Microsoft's working on some wild technology in its Redmond labs, and our own Joshua Topolsky recently toured the facilities to see the latest innovations. Today we're pleased to share our final segment — it's a mind-bending look at a suite of technologies that Microsoft is developing in order to create a holodeck-like experience.
Stevie Bathiche, director of research at Microsoft's applied sciences lab, says to "imagine a day where in your home, one wall is dedicated to being your magic wall. A wall where it can teleport you to another world without really going anywhere." Bathiche shows off a number of systems that aim to accomplish this vision, including a system that projects LED light to detect a human being's movements in space, and a glasses-free stereoscopic display that can be "steered" by the viewer as they move.
Be sure to catch up on the rest of the videos in the series, and the longer tour of Microsoft's campus in our latest episode of On The Verge.
Note: We'd like to extend a special thanks to Frank Shaw, Beth Keebler, Bill Shultz, Steve Clayton, and the rest of the folks at Microsoft for sharing their time, their tech, and their imagination with us.

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Love these Microsoft Research vids!
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:11 PM EST reply Recommend (38) Flag actions
I bet Tom Cruise collaborated with Microsoft on similar sequences in Mission: Impossible 4, Ghost Protocol, just like they collaborated on the Minority Report for the gesture driven UI reminiscent of the Kinect technology.
In MI4, there is a sequence where Tom Cruise uses a camera and a screen to virtually project the background image behind the screen from the perspective of a person watching in front of the screen. The perspective of depth and angle of view are varied in real time by tracking the eyes of the viewer. Exactly the way the technology shown here works, but with fancy Hollywood graphics.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:36 PM EST reply Recommend (7) Flag actions
…except you forget that the whole thing was driven by an iPad.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 3:19 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
… and for all you know it’s a Microsoft app running on the iPad. BOOM!!
Or it’s a future Samsung tablet [inspired by an iPad ;)] running Windows 8: Tom Cruise edition. How about that, huh?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 5:00 PM EST reply Recommend (10) Flag actions
The interface in Minority Report was done by collaborating with these guys: http://oblong.com/
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 1:44 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Hmm.. Thanks for the correction. I could swear I read somewhere that the Minority Report interface and the Avatar command deck holographic displays were created in consultation with Microsoft. Anyway, Oblong’s presentation of their technology at TED, and on their website are an awesome watch. Thanks for posting an interesting link!
Posted on Jan 02, 2012 | 10:24 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
How many of these “future” labs do they have in there anyways? I’d love to see more fruition from these labs for consumers, like the Kinect. Surface might be a great idea, but definitely not for consumers right now. What’s next?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 3:52 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
What’s next? Without these labs, nothing is next.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 8:53 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Now where’s that YouTube link for actual full screen? … ahh, here it is
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:38 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Very cool stuff! Keep it up Microsoft… as well as you Joshua for the inside look, once again.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:49 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Jesus Christ you still on bugging with your inability to run perfectly working verge vids in fullscreen??..
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 9:44 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I actually prefer the vid inside the browser so I can see other things going on on my pc with out having to exit full screen.
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 8:37 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I can watch the embedded video full screen on my iPad like with any HTML5 content as it interacts natively with the browser instead of using a stupid third party addon by Adobe and relying on the creator of the content to add a full screen function for videos.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 2:18 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I am glad Josh is doing these interviews. He works well with the nerd motherload.
Can’t wait for some of this stuff to show up for the rest of us.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:16 PM EST reply Recommend (10) Flag actions
I thought Josh did a great job with the interviews. I particularly like his “Oh… Jesus.” moment.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:37 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
everyone who goes in that lab has pretty much the same reaction at almost exactly the same time Josh did. it’s amazing stuff to see first hand
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 7:49 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I can’t get enough of these videos.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:16 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Great series of videos! It’s really incredible that Microsoft is doing all of this advanced research.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:16 PM EST reply Recommend (8) Flag actions
SWEET! Keep em coming
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:19 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
This is by far my favourite demo from all the Microsoft Campus stuff. I can’t wait 10-15 years for this stuff to become reality..
