Scientists at Microsoft Corporation’s lab in the UK have developed a prototype interactive touch-screen that can see and recognize one’s hand movements and anything near its surface. The screen acts as a two-handed touch interface and a crude infrared camera. Users can operate the display with both hands, in a similar manner to the display in the film Minority Report, say its developers. However, the screen can also recognise particular hand gestures as well as objects placed within a centimetre of its surface, they say. “It can sense much more than fingers, and is essentially a low resolution scanner and camera,” said lead researcher Shahram Izadi, adding that the screen can even communicate wirelessly with other devices nearby using the same infrared technology it uses
Microsoft Archive
T3 has recently got a chance to play with the Microsoft Surface, and they have posted a nice video in which you can see them having fun with it. From T3: T3 was treated to a visit by the much anticipated Surface computer this week. Shipped all the way from the States, it’s the first taste of the touch-sensitive tabletop in the UK. Not only were we blown away, but Microsoft says the product’s well on its way to the real world, and that we’ll be stroking them in public before next year. That is, if you’re in the US. Several firms have signed up to use Surface in their stores, hotels and casinos. There are even plans to let the technology take orders in