Hands-On: Microsoft Milan Surface Computer

That rumored announcement from Microsoft's H&E division turned out to be very real -- it's Milan, a 22-inch high table with a touchscreen "surface computer" built right in. Mark McClusky of Wired magazine has posted a hands-on report to Gadget Lab tonight:

For instance, you can take a digital camera that's Wi-Fi enabled, put it down on the tabletop, and the machine recognizes it and downloads the photos. Then, you can interact with them much like actual physical photos—you can pass them around the table, shuffle them into piles to sort them, pull on the corners to zoom in or out. It's intuitive, quick, and brings a fun social aspect to a task (photo editing) that can be the very definition of tedious.

The first applications of the device will be for bars and restaurants, with an eye towards moving into the home. Can you imagine the gaming possibilities?

First Look: Microsoft Milan Surface Computer [Gadget Lab]