New Scientist -'Smart' table could boost brainstorming

Tom Simonite - 9 October 2006
A 'smart' table that copies images of objects on its surface to a video display below could improve brainstorm sessions, researchers say.

The Blue Eye table consists of a glass surface with a camera overhead and a projector and a mirror underneath. A user places an object on the glass surface and presses a button to copy it to the screen beneath. Once imported, the images can then easily be moved, stretched and even animated by a user.

The team's Web site is here and there's a demonstration of a variant of the system here. It reminds me of the display screen the police used in the film, Minority Report.

If shared remote access to the system became possible, from people's own computers, you would have the basis of an interesting piece of groupware. Who knows, perhaps those smart folk at 37signals might offer something like it one day.