Here we are in Vegas for the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. Now I’m in a very stressful episode in my life, so for once I am in this town completely sober…as in straight-edged, clean, living pure, high on life, etc etc…. which made it all the more disturbing last night to watch Bill Gates play Welcome to the Jungle with Slash.
Today I was watching the Microsoft squad demo the new “Surface”, which uses “Touch” technology similar to the iPhone and other products.
The demo they keep using is buying a custom graphics snowboard. After you put the graphics on the board, you can spin the board about in the screen using the touch of your finger tips. So what? Now if they could load all the small parts from bicycle drivetrain components into a “Surface” unit and mount it on the bike shop floor, I could very simply save time and make greater sales by having the customers look for the parts.
Such a big part of the consumer experience is touching and playing with the product, which is impractical for small parts like pully wheels and ergo springs. Why not put those thousands of items into a virtual environment? You could link that to an ordering system, reducing the need for inventory. And I wouldn’t have to play the pictionary game with customers:
Ok, the thingy on the shifter that broke…does it look like this drawing?….no, I don’t recognize your drawing….because it sucks…could you just bring in the shifter?
Many readers might have heard of the parody on Microsoft’s product….the parody has a slogan “Surface….it’s a big ass table”
We’ve been referring to it as such too.
Ah, but even better than clever demonstrations of a Big Ass Table is another company’s use of this sweet assed triple:
Don’t remember what they were hawking, but I’m sure it was brilliant.
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