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:23 PM EST reply Recommend (8) Flag actions
10-15 years? I’d be shocked if any of the tech described here takes 5 years. Remember, tech growth is not LINEAR, it’s EXPONENTIAL.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:41 PM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
It takes frustratingly long sometimes for great tech demos like these to be ready for production as consumer products. I would guess we will start seeing some of this on the market in 5-8 years.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 8:55 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Hmm, all this amazing research and Microsoft can’t make its Kinect understand that I want to swipe to the left. Great. I’ll believe this when it comes to consumer production because that $5,000 piece of glass with cameras cannot be made for $100.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:25 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Your mileage may vary?
I’ve rarely had any recognition problems with the Kinect since I got it a year ago. Although my favorite part about the Kinect is the headset-less voice recognition. Nobody was wearing headset on Star Trek after all :)
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:17 PM EST reply Recommend (5) Flag actions
But they did all have comm badges. I see no reason that ship couldn’t listen through those.
<ramble>
…And now most of us have phones that we carry around with us pretty much at all times. What if we could speak, the phone would pick it up, do its transcription thing, then give commands to nearby devices over a PAN/Bluetooth? Doesn’t seem that far fetched, especially with the stuff Nuance and Google are doing.
</ramble>
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 1:53 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The same was said about computers in the 50-70’s. It’ll start off as a business tool, the enterprise video conference for creatives. Allowing two branches of a company to communicate more visually than they can now. Doing real time sketching and the like is very difficult with video conference systems right now unless you want to point a camera at a pad or open up a Photoshop window or something. I can imagine an engineer throwing a troublesome part’s schematic up on the wall, walking over and using a stylus to physically show their Asian or European or what-have-you counterparts where they think the issue is and then allowing those counterparts to come up to their own wall and sketch out possible solutions that both sides can modify and/or save. Really, that wall is Courier taken to the extreme.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:08 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I know they hinted at this in the video, but if you want to talk about the university classroom of the near future and the public school classroom of the distant future, this is is ideal.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:13 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Most definitely. Issue with educational uses is always cost, though. It’ll see it’s first large scale uses in areas like I suggested and work its way into classrooms from there as it gets cheaper and more reliable. Other areas I could see it seeing use is in airports and train/subway stations Imagine walking through the concourse to your flit and seeing your destination on the wall to your side as if you were looking out of a window. Local time, weather, flight times, and maybe headlines are overplayed on it. Only one location could be shown at a time, obviously, but it would make for one hell of an experience
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 8:27 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Do you see the problem with your comment?
You complain that a 1st-gen $150 piece of tech is not as accurate as you like on one hand, and on the other hand, you gloat about how difficult it would be to turn the tech they have into an affordable product. Do you understand that in order to turn this kind of cutting-edge thing into an inexpensive consumer product, you have to cut some corners?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 10:32 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Ok, now the pressure is on Josh in infiltrate the Apple campus to see what they are working on!!! Josh, do you accept this challenge???
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:27 PM EST reply Recommend (8) Flag actions
If this is happening at Microsoft, one can only imagine what’s happening at Apple.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:28 PM EST reply Recommend (5) Flag actions
Probably a portal to a magical land of unicorns, fairies, and leprechauns. How else do you expect their computers to be so magically delicious?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:32 PM EST reply Recommend (16) Flag actions
Apple fanboy spotted. Can’t deal with the fact that Microsoft is innovating.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:32 PM EST reply Recommend (14) Flag actions
Far less interesting things. Indications are R&D centers around products they really do plan to launch.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:33 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
IIRC they are working with CERN to increase the strength of the RDF.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:49 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Silver or pastel-colored iPhones probably.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 6:43 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Probably working on making their “Reality Distortion Field” real and encompassing the entire planet.
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 10:07 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
They did that 7 years ago.
Posted on Jan 02, 2012 | 3:24 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Meh…not interested in them. Microsoft is more innovative, IMO.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:33 PM EST reply Recommend (20) Flag actions
Apple doesn’t innovate, it
perfectsrefines someone else’s innovation.Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:05 PM EST reply Recommend (8) Flag actions
Right… because putting together all the random pieces of the puzzle that no one else has the vision to realize can be put together into one cohesive whole isn’t innovation. The problem with troglodytes like yourself is that you couldn’t see genius if it struck you in the face.
Posted on Jan 01, 2012 | 8:29 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I’m interested in innovation itself. Not fighting over which company I think does more of it ;)
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:30 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
you phrased this wrong. It should be “your mission should you choose to accept it”
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:17 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
If Josh is given access to Apple’s labs…all hail King Topolsky!!
