Earlier today I wrote about some of the Microsoft Research Projects that were being demoed at TechFest, Microsoft’s showcasing of its best research projects, including Mobile Surface; now there is a video of the project in action courtesy of TechFlash.
The project has a long way to go before we can see it in the market but it looks promising, being able to turn any surface quickly and easily into a touch interface by just using a mobile device will be very useful. However I am not sure I see a use for this, if I want access to a touch like interface I would prefer to carry a tablet PC around with me than a device with only the power of a phone that required a stand, camera etc to use. If a user wants a “touch-less” experience to control a surface then Microsoft already have that technology thanks to Project Natal which I believe hardware could be added to PCs, TVs and Phones around the screen.
I see this project being incorporated into the Project Natal team or even the Surface team with its SecondLight technology.
As some people have already said, this looks very like the technologies used in “Minority Report” and that’s certainly a good thing.
