Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Shocking the world with their ingenuity today, Microsoft introduced us all to their new multi-touch system, called Surface. Multi-touch platforms and systems are nothing new, the idea, which was first born in the 1980s has recently been propelled forward by thinkers like NYUs Jeff Han, who has started Perceptive Pixel based on his work in the fast growing area. But were talking about Microsoft here, the software behemoth, which, due to its sheer size is usually incapable of keeping innovative ideas raw and hushed up. Not so the case here though. Surface is all about being smart with regard to the objects that come in contact with it, whether its a cell phone, glass of water, or your finger. According to Microsoft, the system allows you many of the ooh-aah possibilities that weve seen in previous multi-touch examples; such as dragging multiple items, scaling, rotating, and grouping. However, the power of Surface comes in its ability to recognize and communicate with different digital devices that are placed on its surface. For example, take a photo with your digital camera and place it on the Surface table. Surface recognizes the new photo and pulls it out onto the canvas. Next, place your favorite PDA or smartphone down as well. Now, just physically drag the photo to your smartphone and its saved there. This hybrid model of interacting physically with digital media, and moving it between tangible physical devices is where Microsoft really is the pioneer. The company is obviously not disclosing the method that its using to communicate between devices, but with the upcoming Bluetooth 2.1 update arriving in the next few months, and the scheduled 3.0 release sometime next year which will be able to carry much larger amounts of data and pair faster and easier Surface might just be the perfect fit. The first ones to jump on the Surface bandwagon will have to fork over a hefty $10,000 and will be the likes of hotels, casinos and wireless carriers who will be looking to use the system for games, reservations, shopping, and product demos. Max Zabramny