To answer volodoscope’s question as to what Apple is doing, That’s simple: Searching for the most generic patent MS didn’t file with the USPTO and promptly filing it!
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:43 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Um. Wow.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:36 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
microsoft is truly investing in the future. and by “future” i mean the star trek future of holograms and crap. they better patent all this! or else apple will copy it and sue them
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:39 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I doubt they would have let Josh and his crew film anything that could be easily stolen as you suggest. In the 3D printing video, the guide actually says they cleared the room out of everything that hasn’t already been unveiled
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:13 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
My feelings towards Microsoft have changed considerably over the years – and things like what has been unveiled in these videos – amazing work, by the way – mean I’m on the way to loving Microsoft (providing I’m not already there).
Back in the late 80s/early 90s, I had a dislike for the company after watching Bill Gates discuss his ‘electronic wallet’ which he thought we would all have (‘screw you, man, I’m not a number’). I’m still no fan of the electronic wallet, mind you, but with NFC and so on, I’m in one small minority.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:46 PM EST reply Recommend (5) Flag actions
This is awesome stuff. Glad to see Microsoft doing wild things.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:46 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
What I find most amazing is the Kinect – this technology (and others in this series) wouldn’t be possible without it, and there are not many companies in the world that can take something as advanced as Kinect and with as much potential as Kinect and sell it at a reasonable price for average consumers.
I predict that the technology behind Kinect will be seen as a major milestone in enabling this kind of super-futuristic tech.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:47 PM EST reply Recommend (7) Flag actions
Kinect is an incredible technology. While Wii may be considered the mass market ambassador for virtual motion interface, Kinect was the truer indicator of the potential scale and implications for the technology. What Microsoft is doing with its gaming arm portends its future more than any other division. Alas, margins & focus. How do you advise a company to focus when advents cropped from its initial lack there of have meant its survival of late?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:20 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
i know, i saw a video of what someone has done with kinect and once perfected will change the way people film as it will give people a real time 360 degree view of a room,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-w7UXCAUJE
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 6:58 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
What irony,
Chrome could not load the video and had to use IE9
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:48 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
It worked fine for me. You must be the problem.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:33 PM EST reply Recommend (7) Flag actions
Where’s the irony?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:41 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
On the irony board you dumb dumb.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:40 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Oh. Silly me.
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 8:52 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Works perfect for me and I’m using Opera.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:51 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
What a nab.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:40 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Worked perfectly for me using Chrome v16 on a Mac OS X Lion. Check your setup to make sure it’s not an id10t error due to a PEBKAC.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:25 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Or he could use IE9.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 10:36 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Microsoft has always been a place filled with talent its just that most of what we’d call exciting has never seen the light of day. And that too has always been my frustration with the company there’s a fear to branch out. A fear you’d think wouldn’t exist when a company has the amount of resources it has at its disposal. I hope with windows 8 we’ll see a Microsoft thats willing to be more outwardly innovative and not just see its talent wasted.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:49 PM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
I tend to believe that Microsoft’s research philosophy is not product-oriented. To make an analogy, it has more to do with why the Pentagon undergoes research on biological and chemical weapons, although they may have no interest on using the technology themselves: Research is conducted so they’re ready when it happens.
No one knows which direction computer tech will go 10 years from now (and Apple wouldn’t tell us lol), so what companies like Microsoft do is basically research as many different technological paths as possible, so wherever technology goes, they already have years of experience in research, and the know-how to “be there”, even if most of times they never released a product themselves.
