Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft’s multi-touch tabletop display called Surface has a competitor as Sony gets ready to start selling a 35-inch, full HD touchscreen table. The table will track gestures and even discern emotions, the makers claim.

The table is made by a Swiss company called Atracsys, which has partnered with Sony for the technology.

The table comprises a video-based movement-tracking system, a computer, a beamer and a screen, explains Atracsys on its web site. It will also have two Sony ISS XCD-V60 cameras to build a 3D image, according to gadget news blog Pocket Lint. What’s intriguing is Sony’s comment that the Atracsys table can also detect emotion such as surprise, happiness and anger.

The tracking system detects the positions and movements of a user’s fingers and the objects on the screen. The data is processed by the computer and sent back to the beamer resulting in what seems like real-time interaction with the device. The whole set-up fits inside the table so users don’t see anything beyond the touchscreen display, as the video below shows.

The idea is very similar to what Microsoft has with its Surface table. Microsoft first announced it in 2007 and since then the technology has showed up in places like Disneyland, Las Vegas casinos and MSBNC (during the TV channel’s presidential elections coverage).

Surface hasn’t proved to be a commercial blockbuster, largely because it is big and expensive. The Sony Atracsys table doesn’t fundamentally change that, but it does offer an alternative to the Surface.

The tabletop display isn’t designed for homes. But it is expected to show up at retail stores, events and in gaming. Sony and Atracsys haven’t disclosed pricing for the multi-touch table.

See Also:

• Experimental Tech Turns Your Coffee Table Into a Universal Remote
• First Look: Microsoft Milan Surface Computer — A Table That Knows
  
• Microsoft Shows Off Surface in Sheraton Hotels
• Thin Film Turns Any Surface Into a Touchscreen

Photo:

Microsoft’s always said its Kin phones would come to Verizon in May and Vodafone in the fall, and now it looks like an internal Verizon email has spilled the details for us: Kin One and Kin Two will go up for pre-order on May 6th, and they’ll “launch to all channels on May 13th,” according to these screenshots. We can’t confirm it yet, but we’d imagine tween hearts are a-flutter all over the country. Just remember: Kin’s not for sexting, now.

Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two to go up for pre-order on May 6th, shipping on May 13th? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 May 2010 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP buying Palm made some waves, but it’s got nothing on the other big tech deals we’ve spotted on the horizon: More »

Where Steve Jobs leads, Microsoft follows — how’s that for shaking up the hornet’s nest? It’s said in jest, of course, but we’ve just come across a post from the General Manager for Internet Explorer, Dean Hachamovitch, and the perspective expressed by him on the subject of web content delivery broadly agrees with the essay penned by Jobs yesterday on the very same subject. Echoing the Apple CEO’s words, Hachamovitch describes HTML5 as “the future of the web,” praising it for allowing content to be played without the need for plug-ins and with native hardware acceleration (in both Windows 7 and Mac OS X). He goes on to identify H.264 as the best video codec for the job — so much so that it’ll be the only one supported in IE9’s HTML5 implementation — before turning to the dreaded subject of Flash.

This is where it gets good, because he literally repeats one of Jobs’ six pillars of Flash hate: “reliability, security, and performance” are not as good as Microsoft would like them. Where Hachamovitch diverges from Apple’s messiah, however, is in describing Flash as an important part of “a good consumer experience on today’s web,” primarily because it’s difficult for the typical consumer to access Flash-free content. Still, it’s got to be depressing for Adobe’s crew when the best thing either of the two biggest players in tech has to say about your wares is that they’re ubiquitous. Wonder how Shantanu Narayen is gonna try and spin this one.

P.S. : it’s notable that in multiple paragraphs of discussing “the future,” Microsoft’s IE general fails to once mention the fabled Silverlight, itself a rich media browser plug-in. Given Silverlight’s featured role in the Windows Phone 7 infrastructure and other things like Netflix, we doubt it’s on the outs, but there are sure to be some sour faces greeting Hachamovitch this morning.

[Thanks, KnifeX4]

Microsoft weighs in: ‘the future of the web is HTML5’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s dual screen prototype Courier tablet project is dead, even before it could make it out of the company’s research labs.

Microsoft has reportedly canceled internal work on the tablet, says Gizmodo. Gizmodo had initially revealed the Courier as a project that Microsoft has been working on. The tablet was said to have two screen, fold like a book and include a touchscreen display and a stylus. But the Courier never made it outside the pages of the blog.

Microsoft did not ever publicly announce the device or show it at conferences.

PC makers have offered slates and convertible notebooks for nearly a decade, and they’ve never caught on. But now, a new generation of attractively designed and low-priced screens are looking to lure in consumers. Apple’s iPad is leading this category and Apple has sold more than 500,000 iPads. Meanwhile, other companies such as Dell and HP are working on introducing tablets.

Microsoft’s Courier was never seen as a viable competitor largely because the device never truly went beyond the vaporware stage. Microsoft did not specifically comment about Courier’s future but Frank Shaw, corporate vice president of communications at Microsoft says Courier will have a legacy.

“It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “The Courier project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings.”

See Also:

• Microsoft Unveils Touchscreen Tablet
• How the Tablet Will Change the World
• iPad Could See 50 Tablet Rivals This Year
• Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet
• HP’s Windows 7 Slate Strikes at the iPad

Photo: Courier (nDevilTV/Flickr)