Epson gets into interactive coffee tables • Register Hardware
X-Desk lets users interact with digital content through a flat 1024 x 768, 52in multi-touch screen that can also communicate with other gadgets, including mobile phones and cameras, placed onto its surface.
X-Desk will recognise up to 16,000 objects using “Smart Tags” and gesture recognition allows multiple users to, say, draw out objects on its surface.
There are the obvious things, like virtual docks for downloading pictures or synching phones and other gizmos. But what I really want it for is my piles of paper. I want smart tags for every magazine or book or printout or bill (with the camera doing basic OCR on titles and letterheads). Then, when I say “where’s that chapter I printed out” or where was that greeting card from my old college buddy, pop! up comes a little trail of blinking arrows leading me to the spot where I put it.
After that, I want a laser-projector version for my bookcases — the camera reads the spines, and not only finds books when I ask for them but points to the book I should read when I can’t get enough information from a web search.