Microsoft is essentially a Software company (maybe less so these days), so all that research may not be directed to launch a product, but rather to make sure thatwhatever their hardware partners come up with, they have the right software to run it. So your complaints may be wrongly placed: Hardware companies are way more conservative than software companies. Maybe the reason why we don’t see all that talent put in real products is that no Hardware partner wants to branch further out than the “cheap Android tablet” or “13inch ultralight notebook” scenarios. Should they do that, we can be sure that Microsoft would put all that research to good use.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:19 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
the research philosophy is definitely not product oriented which is different to most commercial research facilities. Microsoft Research does basic AND applied research but isn’t driven by product requirments. that’s what makes things like Kinect possible in 3 years start to finish – working on skeletal tracking, AI and machine learning for over 10 years. Of course there are regular transfers of tech in to procucts (lots in to Bing and Windows Phone of late) but it’s not the mission. also worth noting that this lab isn’t part of Microsoft Research – they sit between research and products as we take different approaches to invention, some short term, some mid term and some real blue sky.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 7:55 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Yeah, Nokrosoft or Microkia needs to make this tech mobile and sell it already. Just the one technology of the camera behind the 3D glass would improve our current touch experience on computers and phones by so much. I remember when the argument for touch was between resistive vs capacitive. Although capacitive won out, it’s now about active vs passive. I think it’s still not optimal either with the weird styli that we use for more accurate drawings. With a camera, you could use anything shaped like a real pencil rather than one that has to have this weird nub.
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 11:20 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
These videos are truly restoring my faith in Microsoft. I can’t believe there’s so many amazing stuff going on there.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:53 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Genuinely Microsoft.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:55 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Authentically Digital.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 10:36 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
The elusive Steve Ballmer remains unseen. It’s like Bigfoot, everyone swears they’ve seen him, but until they’ve been caught and put on display I will vehemently deny he’s real.
Great videos. I hope we see others along this vein with other companies. I’m sure there is other companies willing to open their doors. I can’t wait to see this technology in consumer tech.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:55 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 12:56 PM EST reply Recommend (17) Flag actions
this is incredibly cool. i recall a video from tokyo university about touchable holograms. hoping it all happens soon.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:01 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Hmmm, well this is what they were willing to show to the world. I wonder if there is research they are keeping top secret so that competitors don’t get a chance to see any of it?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:05 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Well I think the ideas being shown in this video are not totally revolutionnary, but the code and hardware combination is more of a ‘’top secret’’ thing. We didn’t get to see any code or the hardware of that white Kinect.. etc…
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:07 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Here’s a hint: Starts with a Z, ends with an E and is generally colored brown.
Seriously, these video series on Microsoft research is mind-blowing. I hope more tech companies open up their labs so we can get a glimpse of the future. I remember watching a series of videos from HTC/Google about the development and design of the Nexus One and I was amazed.
I really think videos like these would encourage more people to take science and education more seriously.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:57 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This is my favorite of the series so far. Really, really makes me excited for the future. I just pray Microsoft doesn’t kill these things because they don’t align with their Windows/Office franchises (cough Courier cough)
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:05 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You’re confusing Tech Research with Product Research. None of what we’ve seen is meant to become an actual product anytime soon (or ever), it’s just Microsoft toying around with the edges of Computer Science.
I think the analogy they used in the last video is quite right: don’t think of it as actual products, they’re more like the Concept Cars of the Tech world.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:45 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Everything in the video had to do with communicating in a more natural way, which aligns perfectly with their Lync solutions. I’m sure Microsoft sees these technologies as the building blocks for the future of long distance meetings and classes. A PC running Lync 2015 and a fancy new video wall turns a conference room into a worldwide meeting place.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:40 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The labs are pretty high tech… very cool stuff from The Verge here. Do you guys think this would be also possible with Apple and Google research?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:05 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This is awesome, as all the Microsoft research vids are. Also i want Josh’s job sooooooo badly! :)
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:06 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This feature is fantastic, I have wondered for a long time how technology is progressing.
The only things available these days are incremental upgrades of the previous products available, I’m glad to see what the future of these products actually looks like!
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:11 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The technology used in the display that shows two different images e.g. a kettle or a skull to two different people isn’t entirely new since it uses a Parallax Barrier to do so, it’s also used in the Nintendo 3DS so hobbyists need to get into this stuff and doesn’t cost much to make either..
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:12 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Except with the 3DS and other existing products, the Parallax barrier is fixed<. the user needs to placehis eyes right in the narrow “sweet spot” in which the effect works. Here, the screen’s Parallax Barrier is adjusted dinamically in real time so each beam of light is directed to the correct eye considering both the position and the distance from the screen, and at the same time changing the perspective of the image accordingly.
Once again, the real technological innovation is in the software, not the hardware. Or better said, the combination of both. Saying this is like the 3DS display is like saying that Kinect is just like a webcam with infrared cameras.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:02 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
I defiantly agree that the Software has a lot more to do with it than the Hardware since someone has already done a cheaper alternative using a Wiimote as the sensor and a head mounted sensor bar (two IR LEDs), it can accurately track the location of your head and render view dependent images on the screen.
