Imagine A World Of Smart Surfaces
Look around your living environment. What do you see? Surfaces. And they are everywhere. Your kitchen counter top. The refrigerator. The glass table in the living room. Imagine a world of intelligent smart surfaces, that when you touch it, something amazing happens.
Nearly two decades ago, I cut my teeth on Microsoft Windows development. Back then it was called Windows 2.0 and it looked nothing like it is today. Blocky, pixelated, and running on less than stellar cathode ray tube monitors. But realize, it was all we had as the world of personal computing was just unfolding. But I just knew that someday, something much bigger was going to come along.
I dreamed a lot in those days as a young engineer. Especially of a desk made of glass with Microsoft Windows running on top of it. The keyboard was virtual and there would be no need for a mouse. You would just tap, drag and drop objects onto one another in a very intuitive manner. It was like your own personal command center. One where it knew everything about you. I called it SmartDesk.
Years later I would work for a division of Xerox in Palo Alto, a research think tank and home of many technological innovations that included the invention of the personal computer, laser printers, ethernet network, graphical user interface (Windows, icons, mice, pulldown menus, WYSIWYG), and object oriented programming.
It was here where Apple's CEO Steve Jobs would do a walk through the labs to see the Xerox Alto and its rich graphical user interface (GUI). It was that day which the landscape of computing would change forever.
While I was there, I was fortunate to be able to play with the Xerox Star (a post cursor to the Alto) and use it as my Big Inbox (as I would like to call it). It was every bit as cool as I had imagined it to be.
The Xerox Star
Still, the user centric focus was before a computing machine through keyboard and mouse. But why not finger?
Today of course, we see how glass surfaces are playing an important role in how we interact with technological devices. Just one look at the marvel of Apple's iPad and iPhone display technology and you will immediately get what I'm talking about. Finger gesturing on a glass display is fun and engaging. It's an added sensory perception that begs us to explore. Swiping, pinching, multi finger touch and drag & drop brings about a more active level of participation. Touch is a wonderful sensory expression when applied to interactive computing.
Yesterday I stumbled across this presentation by Corning on their vision of the future in display surface technology and interactive computing. Watch this short 5 minute presentation to get a glimpse of what the future has in store. I think you will like it.
Corning: A conceptual glass computing desktop
Throughout my life, I have always believed this was the Next Big Thing in desktop computing. It's taken so long to get to this point and it is a testament to the computing world. I am glad to see that there are companies out there who continue to believe in the vision to make this all happen - the next step in display computing.
Update: December 17, 2011
About Kerry Kobashi
Kerry is the founder of KerryOnWorld. He lives in Silicon Valley and has worked as an engineer and project manager. He owns Kobashi Computing a consulting company.
