I was trying to think of something clever to say in regards to the Surface and placing an iPhone on it, but I got nothing.

@vividaurora: Except for the fact that you would be shopping for an iphone on microsofts product.

That alone is awesome.

If I put my hacked iPhone on it, will I get the Blue Screen of Death?

I'd pay a good $10 to see that and take a pic of it.

where in san antonio :D.. dont like at&t.. but i'd love to play the tabletop galaga on that thing.. think it supports MAME?

I would like to we a surface table in action. Too bad I'll have to wait a bit longer until AT&T brings one to my small town.

does not compute maybe?

Awesome! I know where my lunch break will be spent on the 17th.

i think I'll wait for Surfaces SP1 thank you

This amazing new technology from Microsoft is being used as a glorified UPC scanner and TV? Wow. Impressive.

Wow, the general condescending tone of the post is kind of surprising. I think Surface is kind of a neat gadget, which would be in line with the general point of Gizmodo . . . at least from my limited understanding of Gizmodo as a neat gadget site. Apparently this is one shiny new toy you have no love for. Any reason why? The idea underlying Surface--more complete electronic integration--seems to be pretty worthwhile, even if it is in its nascent and totemo takai stages.

Maybe I'm just misreading the tone. It's always a little hard to tell.

Cool tech. At&t must have too much money on their hands right now to do this (or they know their customer service people suck @$$).

I do think, however, it will draw people in just to see the Surface table which would give them an audience to sell to. I think, if advertised correctly, it could be a money maker until it goes on the fritz. What kind of warranty comes with one of these bad boys?

I'm waiting for the Sizemodo betwixt the Apple multi-touch computing device and the Microsoft multi-touch computing device.
Would Surface need to be larger to contain a 3D accelerometer?

I thought T-Magneta was getting these tables?

@makanai: Exactly. But since Microsoft isn't Apple building overpriced consumer goodies and marginally good computers, you will only see reams of condescension from guys who are barely able to tie their own shoes. That being said, I don't know how much time it takes to manually do all the things that AT&T does to the phones that the table top gadget will do, but if you multiply that time with the number of times those poor schmucks behind the counters have to do it day in and day out, $10,000 sounds pretty cheap.

I heard if you put an iphone on it you get the red rectangle of death.

I am just wondering where surface is finally going to find its niche....I just feel like they're grabbing at straws to find a good use for the surface...honestly it really is just a glorified multi-touch picture viewer, anyone have any evidence (e.g. Video) of this thing in use where the guy isnt just moving around pictures?

Sent from my iPhone.

How long do you think before one of these things gets hacked? It sounds like a great way to snag the cc# of anyone who tries to buy a ringtone.

Kyrie lays on, down the road that I must travel?

You know the people who work at the AT&T stores will be copying their butts!

@jakebathman: The recognition stuff is probably the most useful feature. Scanning in documents and a nice interface for syncing devices and inputing things. Remember, the iphone is just a phone with a nice interface.

Sent from my WinMo device.

@vividaurora: me thinks they have an iphone on it in the picture...

sadly no BSD.

I can't wait for surface to be cheap enough for home use; I'd LOVE to edit photos with it.

@makanai: Part of it is probably a little MS v. Apple wars, as geschmidtt mentions. Not to mention that att doesn't have that many friends around here either.

But I think the bigger factor is that this is kind of a sad first use of a potentially cool technology. And if this is the best first use imagined or, god forbid the intended use, perhaps it's not that cool a technology after all.

So I'd guess it's less anti-MS and more anti-use.

Oh, and why send it to San Antonio, the asspan of the US? Seriously, that city doesn't deserve any new tech; it and Houston just need to be wiped off the map with a thermonuclear eraser.

@makanai: The technology is fantastic. However, it seems the way it is being used is kind of, well .. lame. Maybe we just need to see it in person to understand how amazing this technology is being utilized by AT&T. I doubt it, though.

Coming soon to a death star location near you...the blue screen of table death.

I hate Ma Bell 2.0!

[www.microsoft.com]
click the link above, then watch the video on the right ("The Possibilities").

Seeing it at a restaurant like at about :50 into the video is what i'd really like to see, I agree that AT&T is a poor first move for Microsoft. I cant wait to see it in action all over the place.

BUT I still maintain that in a house (as a coffee table) I dont think it would be of very good use...maybe as a glorified TV remote (like pressing "guide" on your remote) and setting to record TV shows...or streaming video to your tv (think AppleTV) or "planning your night" like the video says. Okay maybe I just convinced myself to get one.

