Microsoft's Surface may be hard at work helping the liberal media
steal the election (we kid, we kid), but other than acting as props in
stores or
random promotional videos, the device hasn't exactly created a market for itself. But that's not stopping MS from introducing the next generation: SecondLight. It takes the tabletop, multi-touch display concept and adds the ability to project images
into the air thanks to a liquid crystal screen timed to be transparent on alternate frames, enabling a projector below to beam an image right through it. Your eye doesn't notice unless you hold something opaque up to scatter the light (like tracing paper, for instance), meaning the device can show a picture of the night sky on the surface while highlighting the constellations on paper. The must-see video below shows how the thing can also track objects above the glass, turning a sheet held aloft into a second multi-touch display. Like the
Surface, practical applications for this seem somewhat limited -- but since when have you cared about practicality?
[Via
Slashdot]
posted October 30th 2008 9:47AM
And educational uses will be uncountable. We saw what it can do when it showed the picture of the Audi on the screen. Put the lens over it, we can see the engine. This could be used in university biology classes very well, among many other classes. All image processors could benefit from this (I like your idea of different palettes. Also, layers in Photoshop could use this exceedingly well)
In all honesty I just responded to your comment because you're Mr. Ford. And you stole my presidency.
...and you can thank Ronald Regan's ass for that!
OMG I'd give my left nut for that thing. Sh*t, I'd give both my nuts, not like i'd have time to use them anyways.
So could this work like say a TV Screen? I mean theoretically I would be watching something on the screen and someone wearing som kind of glasses could be watching another one?
or you could just get a second tv...
very interesting application. of course though, itd be cheaper to buy two tvs
steve jobs doesn't like what he sees...
Are you kidding THE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF THIS ARE ENORMOUS. Imagine a room where this thing is in the floor. You can take any surface you want attack two IR strips and it instantly becomes a mobile workstation! This can be used in education and entertainment this thing is HUGE
this looks like something graphic artists and 3-d modelers will use.
ZOMG11!!!1
That is some very cool tech, and I personally can't wait until we get surface based computers in the mainstream.
I am just excited to be able to put my photoshop pallets on papers, move them around where ever I want, and to be able to get rid of my wacom tablet and work directly on the surface.
now if they can make this thing small, like a cellphone, so when i need to browse on a cellphone, i dont need to use the small VGA screen of the phone, i can project the browser in a white wall or surface in front of me and surf from there. watching a movie from a small screen of PMP? nah! i can project that movie in a white surface and watch HD movie on the wall. it just need some refinement.
I want a magic lens for my Audi!!
Ian...
Did you just put MobileMe and SurfaceLight in the same category? I'm on a Mac right now and I guess I'm an Apple fan boy... but MobileMe is nowhere near the innovation that this is.
Do want.
For Pron.
How come no one has thought how practical 3d pronn would be!
I mean, seriously.
When the economic stimulus checks went out, the pron industry was the only industry to show a gain immediately.
The real reason the surface didn't take off is because it had no real application for porn, but this does.
Ok, being from the UK, I've got to admit that I kinda like the surface stuff going on with CNN during your elections, even the joke SNL skit.
However, I beginning to think that working with computers in th future is going to be a LOT of exercise. This coming after all that gaming on the wii ...
What about us couch potatoes, I don't want to end up looking like that other 'Joe Sixpack' after a session with my computer!
Great stuff from Microsoft though. Sterling Work.
The running man totally blew my mind. CRAZY.
You need to get out of your chair more.
One step closer to J.A.R.V.I.S. and all the other technology in Iron Man!
What a nice big toy!! Want!!!! :)
By my understanding, it basically projects a picture above the screen. So for the car example, if you leaned over it you would have had the structure of the car painted across your face (you can see the picture projected on the bottom of his arm in some of the examples). So this would never work on a wall and you can't lean over it if it's a table. That kinda limits its use, although it's still the coolest thing I've seen in a while.
Maybe they could project the secondary picture in IR and have some kind of paper that reacts to various wavelengths of IR and emits color. Then you wouldn't be able to see it without the paper (and it would still be a lot cheaper then having a bunch of LCD screens).
I'm sure Microsoft will figure it out and I can't wait until these things start showing up
You've missed on very important point, it knows when there is a piece of paper there instead of your face. Its "smart".
http://www.io2technology.com/
Didn't Johhny Chung Lee already show off something very similar to this? Or did Microsoft hire him or are they just implementing his ideas. Anyone else remember something like this in Lee's projects?
I'd like to see how it works in a lit environment. But this is impressive and new, surface wasn't.
Blinded by the SecondLight
Picked the magic lens
Another runner in the night!!
political BS in the post aside (we kid, we kid doesn't keep it from being a politically charged comment.) this thing is sexual.
Not trying to bring too many rumors here, but Apple did patent a 3D projector technology in march of this year. While just looking at the patent overview (US patent 11533580), you might think that this is unrelated to Microsoft's second light. Microsoft projects "through" their screen into a location above it. Apple's projects a 3D image without going through a screen, but it can move the image to anwhere inside a room.
However, if you look at the details (for example para 35, 37, 78, etc...) and join it with Apple's patent last year that allows non - holographic projections to go through an LCD screen, you get something similar to Microsoft's product with a whole bunch of benefits. Microsoft uses alternate frames, which is okay for casual use, but Apple can actually show cinematic quality. Also, Apple's 3d projection isn't confined to just the area above the LCD screen like microsoft's. The light from the LCD can literally go off at oblique angles to create an image that isn't in the normal light path of the rest of the LCD.
Yes, that will be interesting when anything other than vapour ware .. I mean to say really, I can come up with an idea of a 3d HD THX certified, remotely interactive, nano quantum particle manufacturing tablet that actually self constructs anything I think of, throw down some schematics of how I think it will work, and patent it, but until I actually develop a prototype and release it all I'm doing is stopping others from having a go. Patents suck.
incredible
this is the coolest thing ive seen ever...makes me wanna forget about the retarded commercials microsoft released with gates.
The world is just that much closer to having that cool holographic displays from the Iron Man film...
The possibilities for this and Starcraft are endless.
Aren't Microsoft and Apple the same company?