home on such a level as many think for at least a good decade if not more.

[KentaRawr!]

It's a nice new, and elegant format to computers, but it's not really an advancement in technology. Rather, it shows how currently existing technology can be used. Or, at least that's how I see it. But while this new type of computer it cool and everything, what can it do that my regular PC can't? I'm used to the Mouse Keyboard format, and just because this is a new format doesn't mean I should feel obliged to use it. I've been more impressed by Cern's new internet and the Depth Camera, personally. This seems like just a more elegant alternative to using a regular PC.

Of course, just like PC's, this will probably be a very versatile device, with the ability to install various programs to it. I wouldn't be surprised if it had some kind of ability to connect to various monitors, too. As we can see here, it can play multiple videos at once. But what if it could play various different videos at once, and have each of these different videos play to different monitors? Though a PC probably could do this, that kind of a program seems more in the realm of this centerpiece PC.

Also, something I'd like to throw in is that RTS games would probably be awesome when using this thing.

[scrumpleberry]

HART.

I think this will be great fun. I don't think there's any chance it will immediately replace keyboards and the like (many people, myself included, find typing at least as quick as writing) but I see this as a good thing. It's a lovely piece of technology.

[Heath]

It is pretty cool. While I certainly agree that it's pretty easy to simply use a keyboard and a mouse as things are, I have to say that it's a pretty cool development. I can see something like that being popular within business, but only on a very limited scale within the home market.

[LunarWeaver]

Big D is looking at the reasonable future of this technology. The possibilities to be found will be superior to what we use now.

And it can run lots of porn at once.

[rubah]

The biggest issue I see (granted, not very big) is that your fingers block your sight xD

Pretty cool, but they don't seem to be doing much computing with it.

[blackmage_nuke]

The biggest issue I see (granted, not very big) is that your fingers block your sight xD

Pretty cool, but they don't seem to be doing much computing with it.

And if your making graphics and you want to change individual pixels at a time with minimal zooming in, cumbersome human fingers arent really the best choice.

[Roto13]

That's not what it's for.

No reason you couldn't use a stylus, anyway. Like a tablet.

[Big D]

The biggest issue I see (granted, not very big) is that your fingers block your sight xD

Pretty cool, but they don't seem to be doing much computing with it.

And if your making graphics and you want to change individual pixels at a time with minimal zooming in, cumbersome human fingers arent really the best choice.For high-detail stuff, it'd be pretty easy to use an animated sliding scale or plus/minus buttons like on today's image editing software. The 'do it with your fingers' thing would just be handy for non-computer-savvy people, and it just made for an interesting demo in their video, since it totally bypassed any buttons, icons, or other familiar notions that we've already got.

Seriously, I'm perplexed by the number of people who seem to think that the hardware and software of this new device will, and always will, be limited only to the form and function shown in the video. Sure, there's no mouse - but it'd be dead easy for game software to turn a space on the edge of the screen into a mouse-like pad, a number pad, a keyboard, or any other interface whatsoever.

[Momiji]

Call me old-fashioned, but I'd much rather use a mouse and keyboard. I have this thing about touching screens-- I don't like to because then they get fingerprints on them (unless I'd be using a stylus of course), and I'm obsessive about cleaning fingerprints and stuff off of screens. It would be more of a hindrance than a novelty to me.

[Aerith's Knight]

mouse is still the fastest.. im all about the mouse and keyboard

[Roto13]

Seriously, I'm perplexed by the number of people who seem to think that the hardware and software of this new device will, and always will, be limited only to the form and function shown in the video.

Honestly, it's like they've never, ever seen new technology before.

[NeoCracker]

1) A keyboard image would be less effective, if only because when you actually have a keyboard, you can feel the keys, however on this you probably can't.

2) Is it just me, or does this seem like a DS touchpad that can read multiple things touching at once, and with a Scanner underneath it?

3) I'm looking forward to further advances in this. Though as shown, there isn't much practical use outside of business yet.

[Rostum]

Yeah, multi-touch screens are fairly awesome. There's a lot of other companies that are developing it a lot further than Microsoft.

[Aerith's Knight]

you want amazing technology.. There are machines in my building that can rearrange atoms to spell out your name. It is so small(10^-10 m) that the sample on which it would be on, cant be seen without a powerful optical microscope.

[KentaRawr!]

Call me old-fashioned, but I'd much rather use a mouse and keyboard. I have this thing about touching screens-- I don't like to because then they get fingerprints on them (unless I'd be using a stylus of course), and I'm obsessive about cleaning fingerprints and stuff off of screens. It would be more of a hindrance than a novelty to me.

Hopefully you don't mind rubber gloves. :p

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

It's the freaking Phantom Zone

[Peegee]

I've seen that when it was in beta. Good to know that it will be implemented.

The future is now!

[Rantz]

What seems to be unclear to many is that it isn't a finished product not to be further developed. What's interesting is the combination of technologies it puts to use in a single surface—touch, display, communication with external devices, credit cards and such, and potential to do much more.

It doesn't have to be a table, it could just as well be a picture on the wall, your mouse pad or an ATM. Even if it is a table, you don't have to use it as your primary screen for gaming or otherwise: why not hook it up to the TV and use the surface for controllers and more (think DS with much greater possibilities), and if you want to use a mouse, just lay one on the table and get playing.

The touch screen can likely be made to be fingerprint-resistant, self-cleaning or whatever. Again, the product is not necessarily finished.

Personally, I think it's a good step in the right direction, presuming we do want computers more integrated into our homes. The next step I'm hoping they'll take, purely innovatively, is making elevation of the surface possible. If we really want to keep our old qwerty keyboards (they aren't very effective from an interaction design standpoint, so I'd prefer them inventing better solutions, but that's another story), but integrate them into this surface, we need haptic feedback—such as the key being pushed down and back up again—for our key presses. This would of course applicable to any button, and other things as well.

tl;dr?

[Vermachtnis]

I think they need a cat option for when (and you know it will happen) a cat jumps on it and lays down.

[Peegee]

haha that's so true about cats.

A touch keyboard on this system would be infinitely better than any system. You could theoretically move keys wherever you want. Don't like qwerty? Dvorak to your liking? You can move keys around to anywhere. After all, it's just an input software, so it should be customisable.

Perfect.

[rubah]

c'mon peegies, give colemac some love. You can do that anyways with your current keyboards if you don't look at the letters and get confused :p