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Microsoft's 2nd gen Surface, SecondLight, gets a second projector
Microsoft is playing it straight with the next generation of its Surface table. Called SecondLight, it will be just that — an upgraded Surface table with a second projector. The added projector will allow the Surface to layer one screen over another, so a satellite overlay could be projected onto a city map, or a render of a completed building over a set of blueprints, and so on.
In addition to the second projector, Surface 2 will also have higher definition cameras and infrared sensors that can interpret gestures, so you may not even have to touch the table at all. Really, though, it's that added projector that sounds exciting — but tossing a lot more of those in there would probably bump the Surface 2 up higher than its predecessor's already high $10,000 price tag.
If you forgot how fun it is to throw pictures around on the Surface, click Continue to see a video of just that.
Fast Company and BBC News, via Maximum PC
By Nick Taylor at 8:56 PM ON 03/17/09
Has anyone else noticed that "solutions looking for problems" all seem to be really expensive?
By Ray Watters at 8:57 AM ON 03/18/09
Reminds me of the early days of the Apple II. There was very little software and everyone asked why they needed it. Surface tables are very expensive. If Microsoft gets the cost down, or makes a smaller version, then we may see them in places like Starbucks or your local watering hole.
By S31Ender at 5:05 AM ON 03/19/09
Absolutely amazing! Microsoft takes a technology 15 years old and has been used in the restaurant business (read:cheap, restaurants don't make a lot of money compared to other businesses)for over a decade, slap it on a 1500 dollar HDTV, and charge you a Toyota Yaris for it.......
Damn I'd love to be part of a company in charge of that type of object. I'd bring it to the people.
By Krystian Aparta at 5:56 AM ON 03/19/09
FYI, there is a device that can do all the same things (well without the second projector, but with the same interactivity and connectivity as shown above), but on any surface (it weighs as much as an iPod and uses a projector) and in its testing stage (before mass production) costs about $350. It can also recognize elements of the environment and add content (like automatically finding and displaying the review of a movie on a dvd box you pick up at a store). It's called "the Sixth Sense" and was created by Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry. You can see it demo'ed in a presentation made at the TED conference: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
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Krystian Aparta:
FYI, there is a device that can do all the same things (well without the second projector, but with the same intera...More »