Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
The new ‘Surface Computer’, as seen on the NBC Today Show and at the D:
All Things Digital conference, will suffer the same problem that
today’s shiny technologies all face – that of the ultimate fingerprint
magnet.
Earlier, we reported on the Surface Computer, and
having remembered that Bill Gates demonstrated an earlier version of a
surface computer at his CES 2006 Keynote, wrote an article entitled “Bill Gates demo’d the Surface Computer table demo in ‘06".
Set to be demonstrated by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the D: All
Things Digital conference today, the Surface Computer is a true
innovation, making the human interaction with data, such as photos,
information, music and more, that much more natural.
Indeed, so natural is the act of flicking a finger or moving your hand,
that an entirely new name for the interface has been created, and has
been dubbed the NUI, or ‘natural user interface’.
But with every new technology comes new challenges. So far, the Surface
Computer looks like a coffee table with a 30-inch LCD screen. It also
has 5 infrared cameras, is fully touch controlled, can accept
‘multi-touch’ input like the iPhone but from up to four users at the
same time, runs a customized version of Windows Vista and more.
Larger versions are no doubt on the drawing board, but for now, as the
units are slated to cost between US $5000 and $10,000 upon launch later
this year, selected retail outlets, hotels, restaurants and other
selected public locations will purchase the Surface Computer for the
public to see and use.
Consumer models are set to arrive in two to three years, at reduced
price points, relegating the Surface Computer to the wealthy with
plenty of disposable income, or those retail locations and stores
wanting the hottest new computing device with the most natural input.
The Surface Computer certainly is very intriguing, and can even be
thought of as the ‘iPhone of computers’, in a battle which sees
Microsoft and Apple duke it out once more in the high technology
stakes, with devices that share similar interfaces, even though they
are opposite in physical size.
As for its screen, the interface of which will primarily be driven by
fingers, let’s hope they include a screen cleaner in the box, or the
Surface Computer truly will be the most technological fingerprint
magnet ever!
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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