Microsoft Surface Parody - Milan

Microsoft Surface is essentially a Windows Vista PC tucked inside a black table base, topped with a 30-inch touchscreen in a clear acrylic frame. Five cameras that can sense nearby objects are mounted beneath the screen. Users can interact with the machine by touching or dragging their fingertips and objects such as paintbrushes across the screen, or by setting real-world items tagged with special barcode labels on top of it.

The technology behind Surface is called Multi-touch. It has at least a 25-year history,beginning in 1982, with pioneering work being done at the University of Toronto (multi-touch tablets) and Bell Labs (multi-touch screens). The product idea for Surface was initially conceptualized in 2001 by Steven Bathiche of Microsoft Hardware and Andy Wilson of Microsoft Research. In October 2001, a virtual team was formed with Bathiche and Wilson as key members, to bring the idea to the next stage of development.

Surface applications can be written in Windows Presentation Foundation or XNA. The development process is much like normal Vista development, but custom WPF controls had to be created by the Surface team due to the unique interface of Surface. Developers already proficient in WPF have been trained in the idiosyncrasies of writing Surface apps and should be available to customize Surface deployments for the large hotels, casinos, and restaurants at which the machines will first be deployed.

More Informations:
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4217348.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/touch-me/microsoft-surface-confirmed-touch+sensitive-10k-minority-report-table-264338.php