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Bleeding Edge

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Oct 8th 2007 3:13pm




Filed Under:
jeff han, multi-touch

Companies:
nieman marcus


Get Jeff Han's Media Wall... And Have Your $100,000 Conversation Piece

from the but,-you'll-be-cool dept

When everyone got excited about the multi-touch interface on the iPhone, such things have been around for a while. Microsoft is trying to bring multi-touch tables to market, focused mainly on casino and in-store kiosks. However, one of the things that kicked off a lot of interest in multi-touch systems was the demo that Jeff Han did at TED in early 2006.

Han perhaps is feeling a little left out of multi-touch feeding frenzy as Microsoft and Apple are popularizing the concept -- and it appears that he's finally found something of a route to take his products to the consumer market (previous reports had said he's done well in military applications). Engadget points us to thegadgetsite, who discovered that Nieman Marcus (yes, Nieman Marcus) will be selling Han's newly dubbed "Media Wall" for a mere $100,000. Now go back and watch the video above again. At the beginning, Han notes that the exciting part of his work is that it's "low cost" and "very scalable." $100,000 doesn't quite seem "low cost" unless you're a Google founder. Well, hopefully, that scalability will quickly lead to economies of scale that will make the "low cost" part a little more accurate.

9 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    MS

    identicon
    B, Oct 8th, 2007 @ 5:29pm

    This looks exactly like Microsoft's table/Apple's wall, but if I recall, wasn't Microsoft's table only $10,000 and it even had more functionality?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Art, not cost

    identicon
    Brad, Oct 8th, 2007 @ 5:49pm

    I think you're missing the point. This is not the screen shown in the video there, but rather an ultra-high-res display and a massive touch system, and a half-dozen computers behind it. This is not a small object.

    If you want a small one to play with at home, build it yourself. You can put together a 50" sensing display for about $200, and then it's up to you how much you spend on your projector.

    http://www.instructables.com/id/Interactive-Multitouch-Display/
    (Instructable on building your own)

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    darkbhudda, Oct 8th, 2007 @ 9:50pm

    $100,000 is chicken feed for certain industries eg control centres in power plants drop that sort of money to buy meter long LCD screens.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    Re: MS

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 8th, 2007 @ 10:57pm

    Maybe you meant --> doesn't "MS.../Apple's/..." looks exactly like this?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Link Store, Oct 8th, 2007 @ 11:25pm

    A half-dozen computers behind it. This is not a small object.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  

    Say What, Say What?

    identicon
    Jack, Oct 9th, 2007 @ 12:07am

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  

    Say What, Say What?

    identicon
    Jack, Oct 9th, 2007 @ 12:08am

    "who discovered that Nieman Marcus (yes, Nieman Marcus)"

    What is Nieman Marcus?

    Do you mean Neiman Marcus, the upscale department store?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    Iron Chef, Oct 9th, 2007 @ 1:48am

    Jeff Han is my hero. I was telling my old VP that he needed to get on board with Han's innovations two years ago. You know what T-Mobile did? They went with Microsoft Surface Computer. So lame.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  

    Mark Up

    icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), Oct 9th, 2007 @ 6:27am

    Nieman Marcus could just have a 500% mark up on this product or something like that?
    I will admit I did not read the original article but from the sound of it the article did not state what he is selling them for and how much of that 100K is mark up.
    For example, I can buy a one pound bag of chocolate covered cashews as Save A Lot for 3.99$
    Meijer has now stopped selling the Brachs candies of the same idea, and now just so happens to be selling the same darn brand, bag, size, and all. They sell it for 6.99$ (5.99$ on sale).
    I know Save A Lot may not be making a huge margin on the product they sell there for those chocolate covered cashews, but Meijer is making a freaking killing for every bag sold.
    I just noticed that last night as its the first time I noticed Meijer is selling these now instead.
    This article reminded me of it.
    So many 90K of the 100K is mark up and what they think rich people will pay.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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