It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

Bill Gates Shows off his Expensive Table

page: 1
1

log in

join
share:

posted on May, 30 2007 @ 04:08 PM
link   
Bill Gates demo's Microsofts Surface Computer

I just saw this video of Bill Gates demoing the new piece of technology from Microsoft. It is basically a computer which is meant to be manipulated by touch alone, with no use for mice or keyboards.

It looks strikingly similar to what was used in the film Minority Report, with the ability to move pictures and video around by simply moving your hand.

The price tag for these machines is pretty steep ($10,000), and they are only going to be rolled out to major retailers first. My guess is that if these take off, the price will steadily drop over the next 5 years, and then we can have one of these sweet items for the home.

Any thoughts? Is this good or bad? What does it mean for the home PC of today? Progression or obsolescence?



posted on May, 30 2007 @ 04:18 PM
link   
Our tech is growing so fast that these will probably be in every home in a decade, they may even be outdated by then.

Ten years ago I was amazed when AOL got color type and font in its chatrooms. Now I hate AOL with a passion.....wait, i'm drifting off topic....

It looks cool and it's coming. With our tech exploding as it is, it's just the tip of the iceberg. I can't even predict what will be available in ten years...

I can't wait...



posted on May, 30 2007 @ 04:34 PM
link   
Amen to that one, mrwupy.

This thing will most definitely be outdated in ten years, and I dont even think we could imagine what will be its replacement in 10 years.

It just goes to show that what was bigger than sliced bread one day can be thrown into the scrapheap sooner than you think.

If this is just the tip of the iceberg, then the meat of it is 10 miles below the surface.

I cant wait either. Technology rules!



posted on May, 30 2007 @ 04:40 PM
link   
Looks good for entertainment purposes and manipulating simple data.



posted on May, 30 2007 @ 06:48 PM
link   
I saw this on the news. Its quite nice and pretty to look at.



posted on Jun, 1 2007 @ 01:01 PM
link   
I want to buy one of these and then hack it to play pac man, like on those old school 80's video game tables like they used to have at Pizza Hut. Anyone remember?

Give it a couple of years and these will be all over the place, and probably not in the form of a table anymore. Anyone see a natural progression for this item?





posted on Jun, 1 2007 @ 01:16 PM
link   
He showed this in last years electronics expo. Billy has an awesome life, all he has to do is play with newly invented electronics and be rich. Must be nice huh.



posted on Jun, 1 2007 @ 01:51 PM
link   
It's a nice system, but it looks inconvenient. Can it be placed vertically, or is it limited to a horizontal surface? And how does it compare to the perceptive pixel screen?

From the same source:


Surface is essentially a Windows Vista PC tucked inside a shiny black table base, topped with a 30-inch touchscreen in a clear acrylic frame. Five cameras that can sense nearby objects are mounted beneath the screen. 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 --multitouchscreen.com

Surface


Edit: changed external source from Multi Touch about Microsoft Surface.

[edit on 1-6-2007 by Mephorium]



posted on Jun, 1 2007 @ 01:55 PM
link   
Meh, this stuff is obsolete. It's all about non-invasive brain-computer interfaces now.


[edit on 1-6-2007 by sardion2000]



posted on Jun, 1 2007 @ 02:17 PM
link   
Wow you guys here are a lot more optomistic about this technology than the people were in the breaking news forum on BTS. This was being discussed there as well, and this is what i wrote in that thread.


Originally posted by Schmidt1989
Not that this is the most innovative thing ever, but I think its pretty cool and useful.

I read about this first in yesterdays USA Today paper at work. In a few years after the costs of making it go down, Bill Gates estimates that it will be a multibillion dollar income for Microsoft. (Not that they need it....)

The most popular place you'll start seeing these (within the next 10 years in my opinion) will be restaraunts. You will now be able to order your food from the table top and while you wait you can play games on it. I dont think this will entirely replace Waitresses and waiters, because someone still needs to bring you your food. So i dont think it will even hinder jobs all that much, and it will only be creating more jobs in the long run.



posted on Jun, 1 2007 @ 11:56 PM
link   
i have seen this and many like it on You Tube. some stranger than others.

as of this one, i have seen several kinds, a MAC one, IBM and now Microsoft.

it may seen cool, new and totaly revolutionary, but is it really? touch screens have been around for a bit, PDA's laptops and things like media PC's have them to operate without a mouse. the ony thing is that no one made something as big as this before, and intended it to be sold as a PC.


but if you want some crazy kinds of computer, there are these ones that i have seen,









[edit on 2-6-2007 by funny_pom]



posted on Jun, 21 2007 @ 03:55 PM
link   
I figured I would just post this here instead of starting another thread. It turns out that Microsoft has been researching adding the functionality of the surface computer to an everyday laptop. Sure this prototype has been retrofitted, but it looks very promising that we might see this on our own PC's in the near future.

have a look at this vid of one of MS's research buffs showing off the technology. Very very cool.





top topics



 
1

log in

join