Microsoft to unveil 'PlayTable' gesture-based interface at D?

If ZDnet staple Mary Jo Foley (or more specifically, her source) is right, we may be seeing Microsoft take the next big step in device interaction at tomorrow's D: All Things Digital Conference, with the perennial Redmond watcher predicting an official unveiling of the company's PlayTable / Project Milan multi-touch, gesture-based input technology. PlayTable, which combines elements we've seen in the iPhone, from NYU's Jeff Han, in various prototype devices, and from Microsoft's own, recently-demo'ed DigiDesk, is envisioned as a multi-purpose interface that can be employed in anything from a DAP (Zune) to a cellphone (WinMo handsets) to a gaming console (Xbox) -- so it's no coincidence that the project is being developed by the same Mobile and Entertainment division that's also in charge of these categories. All in all, tomorrow promises to be a big day: not only is Palm making a potentially breakthrough announcement, and the faces of Apple and Microsoft scheduled to appear together on the same stage, but we may also get to witness computing history to boot; man, if we had real jobs, we'd be calling in sick in a heartbeat.

[Via Scobleizer]

[shabbis @ May 29th 2007 6:47PM]

Hope it works better than that demo MS did for the voice activated computer commands... Anyone remember that one?

"Computer... delete file... computer... delete file... computer delete file..."

[arnold @ May 30th 2007 3:59AM]

I am not kidding when I say this,but what kind of gesture-based thingy are you talking about?

[ray @ May 29th 2007 7:03PM]

Has this got to do with gizmodo's story about a new secret ms product being unveiled tonight? If so why didn't you guys do the decent thing and link to gizmodo? They link to you but it's never the other way round and besided it's one of Brian Lams birthday wishes that engadget at least acknowledge the existence of Gizmodo and link to them just once;)
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/trick-or-treat%3F/top-secret-microsoft-product-to-launch-at-midnight-264082.php

[Evan Blass @ May 29th 2007 9:12PM]

@Ray

It very well may, but we found this story on Scobleizer, not Gizmodo.

Best,
Evan

[Aaron @ May 29th 2007 7:09PM]

Saw the demo by backtracking through Microsoft's website, nice piece of hardware.

But I'm really waiting for the wall display.

For the non - hating MS fans (the few of us there are on engadget;), backtrack through the link to CES 2006.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/executives/billgates.mspx

[derek @ May 29th 2007 7:56PM]

there are tons of M$ fanboys... just watch what happens to the ranking of this comment...

Microsoft sucks!

[carbonfree @ May 29th 2007 8:17PM]

God, I hope not. I want Zune 2.0!

[David @ May 29th 2007 8:49PM]

@ Derek

It would be nice for once for us to focus and comment on the technology rather than enter the whole silly microsoft versus apple versus linux haterade spiral.

Back to the topic: This is kinda cool. Any new interface advancements is great news. I saw this type of interface being developed a couple of years ago for tabletop touch screen interaction. It was the same type of technology that apple integrated into the iphone.

I am getting johnny mnemonic ala minority report future computer interface vibe ;p And I like it! haha.

[derek @ May 29th 2007 8:54PM]

@David
it'd be nice if you'd get a life

[james @ May 29th 2007 9:21PM]

Advancing technology is the name of the game. I'm still waiting for a hardware based hypervisor, 80 core processor, 1petabyte drive(now that 1tb is out), 3d monitors, and a millenium falcon with a hyperdrive

[Eliot @ May 29th 2007 9:04PM]

As long as I don't have to run Windows to use it, I'm on board.

[MB @ May 29th 2007 9:01PM]

Ow, My Balls!

Looks like Frito's TV.

[Winwood @ May 29th 2007 9:55PM]

I wonder how long it would take to get to market if it's only being announced today because it sounds like the control panel from the trailer from Tom Clancy's Endwar - or am I imagining things? Anyone else notice that?

[Jean-Michel Decombe @ May 29th 2007 10:07PM]

The funny thing is that, ultimately, we will close the loop and be back to a normal desk, with real 3-D objects on it that you can touch and feel... except that they will be smart objects, of course, that can be identified, interacted with, and morphed through a public API. It sucks to have to wait through all these incremental phases of progress. Oh well, as Stevie Boy likes to say, the journey is the effing reward.

[Xplayer @ May 29th 2007 11:42PM]

I am guessing it is xplayer.

[web @ May 30th 2007 12:45AM]

See http://microsoft.com/surface