Rising to the Surface

Microsoft has launched Microsoft Surface, a coffee table sized device featuring a 30-inch screen embedded in an acrylic tabletop. Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a dynamic display platform that provides interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. The device's electronic guts are hidden in the low-slung table's thick pedestal. In the last quarter of 2007 consumers will be able to interact with Surface in hotels, retail establishments, restaurants and public entertainment venues. Customers in T-Mobile retail stores will be able to place different cell phones on Surface's interactive surface where product features, prices and phone plans will appear so they can be easily compared.