So if you have been living on this earth, you know all about the iPhone. I was watching TV last night for a little bit and saw a commercial for the new HP TouchSmart IQ500 Series. What triggered my interest is because it has come to my attention that we are taking the baby steps to getting accustomed to the world of “touch.” Some of you may not know about the product I am about to talk about, but to brief you, it just came out this Spring and says it will “revolutionize” the way users go about interacting. The product I am referring to is the ever-so-cool Microsoft Surface.

This baby is so friggin’ cool, but it kiiiiind of scares me. Why? Here is a product that has just come out and states very boldly that it will change the way people interact. In my department at school, we have discussed the surface, and I have previously done some research about it. Will this become the next need? Remember the times when there was no internet and cell phone? Hmm….will this really be as huge as Microsoft says?

The surface will be first presented in leisure, entertainment and retail spaces in the U.S. However, Microsoft is committed to international market expansion and as the Microsoft Surface business grows, the company looks forward to a promising global opportunity with this exciting product.

Being in industrial design, it’s products like this that make me do that Daffy Duck thing where when Daffy sees treasure and his eyes get glossed over and big and he runs his tongue round his beak real quick…it’s hypnotizing! But here is the thing. The reason I bring up the iPhone and HP is because I feel we are taking the steps to getting our society used to this technology. Why not just come out with the Surface and see how it does? Well you could, but people might not react the way you think. Microsoft kept the Surface under wraps for 6 years! They were very smart about this.

This is a new way of using, and if you put out a product that’s so new and innovative, surprisingly people may not know what to think. Imagine giving an iPhone to someone 10 years ago, those products don’t fit in for what was going on then, plus people might be able to understand or adapt as quickly. We’ve taken the steps to get there. You have to be just right when coming out with something, because timing is a key issue. Props to Microsoft I hope you guys do well with the product, I hope I get to play with one soon, but I also hope it’s a product for the good. Here is some awesome info on the surface.

Here is what the Surface is in a brief description that you can find the website:

Microsoft Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, interactive surface. It’s the first commercially-available surface computing platform from Microsoft. The product provides effortless access to digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. Today, it’s a 30-inch diagonal display in a table-like form factor that’s easy for individuals or multiple people to interact with in a way that feels familiar, just like in the real world. In essence, it’s a surface come to life for exploring, learning, sharing, creating, buying and much more. Today, consumers can interact with Surface at select AT&T retail locations. Surface deployments will continue in restaurant, retail, leisure and public entertainment venues in the coming weeks and months.

Awesome right!? Heck yes it is! Not only is the Surface going to be presented at the certain locations, but this technology is being used for our military operations…ahh yess, some top secret coolness….hah not really top secret, but cool nonetheless.

Okay, so back to the new HP. I’m interested to see the technology of “touch” or “surface computing” being used in computer form…yes I know the Surface is kind of like a computer, but the new HP is the first of its kind for the general public buying computer world. Since the Surface is not for individual consumer sale, this HP is a good start! Oh HP, way to use the Tim Burton Nightmare Before Christmas font style haha. Once I get my hands on one of these puppies and get the chance to play around with it (the HP), we’ll see if it makes it to my list of awesome products or will it end up on my worst product of the week list… We’ll see how the world takes to it.

By Kaley Hymiller
www.orange-element.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 10:29 am and is filed under Blog Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.