Months later, the students released a video with a proof-of-concept of the D&D-Surface mashup, which they named SurfaceScapes, including a look at how combat plays out.

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Virtual d20 ftw.

[via Wired via Penny Arcade]

Fresh from the streets of Japan, the Yorozu Audio Sound Revolution kit lets you transform just about anything into a speaker.

Simply mount the Yorozu’s vibrating sonic transducer wherever you want it, and it’ll turn the surface into a conductive sound system. While the kit includes a cardboard milk carton that you can use for starters, pretty much any piece of cardboard, a window, a plastic water bottle or even a white board will work. While the speaker’s 1-watt amplifier (2-watt peak) won’t blow anyone’s eardrums, you’re probably buying one of these for the curiosity of it, not for the volume.

I couldn’t find a video of the Yorozu in action, but I did manage to dig up this clip of an OEM version of the same technology, which shows off how it works.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And if you don’t live in Japan, no worries. The guys over at the Japan Trend Shop have been kind enough to start shipping these around the globe for all of us to enjoy. ($89 USD).

The smartly designed Ratscar Deskpad eSporter XXL provides a huge work area which gives you usable space on both the left and right side of your keyboard. The XXL measures in at a whopping 35.4 x 17.7 inches, almost 10 times the size of a typical mouse pad. The pad has a high-precision cloth surface, along with a non-slip backing to keep it from sliding around your desk. It’s priced at €26,95 (about $40 USD).

[via The Presurfer] (Thanks for the tip, Roadside Scholar!)

The RGBy desk uses small clusters of photo sensors and multicolored LEDs to work its color-changing magic.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The RGBy desk was created as a collaboration between computer scientist Ichi Kanaya and designers Makoto Hirahara and Shinya Matsuyama of Japan’s Studio Mongoose (the same guys who brought us the super cool Bright Blind).

At this point, the desk is a one-of-a-kind piece, so don’t expect to find one in your living room any time soon.

[via MoCo Loco]

By hacking some infrared sensors through the back of a standard laptop display, they’re able to track the locations and pressure from multiple finger locations. As an added benefit of the infrared technology, the interface can also be manipulated with a simple remote control pointed at the display.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

A gesture-based user interface application then allows for manipulation of objects much in the same way that we saw with Surface and on Apple’s upcoming iPhone.

Each time I see another one of these tech demos, it becomes clearer to me that multi-touch interfaces have the potential to replace (or at least significantly augment) the decades-old mouse as our means of interacting with computers.

[via 10]

We’ve seen earlier research prototypes of this technology under the moniker PlayAnywhere, but now Microsoft is commercializing it. The initial Surface system looks like a table with 30-inch flat panel monitor embedded beneath the tabletop.

Like Apple’s iPhone, Surface supports multi-touch, meaning it can detect touch in multiple locations on the display, providing the ability to “grab” and manipulate objects on the screen. The system can also accept simultaneous input from multiple users, making it perfect for gaming and other entertainment uses. In addition, it can interact with objects placed on the surface for everything from augmented reality applications to detecting when a media player is placed on the surface so it can begin transferring digital content via a wireless connection.

Surface runs on the Windows Vista platform, but has specialized software which provides the touch and gesture interface. With the initial units costing around $10k each, Microsoft sees the initial applications for surface being in bars, restaurants, casinos, hotels and other locations where users might interact with menus, maps, games or other information without need for a mouse, keyboard or other control device. They expect to ship the first devices later this year.