I do have an actual question though: how does the wireless syncing work? Is it all over automatic bluetooth? drivers? how does surface know what it's talking to, and how to access it, etc? what if the device you lay down is old school and requires bluetooth pairing? I just dont want to see this as another Microsoft 2007, where it's really cool but it requires everyone to adopt a new protocol (think .docx and .xlsx) to use it to its full potential.

@vividaurora: I was trying to think of something clever to say in regards to the Surface and placing an iPhone on it, but I got nothing.

Surface: Huh, look, a generic phone
iPhone: I'M *THE* iPHONE, YOU SCHMUCK
Surface: Hello, generic phone
iPhone: iPHONEiPHONEiPHONE. There is no phone more important than me!
Surface: BSOD

@wizardofpants: at&t is headquartered in San Antonio. The execs probably want to see it in action.

and this will have to be darned near free before you ever see it in a restaurant, because restaurant profit margins are so small and $10k + upkeep costs vs $2.50 an hour is not even comparable.

first uses are always lame. at least someone is using the thing, which will lead to more clever uses.

The dialog looks like this- [www.raizlabs.com]

@archercc: "@vividaurora: Except for the fact that you would be shopping for an iphone on microsofts product.

That alone is awesome."

So you are placing a $400 order to Apple on a $10k Microsoft computer, clever but it is awesome.

@phoomp: Ahahaha, that was great. Surface doesn't give you the finger, it BSODs in apathy.

@geschmidtt: Hey now, I can mostly tie my own shoes...

Why AT&T????? i mean this thing is not a cell phone. i don't get it. could it be that they're after iphone custumers???

LOL... as much as tons of people are making fun, calling it a toy, saying how expensive it is, and how anyone could do something similar for 1/10th the price, I'm willing to bet that 10.000 bucks will completely pay-off in less than a week to AT&T and other stores that uses it.

And I'm not even that much of a fan of Microsoft stuff. It's just that the Surface really is an interesting idea for businesses.

The guy touching the surface table looks like Harry Tang from Chuck.

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: I agree that it's interesting and if I'm someplace that has it, I would check it out. I doubt, however, that it would do much to increase sales at AT&T. especially a 10k increase in sales in a week. It's a neat way of seeing product specs on DISPLAY MODEL PHONES, but I doubt that having the Surface give you specs instead of a sales rep would do much to convince customers to buy. Maybe if you could bring in your own AT&T phone and use it to buy stuff for it (ringtones etc) that might get them some extra sales.

I'm starting to like how companies are applying top quality devices to AT&T. First it was the iPhone's exclusivity deal, now this.

One day, your computer will be a big-ass table....

+ Watch video

according to the AP article
1) T-Mo was supposed to get the Surface first, but they haven't been able to code it properly yet and
2) The Surface will only recognize 8 selected at&t phone models - and the iPhone ain't one of them.
[news.yahoo.com]
So now we know
1) It's really is a Microsoft product - it's late, hard to code for & buggy
2) Microsoft is afraid of a phone making thier table look bloated & simplistic.

Wonder if they will be at all ATT stores in the 4 markets (of course ATL is all that maters to me)?

"the computer of the future will be a bigass table"

My question is why wouldn't you just connect using wifi? Having this thing in an AT&T wireless store implies that it is somehow affiliated w/ the services they provide... maybe I'm missing something here.

I mean, it's not like you need AT&T's "hidden internet" finding services when you already have broadband at home...

UNless of course... you bring your bigass table computer with you on road trips or to the park... (ROFL)

I suppose you could watch videos of other people's kids while you wait for someone to actually help you in one of their retail environments! The viral-video coverage on this device is awesome!

Hey, I see the Sony Ericsson Z750a! Right? Next to the w580.

It took microsoft this long to copy and enlarge the iPhone?

@bigb252: I mean A737.

I'll just do what everyone else is going to do, Go in to the store, play with the Surface while I fake interest in one of their phones, ask what happens when I put my iphone on it, then leave when I've had my fill.

San Antonio and Atlanta are getting these things before New York, Chicago and LA? WTF? I guess they thought if those people can figure it out it should be ok in other cities too.

Fuck yeah, San Antonio kicks ass. Maybe it's because we had the HQ for the recently acquired South Western Bell.

@cygnusx8: Yeah, we're so technologically declined to the point that Texas supports over a tenth of America's technology. Never mind the fact that we have some of the largest cities home to some of the largest technological giants like Dell, AMD, Samsung, Rackspace, Microsoft, need I go on? I guess the fact that we're a larger economy than New York as well as most of the rest of the world has jack to do with it also.

Oh yeah,