I keep forgetting how wonderful Microsoft’s Surface technology is. Here, the New York Times R&D Lab have taken it, bent it to their will, and created news-centric tabletop interface that you’ll want to play with every morning. Just maybe not eat on.
In the above demonstration, we get to see the Times‘ vision of how people might consume their news before their morning commute. With a fully realised touch setup that completely eschews their more iconic — if cluttered — broadsheet design, it already looks like a better, more natural experience than their website. But it’s not just the news; the table tries its best to know you. It can interact uniquely with your phone, your cup of coffee, and potentially any of the stuff you happen to throw at it.
This will probably be expensive. Check it out anyway. [Neiman Lab]