30 May 2007 15:34
Microsoft is taking the wraps off its Milan tabletop computer this week, but the notion of a table-like machine has generated interest within the company since at least 2001. Industrial designer Allan Han fashioned Microsoft's first surface-computer prototype, dubbed "T1", from a bright blue Ikea table.
Credit: Microsoft
In all, Microsoft built more than 85 early prototypes for a tabletop computer, often hand-building new ones out of plywood. Among the possibilities was this one, dubbed the "Tub" for obvious reasons.
For a variation on the theme from outside Redmond, see "Photos: HP Labs' high-tech coffee table."
Credit: Microsoft
Mark Bolger, director of marketing for Microsoft's surface-computing effort, shows off the company's new Milan at a briefing in San Francisco. The tabletop computer, for which Microsoft has created both the hardware and the software, is entirely driven by touch — there is no mouse or keyboard.
To paint, people can pick up a brush or just dip their fingers in virtual paint cups, as Bolger is doing here.
For now, Microsoft is focusing on getting the products into public spaces in the hospitality arena — hotel lobbies, restaurants and casinos, to name a few. Customers will be able to touch the computer's surface to order food and drinks.
Milan can function as a public jukebox, as well. Consumers can add their own music selections to the public playlist with the touch of a finger. Five infrared cameras sense fingers or other objects that touch the surface, while a DLP projector turned on its side generates the screen image people see.
Photos can be easily sorted and shared on the tabletop computer. To resize a photo, users stretch two fingers apart. Pivot the fingers and the photo rotates. More than one person can interact with the computer at a time.
Milan, five years in the making, is the first of what Microsoft hopes will be a long line of "surface computers". It has a price tag approaching $10,000 (£5,063) — not exactly consumer-friendly just yet.
Credit: Microsoft
A sample application on Milan lets users get directions or find destinations of interest.
Credit: Microsoft
Milan's touch-screen capabilities present all sorts of possibilities for visual effects.
Credit: Microsoft
Story URL: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/emergingtech/0,1000000183,39287287,00.htmCopyright © 1995-2009 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CBS Interactive Limited. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CBS Interactive Limited.