Microsoft Opens Window to Future of Touch and Gesture Computing

by Pedro Hernandez, eWeek

Microsoft’s newly-rebuilt Envisioning Center offers visitors glimpses of technologies that Microsoft thinks will become widespread over the next five to 10 years, with an emphasis on touch, voice, and gesture-based computer interaction. Expected to become common are fluid, modern, and graphically-rich interfaces and touch-enabled devices that will push PCs into the background.

Among the futuristic scenarios highlighted by the Envisioning Center is a smart kitchen that can perceive an ingredient, suggest recipes, and guide the cook through meal preparation. The technology currently is in a testbed phase, but soon will be realized commercially.

Microsoft is relying on technologies such as cloud computing and its Kinect sensor to clear a path to intuitive, seamless, and ubiquitous computing experiences. Not long after Kinect’s rollout, hackers demonstrated ways to tweak the technology so it could perform functions beyond video-game control.

Early initiatives included a 3D holographic mapping system and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Personal Robotics Group’s KinectBot, a robot capable of navigating and mapping its environment in 3D. Microsoft has since launched a Kinect software development kit and a Windows PC-enabled version of the Kinect.  Report

DCL: They need a lot of event processing behind the scenes to drive this stuff. See also the earlier BBC report.