We're not far from the day when any tabletop could be transformed into a giant tablet computer, said Nick Statt at The Verge. At Austin's South by Southwest Interactive Festival in March, Sony's R&D division unveiled a projector that uses depth sensors and motion tracking to turn any flat surface into an interactive touch screen. The "Interactive Tabletop" can also recognize what's placed on it.
In one demonstration, Sony used the device to bring an open copy of Alice in Wonderland to life, turning the illustrations into animations that could be dragged off the page and placed anywhere on the table. The projector is still just a prototype, but it's easy to imagine the device eventually being used as an educational tool, turning books into interactive lessons. It could also be a step toward the "hologram-based tech we see in movies."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The dazzling coral gardens of Raja AmpatThe Week Recommends Region of Indonesia is home to perhaps the planet’s most photogenic archipelago.
-
‘Never more precarious’: the UN turns 80The Explainer It’s an unhappy birthday for the United Nations, which enters its ninth decade in crisis
-
Trump’s White House ballroom: a threat to the republic?Talking Point Trump be far from the first US president to leave his mark on the Executive Mansion, but to critics his remodel is yet more overreach
