Appliance Design - August 2008 - (Page 6)

NEwS watch touchscreen table Surfaces the first entertainment application for Microsoft Surface is in the lounge of a Las Vegas casino. this is a screenshot of the Surface table displaying an application for ordering food and beverages. In this hypothetical retail application, a couple uses drag-and-drop features of Surface to custom design a snowboard. novel interactive technology developed by Microsoft and first unveiled as a prototype last year has popped up in the real world. Microsoft Surface, described as a surface computer, is a 30-in. (diagonal) tablelike display that allows an individual or multiple users to access content by touch or gesture, with no mouse or keyboard required. The technology began appearing in selected AT&T retail stores in April and made its debut at Harrah’s Rio AllSuite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, in June. The AT&T retailers use the interactive device to help customers compare mobile wireless products, features, and plans. The AT&T application exploits one of the unique features of the Microsoft Surface – object recognition. A visitor to the store can place a particular model of mobile phone on top of the table, and the display will recognize it and show information about it. If the customer places a second model of mobile phone next to the first, the display will recognize it also and provide comparawEE BIt OF waSh watER. Researchers at the University of Leeds in the U.K say they have developed a clothes washing technology that is almost waterless. The approach involves the addition of small plastic chips into the load that, when tumbled with the load, will remove and absorb dirt from the clothes, according to the scientists. The method utilizes about a cup of water (with detergent added) and about 44 lbs. of the plastic chips, each measuring about half a centimeter. The researchers say that this 6 applianceDESIGN August 2008 a tive information about the two. In the Rio application, visitors to the casino’s iBar lounge can use Microsoft Surface to concoct and order drinks, watch videos, play games, and take a virtual tour of Las Vegas. The tables also have a program called Flirt that allows users to interact with other patrons in the lounge. Surface uses cameras to sense objects, hand gestures, and touch. This user input is then processed and displayed on the surface using rear projection, which displays an image onto the underside of a thin diffuser that serves as the table’s surface. Infrared light is also projected onto the underside of the diffuser. Objects such as fingers are visible through the diffuser by series of infraredsensitive cameras, positioned underneath the surface of the tabletop. An image processing system processes the camera images to detect fingers, custom tags, and other objects such as paint brushes when touching the display. The objects recognized with this system are reported to manner of washing clothes uses less than 2 percent the water and energy of a conventional clothes washer. It also reduces the amount of time clothes need to spend in the dryer, since they emerge nearly dry from the washer. The project team is also experimenting with the technology in drycleaning equipment to similarly reduce the amount of solvents required in drycleaning operations. A spin-off company called Xeros, Ltd., also in Leeds, has been established to commercialize the technol- applications running in the computer so that they can react to object shapes, 2D bar codes (tags), movement, and touch. The Surface custom software platform runs on Windows Vista and has wired Ethernet 10/100 and wireless 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity. The technology comes equipped with a portfolio of basic applications that can be customized for specific customer experiences. Microsoft is working on future applications with a gaming technology company and a number of other resort and casino operators. Since the first public announcement of the technology, Microsoft says that it has received more than 2,000 inquiries from 50 countries involving more than 25 different industries. Microsoft Surface technology is currently available only in the 30-in. diagonal form factor, where the table measures s 22 in. x 21 in. x 42 in. However, the company envisions many possible form factors in the future, including embedding the technology into a wall, mirror, or even a refrigerator door. < ogy. The company says it is already in discussions with potential commercialization partners and hopes to have the new washing machine on the market by early 2009. GE SEEKS tO SPIN-OFF UNIt. The General Electric Co., Fairfield, Conn., announced that it is continuing to explore all options for its Consumer & Industrial businesses with a primary focus on spinning-off the entire unit — Appliances, www.applianceDESIGN.com http://www.appliancedesign.com

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Appliance Design - August 2008 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Plastics Switches Noise & Vibration Control Joining New Products Design Marts Association Report: CEA Advertiser’s Index

Appliance Design - August 2008

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