Microsoft Surface and AT&T Partnership

Most of you have seen the Surface videos floating around the net. Now Surface is becoming a reality in a retail environment.

From the AT&T Newsroom:

"Las Vegas, Nevada, April 2, 2008

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced a collaborative alliance that will transform the way consumers shop for mobile devices. AT&T will become the first company in the world to bring Microsoft Surface™ to life in a retail environment, giving customers the ability to explore their mobile worlds using touch and device-recognition technology...Beginning April 17, customers can experience Microsoft Surface in select AT&T retail locations, including stores in New York City, Atlanta, San Antonio and San Francisco. Based on the success and learning from these initial pilot deployments, plans for further expansion across AT&T's 2,200 U.S.-based retail stores will be determined."

As you can see from the video, Microsoft Surface is table-top type display that allows users to interact with it through touch. Your interaction with Surface is based on gesture and compatible devices like cameras and PDA's.

I look back at how computers and technology has advanced in the last 10 years and you really have to marvel at how far we have come. Surface truly is the next generation of web/computer interface. You have to admit, this is the stuff that science fiction writers used to wow us with over 30 years ago. However, this is much more amazing than what could be conceived when the original Star Trek series was on the air.

Here's a question for you. As technology continues to improve and ads convenience to our lives, how much should we rely on it? I think we could already be seeing a generation too dependent on technology.