MLive.com: Geek Guide

Details are beginning to trickle out about Microsoft's new Surface computing device. :

"Surface Computer users can fingerpaint digitally, resize and interact with photos and videos, and even "digitize" some real-life events, such as splitting up a restaurant bill and researching wines. The Surface Computer can recognize some real-world objects and creates on-screen versions to interact with.

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Great, so now I'll have to reboot my table when I go out to eat. that most of us won't see this device for a while.

"As for the consumer end of things, it's estimated that we're still a number of years out on the technology (for starters these Surface units are estimated to cost up to $10,000).

Pretty steep for what ultimately amounts to being an underbelly projector with digital cameras that track surface interaction (all of which running on a stock 1GHz Vista box), but the focus of any nascent technology is never price, it's function."

also has a story about the device. And a Microsoft blogger has of Surface (but I haven't gotten the link to work yet).

The videos sure look cool. But Microsoft is known as a 3.0 company (it usually takes them three versions to get something right), so we'll see how this develops.

: Apple's iTunes Store is beginning to offer some DRM-free music (you can copy/transfer it as much as you like) today. It costs 30 cents more ($1.29) than the music with copy protection, but it also is a higher quality.

: Sharp Shootin' Remote Control makes banging noise when you change the channel. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the first "Star Wars" flick, which has captured the imaginations of geeks around the world. Today also marks the 30th anniversary people making fun of fans; just search for video of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's visit with "Star Wars" fans.

cgi/cache=3000;/mtlogs/mlive_geekguide/images/starwarsrev.jpg align=right> One of the most impressive feats by fans is "Star Wars Revelations." The 47-minute fan flick was produced by a crew of 200 volunteers for about $20,000.

: Who says Hollywood isn't a bad influence? Man is busted for trying to bring snakes on a plane. A part of "Star Wars" that George Lucas would like to forget.

A 1978 two-hour on CBS included many of the movie's regulars and special guests Jefferson Starship, Art Carney and a dancing (!) Bea Arthur. This YouTube clip (mercifully) condensed the show down to five minutes.

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