Bold Street to get Minority Report style technology

An amazing new technology will soon be upon us in the form of Microsoft's innovative Surface.

The interactive table will be a feature of the new Ludus bar, a brand new venue on RopeWalks Square.

Micorsoft has shown demos of what it's surface can do:

Imagine a scenario that would require splitting a bill between 5 people. Everyone would place their own personal credit/debit card down on the surface, the menu items or drinks from a bar tab would be displayed in full HD, and these could then be dragged into a circle around the individual cards which would then be charged accordingly. There would even be a slider attached to the circle to allow you to adjust the tip percentage on a bill for service charge should you choose to add this.

You can view an interactive menu, select items and they will be brought to you. This means no-one will bother you whilst you decide what to have. As its interactive, you will be able to see ingredients - especially handy if you may be allergic to something or are on a calorie controlled diet. When items such as drinks are placed on the surface, interactive light shows subtly come to life, interacting with your purchase. If you would like another, just say and it will be brought. This could also be a good way to keep tabs on how much you've drank if the refreshments are listed. Alcohol content might be clearly displayed.

As this is a bar which shows live sport, it would be highly likely that the sport of your choice could be displayed on the surface, and that stats could be brought up if people would like to view them. Its half time... rather than watch the mid-way match analysis, how about a game of flick football on the surface.. don't worry, you can still keep an eye on when the second half kicks off with the picture in picture display.

These are all just examples, but it really shows the way things will be different from now on. This will be the second iteration on the surface. The first, introduced in 2007 was bulky and cumbersome, and was extremely expensive. It had to use cameras inside the table in order to work. This version, produced in collaboration with Samsung, is only 4" thick, features extremely tough Gorilla glass, (but still be careful!), and has no cameras. Instead, each individual pixel of the surface is a camera. This means it will work exceptionally accurately. Its also a lot faster than it's predecessor too. Expect bars to be made fully of banks of Microsoft's surface in the future.

Ludus opened its doors on the 10th December. Mircosoft Surface will be there from Thursday this week! 09/02/12