News Microsoft demos TouchWall

Bill Gates demonstrated a wall-size multi-touch interface remarkably similar to Cubit at the 2008 Microsoft CEO Summit, based around infra-red lasers and a tracking camera.

 

This reminds me of that infrared white board concept that one guy made using a wii-mote hacks. Why would MS spend time developing a system, then tout its affordability then have no plans to ever release it? I'm confused. Looks neat in any case.

 

Article link is missing from here btw.

I'd rather try surface then Touchwall, touchwall seems similar to an interactive whiteboard

 

Ye, if i wanted one of those id just buy a interactive whiteboard.....

 

This looks almost identical to the multitouch screen which Jeff Han at NYU has pioneered and spun off into a company Perceptive Pixel. Personally I think the perceptive pixel screen looks a lot better. Theres a lot of similar stuff around at the mo and they are pretty easy to make - a simple one can be made with a sheet of acrylic, IR leds, a cheap webcam and a projector. The videos here and one of the final product here show a far more developed product than the microsoft one.

 

So technically I could have a 4 foot DS?

 

I know how to commercialize these: (or the tabletop version for that matter)

Put it in the middle of a mall and load ten or so simple, 2-5 person multiplayer games on it. Have each game for each player cost $2 and last an average of five minutes. You'd have the thing paid off in weeks and then it would be pure profit minus the cost of the electricity for the rest of the lifespan of the machine.

Hell, I'd buy a tabletop edition for my living room for dinner parties if they made a dev kit so people could program for it.

 

application-wise, i see this better suited to planning and development than anything else. like others have said, its basically an electronic whiteboard thats also hooked up to windows, and i can easily imagine a small group of people gathered around, arranging things in MS Project or storylining or something similar (remember that Visual Studio commercial with paper plastering the walls of the office?)