@DisposableInterloper: I think he was going somewhere else with that...

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@xev: But this is way cooler, wouldn't you agree?

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@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog:
BJ's is one of those really large warehouse retailers, like Sam's Club and Costco. Customer service is on par with other such stores, so unless you thought BJ's was a generic name for a dollar store, I don't really get your comment.

DisposableInterloper

These things were called Smart Boards in my high school. We had them in about 25% of the classes, and unfortunately the teachers only used them to show powerpoints and play chess.
My point is that there are many variations on this type of device. Some are as fancy as the CNN one, and others can be quite simple.

xev

Am a Mac Pc & i sell fish

snitch29

@DigitalSciGuy: At a place called BJ's, I'm sure there is a lot higher price to pay than money.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

You can get one for about $100,000. Those things are expensive. And also immensely fun to play with :D

smartboydan hates college

If only Circuit City sold these. . .

douchebagantics

@Killtodie:
Perceptive Pixel has arguably the first large scale commercial multitouch display, and if memory serves, it's the only multitouch display on the market based on frustrated total internal reflection.

DisposableInterloper

BJ's is offering five at reduced price... :P

DigitalSciGuy

what the big deal about this? this thing has been out for like 10 years.

Killtodie

Jeff Han is someone you'll be hearing about a lot now, and in the coming years.

He's made it clear that this technology is not new.

As of today him and his team are making this technology more popular than it has ever been.

xint

@xev: You had these in High School? My High School could barely afford band.

badhatharry

@xev: Smart boards and the tech between perspective pixel are compeletely different.

Thats like me saying "pfft we've had iPhones when I was in high school but then we called them Motorola Dynatac 8000Xs"

tande04

@xev: My high school had these too. I'm sure they could have been used to a much greater extent than just whiteboard-like use and powerpoint presentation. The most fun of course was calibrating it, everybody fought over that game. :P

Wolfess

Check out NUI Group, we do stuff like this but not as good and not as expensive. (And Open Source)

Mammoth

@Powered by cookies and beer: I think a lot of us had these in high school.

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Microsoft's Big Assed Table... turned up on its side. So there IS a market for that.

Obee Juan

Guys. Give props to Jeff. He was one of the original developers of this technology.

_badtziscool

There is nothing MAGIC about this. If there's any MAGIC to be found it's in the software writen for the apps used. They had some pretty slick drill down features to show us.

JEmlay

@GothAlice: Well, the not just to make a point, also to instill in the viewer the relationship to Star Wars projective holograms, which, while cool for the time, had some quality issues.

GothAlice

I honestly believe it's a lame gimmick. Not even the anchors really know why the hell they have it. I even watched them needlessly point to graphics, like the "who's winning" two-column bar chart. Obama *point* is currently in the lead, while McCain *point* is trailing behind.

Well, duh!

I'm even less impressed with the fake 'hologram'. There is no reason for the low frame rates and blue border -- those were added simply to make the point to the public. "We're cool, we have holograms!" Realtime digital composition, more like.

>_<

GothAlice

@tande04:

Exactly right. My firm designs schools out here in California and a lot of them use "Smart Boards." I have also been to Architectural Software trade shows where Perceptive Pixels displays were in use. The difference between the two is outstanding.

Until you actually use a Perceptive Pixel screen, you can't really understand. The applications for the design community are innumerable. 10 digit multi-touch is an incredible thing.

And yes, they start out at about $100,000 for a useable size. I think that figure alone is what keeps more design firms from using these for presentations and design.

rton20s

@DisposableInterloper: you can't see me right now... but i am making the gesture where i like fly my hand right above my head and make a "whoosh!" sound.

x23

Didn't they have these in the Nieman Marcus catalog last Christmas?

PobreGizmo