Perhaps if the iDesk is ever produced, it will be more affordable than Surface, but I have my doubts. Regardless, operating a multitouch display desk like this sounds pretty sweet, since it would be capable of not only running apps of its own, but providing you with virtual input devices for your laptop and mobile devices, including keyboards and touch-input surfaces.

Will Apple ever make something like the iDesk? There are certainly rumors that the next version of the iMac might have a touchscreen, but that’s not been confirmed. If they do, maybe they’ll be able to scale touchscreens successfully larger screens in time, and eventually drive the prices down to make something like this affordable. For now. We just get to look at a pretty concept.

[via MacLife]

The EXOdesk is an interactive desk, which basically puts a 40-inch touchscreen at your fingertips. There’s isn’t much known about the hardware specs, but it looks like you’re basically using a big tablet to interact with your computer. It looks pretty cool if you’ve always wanted to have something like this, but I think we’ll see some Microsoft Kinect hacks that will go above and beyond what the EXOdesk can do.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The EXOdesk is expected to retail for just $1,299 (USD), which is way cheaper than a Microsoft Surface table (The Samsung SUR40 lists for $8,400), and probably more convenient since you can use it sitting down.

[via Goodereader via Ubergizmo]

Patty has surfaced for the first time in a video on the Microsoft Surface blog and the bot is interesting. It doesn’t look like a what you might picture as a robot, it’s more a box that has automated touching pistons inside.

Each of the automated touch wands are powered by air. They each have different tips on them to simulate various things that would be placed on the Surface 2.0 table. One simulates a tag that would be on an object. Another tip simulates a finger others simulate blobs of different shapes. They can be activated individually or in unison to simulate multi-touch. You can check out the video of Patty in action here (if you happen to have Silverlight installed on your computer.)

Created by Displax, Skin is paper-thin and flexible, and when applied, can detect up to 16 finger touches at once. Skin is ideal for application onto glass or other hard, flat surfaces, and can even detect somebody blowing on the surface. Skin’s polymer surface is embedded with nanowires, which can detect the precise location of a touch, and even the direction of air flow over the wires.

As an added bonus, Skin can detect touches through surfaces up to 17mm thick, so it can be placed behind a pane of glass so as not to risk damage to the touchscreen itself.

Displax Skin is available in just about any size you can imagine, and connects to a computer using either a USB or serial connection. It sure looks like this stuff could provide for some really awesome interactive displays, especially when combined with projected images.

[via Mashable]

The “Manual Deskterity” project was built as a custom app running on the Microsoft Surface platform, and offer seamless integration of touch and pen-based inputs that look perfect for drafting and design applications. The team believes that by combining pen and touch, new gestures and modes of interaction can come to light, such as using one hand to drag an object, and the pen to slice objects with a virtual X-Acto knife.

Check out the video clip below to see just how intuitive the interface seems to be:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Pretty slick, eh? I’d love to have a system like this in my office for whiteboarding creative ideas, and if I were doing graphic design work on a regular basis, this thing could be great. Since this is just a research project at this point, I’ve got no idea if or when Microsoft will produce this software for others to enjoy. For now, it’s just me, my iPad and my Pogo Sketch.

[via istartedsomething]

As you may have guessed, the monster was made specifically for the Surface, Microsoft’s super multitouch tabletop computer. Right now the monster can’t do much besides suck bubbles up its butt (and poop them out if its eye is poked), but it does a good job of illustrating the level of interactivity that’s possible with the Surface.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Some of you may have seen this other video below, but I’m still posting it here because it shows the monster at its more complete and “conscious” form.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Imagine what the Surface can do to make chess more exciting. What was that chess game on the PC again, the one where the pieces actually attacked and killed each other? Now think of that on the Surface. That’s a chess a fool like me could understand.

[via Channel 10]

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.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

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.