Is it a computer or a coffee table?

How would you like to have your computer? Would you like it on your table or rather have it as a laptop? Don't misinterpret what I am saying; I am not talking about a tabletop computer.

I am actually talking about a table with a computer. This is a real miracle

 computer, and if you keep your digital camera on top of the computer (or table), it will automatically transfer the pictures to the computer.

You can also transfer pictures from a camera to a phone kept on this magic computer, without a single cable having to be plugged into the equipment. You can resize the pictures or drag it over the table. It is an amazing technology. What is this all about? No more guessing games, let me tell you what it really is!

Microsoft Corporation has revealed information about its latest revolutionary computer, the coffee table-shaped computer named the Surface Computer. It responds to touch and to special bar-codes attached to everyday objects.

The machine is set to be launched in November in T-Mobile USA stores and certain hotel and entertainment

properties.

The Surface computer is essentially a Windows Vista PC, inserted inside a shiny black table base, topped with a 30-inch touch screen in a clear acrylic frame.

Five cameras that can sense nearby objects are mounted beneath the screen. Users can interact with the machine by touching or dragging their fingertips and objects such as paintbrushes across the screen, or by placing real-world items tagged with special bar-code labels on top.

According to the film clips about the product that has been released to the internet, when you place a cup on the table, it will create water bubbles around it, designing a beautiful picture.

Unlike most touch screens, the Surface computer can respond to more than one touch at a time.

During a demonstration to the media, Mark Bolger, the group's Marketing Director "dipped" his finger in an on-screen paint palette, and then dragged it across the screen to draw a smiling face. Then, he used all 10 fingers at once to give the face a full head of hair.

Some of the first computer models with this technology plan to help customers pick out new cell phones at T-Mobile stores. When customers place a phone on the screen, the computer will read its bar-code and display information about the handset. Customers can also select calling plans and ring tones by dragging icons toward the phone.

Guests of the selected hotels will be able to gather around this Surface computer to play music and then buy songs, using a credit card or rewards card tagged with a bar-code.

In some hotel restaurants, customers will be able to order food and drinks, and then split the bill by setting down a card or a room key and dragging their menu items "onto" the card. Visitors will also be able to learn about the other locations of the hotel group on an interactive map, then book show tickets or make dinner reservations.

Microsoft is working on a limited number of programmes to ship with the

 Surface computer, including one for sharing digital photographs.

Historically, Microsoft has focused on creating new software, giving computer programmers tools to build applications on its platforms, and left hardware manufacturing to others. For now, Microsoft is making the computer hardware itself, and has only given six outside software development firms the tools they need to make Surface applications.

This computer has already astonished the analysts of the PC industry. This is a signal that the day you will be sitting at your table, playing computer games is not far away.

Compiled by Janani Amarasekara