Saturday, October 13, 2007

One More Piece of Smart Furniture


Not too long ago, I went to a WWII museum with a class. It was a great museum! It had so much to learn from. There were pictures and artifacts everywhere and also high tech things, like the item I'm trying to introduce now.

Let me show you the Smart Table.

At the museum, the smart tables were all lined up in one room. You could use a red laser pen to select and navigate. It was pretty awesome. A series of projectors put the display onto the table top from underneath (It would be bad from above because there would be shadows every time anyone reached across the table.) and a sensor looking from the top kept track the red laser pen.

The only problems I had with it was that it could be very slow and that a well powered laser was needed.

According to Gizmodo Microsoft has been working on this for some time now and has been marketing it as a technology instead of a product under development(Thanks Gizmodo!). They see this developing into a gaming console and being put in casinos and other such places for entertainment.

After having had a chance to play with one myself I really see this product going far. It has great potential to appeal to some of the younger audiences. This could also be great in schools for kids to have fun while learning. It would also make a great gaming console, though the controls would be a bit difficult and online gaming would be out of the question.

All in all, I think it's a great idea.

Thanks The Daily Reel for the picture.

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