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New York Times envisions Microsoft Surface kitchen table, just don't spill your OJ (video)
Long since gone are the days of sitting at the breakfast table, drinking a cup of coffee and sharing the Sunday paper... or are they? The New York Time's R&D Lab is developing a "kitchen table" based-on Microsoft Surface touchscreen technology, designed to take individuals that are normally face down in their iPads, back to the table for a more social way to consume and share content. The display gives multiple readers the opportunity to sit at the table and interact, with options to share across the surface by swiveling and enlarging images or articles. The Times envisions that it will also be a mode of discovery, where users could get more information on a certain product by placing it on the table to find prices and related NYT articles, which could also an interesting method for advertising -- just be careful where you put that Starbucks cup.
New York Times R&D group is braced for the future of content delivery, being totally chill
In a collision of journalistic labs heretofore unseen, the folks at Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab hit up The New York Times' R&D lab for a look at what those ink-stained word-slingers think about the future of newspaper delivery. Nick Bilton, "Design Integration Editor" at the NY Times, and ever calm in the face of futurism, gave a guided tour of the devices they're currently looking at, and while there aren't a lot of surprises, it is nice to see they're taking ebooks, netbooks and touchscreen PCs all very seriously. Of particular note is a (sadly damaged) e-ink prototype with a newspapery layout, complete with typography, designed for an "e-ink device that [doesn't] exist yet." Nick also makes mention of Mary Lou Jepsen's upcoming Pixel Qi display, along with the marvelous world of RFID-based ads. Check out the full content delivery nerd-out on video after the break.
