Microsoft's New Surface

The Future now

Back in college I heard about the "Surface" technology.  It was a tablet surface the size of a table and the surface was so intelligent that is could detect any thing that was placed on it and or was programmed to. The technology seemed unreal but awesome at the same time.

The technology that I am talking about was Surface Table by Microsoft. The advertisements that I saw at the time was from the Microsoft Surface promo website. They made the table smart to be used in a restaurant or in a home. The surface of this table table could sense anything that was placed on it and display information about that was placed on the surface on the screen.

1st Example: You are at a New High Tech restaurant and all the tables in the restaurant have Surface systems. You come in and are seated by the host. The host walks away after touching the surface with her card and entering a number of guests on the table, but doesn't hand you or your guest any menus. Then you see the table come up with menus and a commercial of the latest dish that restaurant has. You are prompted to select a drink from the touch screen and also your appetizers and meals. Then shortly after you had made your selection what what you wanted to drink a waitress is finally present and delivers your drinks. Once the glasses are placed on the Surface there will be a ring around the base of the glass that identifies what is in the glass. (say its Ice Tea, unsweetened and your is a sweet tea) you could also see the surface detail automatically as you start to get low on your drink that you will be prompted for a refill (Yes or No) and once you make you selection you waitress comes again to fill you up.

That same tech is seen again if you ordered a Pizza or a hamburger and there would be a ring displayed on the table to show what it is that you ordered... plus if the nutrition facts were available you could see that as well.

Paying you bill would be easy as well all you would have to do i place your credit or debit card on the sure in a precess your transaction at your table with out giving you card to the waiter.

2nd Example:  You get home and place your Keys cellphone and wallet on the surface in your hall and walk to you living room and sit down to another surface device. you tap the glass to wake the surface and you will be promoted with a list of connected devices that are on the Surface in your house and you could instantly have access to your photos on your cellphone or the contacts list or emails. You could identify where you wallet was left on which surface in the house or what key are on the table in the hall. You could control the TV and Lighting and other Smart devices in your home with any surface in the home.

Security

Granted most of this stuff that I mentioned was not all on the commercial. But I'm sure that you would be able to do all that I had mentioned. Maybe its creepy to you. But security could be implemented. Say a finger print scanner or retina scanner on the surface. You could lock your devices so that they could not be accessed from the surface. I'm sure that many people would be worry of privacy issues that could arise or theft. But at the same time all of these things would be looked into I can guarantee you they would have too.

This was back in 2007-09 when I first saw this technology or something like it. But now the "Surface" has come to light again. Microsoft have made and even small device much easier to transport and looks a lot like the iPad by Apple. I just wonder if this thing can do half the stuff I talked about above. Who knows, but we will find out.


Any thoughts? Comments? What do you think?

The Next BIG Technology Advancement

The next big technology that is soon to come is going to be a solution that will help eliminate all theft (shop lifting) and inventory loses. This same technology will help stores with making the checkout processes easier and faster; as well for all of us that hate waiting in those endless lines at the store.

So what is this technology? And how does it work? How much will is cost? What is the impact?

There was an article in the news paper a few months back that stated that stores were looking to place RFID tags into items to help with inventory and theft prevention. But as you read the article you could tell that the writer had no idea what he was saying in stating that "the technology could be used to track you and invade your privacy."

The fact is this technology is not for tracking people as all. The technology is only used in the store and as soon as you purchase the product as the cash register, the RFID tags will be deactivated.

What are these RFID tags? Where will they be placed? These RFIDs can be the size of a strand of hair. They will be used to uniquely identify the items it is placed in or on. For example they can be placed in toys, games, clothes, shoes, CDs, any thing and everything non-editable. And for those things that are editable the tags will be place on or around those items. Like on a sticker on a piece of fruit or a bag of bread and in the tub of butter (embedded in the plastic).

The Tag its self reads just like a barcode, but it has a lot more information associated with it. The Code is just a simple number that can categorize the item the size, color, price, make, brand, manufacture, expiration date, etc.

Manufacturing
All Manufactures would need to change their labeling on their products to allow for the insertion/embedding of this thread it be one more fiber added to clothing or a bag. Just like the Bar codes that are on all sales items today.
These manufactures would need two more major pieces of equipment besides the actual fiber. First is the reader as the assembly line. The reader would detect is the thread is inserts into the item and also inventory the item and add all information to the database. The second reader would scan items being shipped out . this would date the logs on what, when, to whom and how much was shipped.

How does the RFID work?
The tags are placed in the item within the store, can be read at all times by a scanner “RFID reader”. The RFID reader sends out a signal to the RFID tags to provide power to the RFID chip inside and then the chip will reply to the reader with the RFID information. The Reader/s is fully capable of reading hundreds of thousand of tags at a single time. The tags all read back to the reader a Code. This code would then in turn reference a data base that states how much inventory was taken in and sold or taken out, etc.

All of this data can be used to order more products or keep track of inventory for the store.

Checkout
Checking out couldn’t be any easier and faster. All you would have to do is walk right up to the register and the scanners there would detect everything in the cart and on the person that was not purchased. And then a item list would be displayed and the total. The customer could see any amounts that didn’t look right and tell the cashier to make any changes necessary.

Theft control
These scanners located at all entrances to the store are set to track all products that has not been inventoried (new product to be added to inventory) or not purchased (items in inventory yet to be sold) and purchased (Items removed from inventory that was purchased by the customer).

So the door checkers would solely have the position to stop theft only and not waste time stopping honest customers.

All new inventory that was received by the trucks could be scanned before the trucks were unloaded into the store and or scanned once they were in the building as new inventory and then registered as stock or active sale.

Summary
This in the technology that will be the next big thing that will change the market place as we know it. The big players that I would see using this technology first would be Wal-Mart and all the larger companies like Sam’s club, BJ’s, and Costco. This would help to keep the costs low and products even lower. This would save tons in man hours used to count inventory in the store. This would help speed up the checkout lines at the register. And last but not least stop all theft.

This is the technology that I think will be the future. What do you think?