Ashton Kutcher thinks Surface is cool

Years from now we'll look back remember, today was the day Ashton Kutcher said our favorite NUI device was cool.

Scanning the blog traffic I noticed over on Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing that Microsoft Surface made quite an impression at this year’s TechCrunch50 event. Dodge was in the DemoPit, and got an up close look at people’s interactions with Surface. Silicon Valley VIP and TechCrunch founder, Michael Arrington, noted that he wanted to take one home with him saying "Just try and stop me,” Surface caught the eye of a couple other celebs in attendance.

On Ashton Kutcher’s MySpace Blog, he said “The coolest thing I've seen so far is Microsoft Surface. It’s a coffee table that’s like a giant iPhone.” Ashton's readers seem to agree that Ashton is cool. ;)

According to Dodge, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was visualizing ways he could incorporate Surface, and noted that he would love to have Surface to use as a coaching tool for his team. Maybe apps that might help players visualize a teams playbook and make notes, play back video or even scout plays and tendencies of upcoming opponents - all in a 360 degree huddle. I think Cuban would need to add some height to Surface for the Mav's Nowitzki! I hadn't thought of Surface for the coach. I'm personally interested to see if Mark mentions Surface on his blog and what apps he's thinking about. Pro or con, he always has some perspective.

A few weeks ago, TechCrunch's co-founder Erick Schonfeld blogged about activity on Vectorform's Surface blog. Other than Surface drum kits, you may have heard of Vectorform recently for their work building the apps seen on MSNBC.

Would you like to see more Surface apps? Is there something in particular you're dreaming about?

Comments

• Anonymous
  September 10, 2008
  We could put these into Museums tomorrow! What a perfect technology for a group of children to collaberate and learn on. How about solving a puzzel or building a complex object? Create a virtual archaeological dig or visualise DNA. I'd love to see a learning toolkit created ontop of the surface SDK to quickly and easily create collaboritive learning applications. Oh, can we please have the SDK released :) John.

• Anonymous
  September 11, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 11, 2008
  Thanks for the links Eric, very interesting. Yes do please post more if you go and visit them. I, like many readers here, just want to see more and more of this cool technology. From a developers point of view I think it is important to recognise that Surface is not just hardware. I know a handful of WPF guys here in Brisbane that can't wait to do something amazing it, when it is ready. Thanks!

• Anonymous
  September 11, 2008
  SoulSolutions, will do. I know a number of readers are anxious for global availability. Please know that your expertise in WPF will be worthwhile when it is available near you. We've had some of our team involved with development and the SDK on the blog in the past. We will be bringing that back fairly soon so you can get some insight and also ask some questions.

• Anonymous
  September 15, 2008
  When Microsoft Surface makes its way into homes (as part of, say, Pottery Barn/Restoration Hardware/Willams-Sonoma Home/etc furniture collection), integration with Xbox360 would be pretty cool. Kinda like the Nintendo DS with two screens, extending game play onto Microsoft Surface in addition to action on the big screen... Possibilities for extending gameplay this way are quite exciting.