It also happened to be made way back in 2007 so typically the whole idea isn’t totally original and the guy that used the Wiimote instead for it heavily relied on the Software he made and didn’t need a Parallax Barrier what so ever..
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:14 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
What that guy did (we all have seen the videos) was only the head-tracking perspective shift. It was a clever idea (use change of perspective to fool the brain into thinking there’s depth in the image) but the 3D effect only worked if the user was moving
because it was actually a 2d image. And it only worked for fairly simple imageslines and dots.Which brings me to my next point: the innovation here is not head-tracking (done) or use of Parallax barrier( certainly done), but the combination of both.Mind you, there’s no such thing as a “totally original idea” in technology development. Hasn’t been since the 70’s, maybe even the 50’s. Since then, every new development has been either an improvement of previous concepts, or a combination of many.
Oh and by the way, the name of the Wiimote guy is Johny Chung Lee. His current employment? Microsoft Applied Sciences Research Lab.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:36 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Fair point really since they didn’t have the kind of technology that we all have today to do so and really? I didn’t know they used both which really does makes a whole lot more sense than just use one. Plus if they were just to use a Parallax Barrier for it all people would complain that it makes their heads hurt like on the Nintendo 3DS.
I also didn’t know that Johny Chung Lee is working for Microsoft Applied Science Research, it’s a genius idea to have him working there since the technology simply needs to be evolved for future use so that’s excellent.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 5:35 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Actually, Johnny Chung Lee is now working for Google. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Lee_(computer_scientist) ]
Sounds like he had at least some degree of influence on the Kinect project; it’ll be interesting to see what Google puts his mind to next.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 5:48 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
i luh yew guyz
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:21 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Am I the only one who thinks Stevie and Josh could be twins? One with long hair, and the other with short?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:22 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
That guy is like a real Doc Brown, how he is energetically walking around the room and can’t wait to show you the next thing. This kind of stuff is why I love technology
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:25 PM EST reply Recommend (10) Flag actions
It’s great to see people passionate about their work. It helps that the work is really, really cool.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:33 PM EST reply Recommend (10) Flag actions
This seems to be the general attitude coming from Microsoft recently, they seem genuinely excited about what they do and they want to show their work.
And its not just in the laps were they are working in cool future technologies. Their Windows 8 blog for example, they may post a video about mundane updated feature of Windows 8, yet they seem excited to share than improvement.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:07 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen him and the guy who does all of the Xbox stuff at E3 in the same room together. Gotta be the same person. lol
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:18 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
No one’s allowed to say Microsoft isn’t innovating after seeing this video.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:28 PM EST reply Recommend (11) Flag actions
Nerdgasm! I need one… who wants to buy a kidney?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:34 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
wow impressive.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 1:58 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Microsoft is showing some love! :D
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:13 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
So did they meet in the back alley or is that video coming later? :)
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:18 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I want that white kinect
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:25 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Keanu Reeves + Martin Starr, anyone??
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 2:40 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This is some very cool stuff from Microsoft. However I would happy if USB 3.0 was available in Phones and computers, everywhere.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:37 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
excuse me but ¿what has that to do with this article or Microsoft?
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:50 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
absolutely nothing

Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:55 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I thought so. OK then, moving on. Nothing to see here, gentlemen.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:59 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
My comment was to show the contrast. Between the very hi-tech project Microsoft is working on. And the need of implementing a very simple tech such as USB 3.0.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 5:05 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Sorry, Microsoft doesn’t create the PC hardware nor does it have power over Android / iOS.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 10:41 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:56 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Blown away by all that stuff, Microsoft Research truly does pump out some amazing tech, no wonder Microsoft continue to invest billions into it.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 4:59 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
best series ever!
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 5:42 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I understand that you want to build the Verge brand but really, this videos load sooo slowly and eats my processor as crazy. And yes, Youtube works much smoother.. Although I like your videos, playing them is really pain for me.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 6:37 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
really? works great for me and my notebook is almost 4 years old. either you need to update your software or get new hardware.
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 8:49 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
couple things:
1) J_Tops, you’ve got one of the best gig’s in tech news, I mean look at the cool stuff you get to witness.
