Digging the digital

Archives for 1 April 2003

Interactive table tops

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Full-size imageTables Top Typical Bar Diversions. Interactive table tops at Tabu, a swank new nightclub in the MGM Grand Casino, wow patrons by flashing an array of images and light effects that react according to what happens above them. Is it the first step toward a truly interactive world? Steve Friess reports from Las Vegas.

Wave a hand above a black-and-white image of a woman’s pursed lips on the table top and the area below your hand turns to color. Other tables appear littered with dozens of paper clips that scatter to other parts of the surface when an object passes over them. Yet another table is decorated with a fairly plain motif, until an item — say, a drink — is placed on it. At that, a Lord of the Rings-style circle of fire surrounds the object.

It could be the first step toward the sort of interactive advertising imagined in the futuristic film Minority Report, where a Gap ad recognizes Tom Cruise’s character in a mall and asks him how he’s enjoying his recent purchase. [Wired News]

Sounds cool – where’s the porno angle?