Touch Screen Menus?

Imagine it. You go to your favorite restaurant and sit down. Instead of waiting for a waitress to bring you a menu you simply touch the table in front of you. It lights up, and pictures of dishes you can order slide across the screen, complete with ingredients and price lists. To order you simply slide the picture up to the order button and they receive it in the kitchen.

Need your glass refilled? Tap your drink on the table and a waitress will bring you a drink.

What technological advance is this? It's called the Microsoft Surface, a computerized table that operates completely on touch. No mouse, no keyboard.

While many of the applications of the Microsoft Surface can be utilized in the home, like picture sharing between phones and cameras, or playing videos from mpg enabled cameras, the Microsoft Surface has a much broader application in the commercial industry.

One feature of the Surface is to set two digital devices on the table top to bring up a comparison list, thus making shopping for cell phones, cameras, and other devices infinitely simpler.

The applications in restaurants and other hospitality services will be phenomenal. Busy restaurants will be able to save time. The table will take orders, and signal for waiters, and even charge your credit card and split bills between individuals. It will also provide entertainment for people at the station while waiting on your order.

The educational applications of a Microsoft Surface are also interesting to contemplate, but probably not practical for many years to come, especially when many schools do not even have proper computer rooms. Eventually it will offer truly interactive computing for students learning about science, math, or English. Group learning would be multimedia, utilizing video, picture, touch, sound and anything else you can imagine.

Personal applications of this device are endless, from sharing information via Zune and cell phones, to editing photos and movies by touch. The interactive game abilities will also appeal to both casual and hard core gamers.

Unfortunately the technology of a Surface limits it to a large console, therefore it will never be portable, however I would not put it past them to be working on something that is.

Look for Microsoft Surface at Sheraton hotels, Harrah's casinos, and T-Mobile stores this November.

Microsoft hopes to drop the prices for the Surface from the projected $5-10,000 in three to five years to a more affordable personal tabletop. Until then they will be able to use the commercial applications of the Surface and work out the bugs.

For demonstrations of the Surface take a look at YouTube, and their own website.