2) that video was crazy… smells like johnny lee.
3) imagine where technology could be if all everyone collaborated for the advancement of tech/humanity (and yes I understand that competition/personal gain is the main driver for advancement)
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 7:34 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Take that all of you who make fun of me for being a MS fan! nice job!
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 8:35 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
this is the reason i love apple!… nobody ever sees apples unreleased products (unless its left at a bar)… there is ANTICIPATION!… with this… everybody knows that what will be released in future… what we don’t know is that apple may have already almost perfected this in their labs and who knows it could get released next year…
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 8:42 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
by “with this” i mean with this video…
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 8:42 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Apple revolutionises current product categories, and often you can see their products as a next-logical-progression thing. This is creating the future.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 10:43 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
My personal preference is this open look at what is to come. Why lock it away in a lab somewhere for it never to see the light of day?
Again, my personal preference.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 10:10 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Really Micro$oft, “Edison” lab?
Nikola Tesla is the acknowledged inventor of the electronic AND logic gate circuit, a critical element of every digital computer.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 9:40 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The dollar sign is getting old. Seriously.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 10:43 PM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
$uck it! LULZ
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 1:58 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
LULZ? I’m seriously questioning your maturity.
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 2:12 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
the real question is does he know why they named it the Edison lab or that there isn’t a Tesla lab?
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 8:51 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
With all the advanced projects we’ve seen from Microsoft lately, one wonders if they ought to make more hardware.
Posted on Dec 28, 2011 | 10:39 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m kinda disturbed that I showed this to my girlfriend and her initial reaction was “how awesome would cyber sex be with this thing?!” …
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 12:39 AM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
So much hate for these HTML5 videos, Fullscreen works soo poorly. Running Chrome 16.0.912.63
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 4:10 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m having similar issues. I tried to full screen and it filled up the screen behind the post.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 10:07 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
So I just got up to the bit in the video where he described exactly what I described in a comment on the previous video where I talked about Kinect…
http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/27/2663620/microsoft-envisioning-lab-exclusive-tour#86784077
I love these videos.
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 5:33 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This was an awesome series, please make it an annual event! Good job Verge, keep the well rounded news flowing.
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 6:38 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This research is so cool! I want to live in this version of Microsoft’s future now. Thanks to The Verge for this video series.
Posted on Dec 29, 2011 | 9:38 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Hi Josh, great work, love your series.
But, what’s your view to it? Are those real projects the MS Hi5s are working on, or are those the “done” projects, while they’re working on other projects they didn’t even mention to you? Where are we with the shown stuff on the R&D-Lab-timeline?
Thank you for your comment.
I believe that could be a quiet interesting article to finish the series for 2011.
Have a good trip through the HoloDeck into 2012.
Carlos.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:09 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I have a feeling that one day we’ll feel a bit silly for once thinking of Kinect as just a gaming accessory.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 6:06 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
So cool. I hope there is more installments to come, I don’t even care that this technology is far from reaching the market, or that it will be breaking the hearts of accountants once it does, I just love seeing that there are people within Microsoft inventing their dreams and given authority to let Josh peek behind the curtain. I feel like I’ve learned more about the way Microsoft can flex it’s engineering muscles from these videos than any interview I’ve ever watched or read.
It would be cool to see what’s going on in the labs of more tech heavyweights, these videos of Josh leaving the PR people at the visitor badge desk to spend time with the masters in their element is what satisfys the appetite of a geek best. That and Hot Pockets, of course.
Keep that open invite rolling, Josh, and if you see Ballmer, throw a high-five up top for the big guy.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 7:10 AM EST via mobile reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
With some refinement, I would expect to see this technology inside automobiles to help see through key parts of the car.
A projecting screen could be attached, for example, to the inside of a crossbar, and project an image to the driver of what is on the other side. As the driver moves his head, the image would adjust to simulate line of sight.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 10:06 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I see the future.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 2:57 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Some of this stuff fascinates the hell out of me. It’s interesting how Microsoft has been shifting towards more hardware integration into their products: Xbox + Kinect, Windows Phone spec standards, Windows 8 OEM activation, and Surface.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what sorts of great stuff come out of Redmond in the next 10 years.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 10:05 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Personally, I’m highly impressed to see that most of these concepts are being driven by current Kinect technology. That thing really is a winner.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 4:45 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
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