This Looks Fun

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Of course, I’m not sure how practial it will be for many of the computer tasks I perform (e.g., text creation & manipulation). And I don’t want to spend all day hunching over a horizontal surface to do research, but I’m sure that this interface will be useful for some things. And it looks fun to play with.

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Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

19 thoughts on “This Looks Fun”

  1. Combine this with the new paper-thin, folding screens, and you got computerized books which you can take with you, feels like paper, and reads like a dream.
    It’s the future. The future is now.

  2. We can say, “This looks funny,” or, “This looks like fun,” but we cannot say, “This looks fun.”

  3. This technology might possibly revolutionize the realm of digital audio recording, it would make a perfect mixing desk for a recording studio. Ohhh I cant wait, I’ll bet it will be very pricey

  4. We can say, “‘Anon’ is exasperating,” or “‘Anon’ looks like a bore,” but we cannot say “‘Anon’ looks like exasperating.”

  5. We can say, “This looks funny,” or, “This looks like fun,” but we cannot say, “This looks fun.”

    Yes, we can. The adjectival use of “fun” may be informal, but it is reasonably well established at this point.

  7. “This looks fun”
    …until you realize it is made by Microsoft, in which case the fun will last until the first crash – which will occur within an hour of actual use.

  8. Nah, it’s not as interesting as iPhone. It uses cameras rather than pressure sensors to detect activity, and so will never be able to function without a coffee-table sized box of components underneath it.
    At least, not without infringing some patents.

  9. so will never be able to function without a coffee-table sized box of components underneath it.
    Most especially we will never be able to fly it to the moon.

  10. It does use pressure sensors to detect activity. The cameras are to detect what kind of object is placed on the table among other things; but I agree, that thing is gonna be monstruously big for any practical use outside of a coffee table. It kind of looks like the computers used in the movie “The Island”; you can see Sean Bean using something similar.

  11. we cannot say, “This looks fun.”
    You just did. So did Jimmy. Looks like we can.

  12. “The adjectival use of “fun” may be informal, but it is reasonably well established at this point.”
    ouch! SDG, You sound like my sister!

  13. How they transfered the picture from the camera to the computer to the PDA was the coolest. It isn’t the most practical device ever, though.

  16. Not just fun, but sort of mind boggling: especially if you think in terms of historical analogy. What I’ve got in mind is Pong. When was it? ’78 or ’79–somewhere around there–I recall sitting around with my glassy-eyed friends having the sense that this thing could go places. It wasn’t but a couple years later that I first saw a Commodore 64 on sale at JC Penny. My best friend–a doctoral student at the local university–counselled me not to get one. Personal computing was a fad he said.
    Well, I’m thinking of this thing as another Pong or Commodore 64, and the word fad did cross my mind too. Sure, it’s big and needs a coffee table box for all the mechanical junk that’s under it, but it’s just the beginning. I think this technology could really go places. Thirty years from now who can say what it’ll be.

  17. This reminds me of the computer used by Tom Cruise in “Minority Report”.
    There are all sorts of apps for this type of interface. Not just mapping, but also music, art, and games. Games might be the first place to use them, and to drive the price down. Possibilities include: foosball, billiards, pin ball. Expect to see one gobbling up your dollars at the local bar sometime in the near future.
    I’m excited for the possibilities in the arts. It’s the next step beyond Paint Shop or Photo Shop. An artist will have a canvas that interacts with him, and is forgiving of mistakes. You could also interact with various virtual instruments, keyboard, harp, drum, etc. Imagine an instrument based off the ripples of water as seen at the one minute mark in the video.
    Doctors could use the device to interactively examine layers of a CT Scan. Students could use this for learning biology, or for building virtual models. Think “Legos”.
    I’m sure there are many more applications that I haven’t mentioned, but time and work limit my response.

  18. Good night, I surely hope we can ban these monstrosities from “every hallway… every surface.” Just imagine, those “Punch the Monkey” ads will soon be screaming at you from your table at Burger King.

  19. I think the “every hallway, every surface” thing was a bit of hyperbole. I’m sure they won’t have them in most public johns, I’m sure your dear old grandmother won’t put ones in her house. I’m positive that even though I might like one in my living room, I’d find no need at all to shell out the money to wallpaper my house with active screens.
    Makes good sales talk though. 🙂

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