ReadWriteWeb

Ever since Jeff Han demoed his Multi-Touch Workstation at the 2006 TED Conference, the world has been waiting for a high resolution sensory work experience. As a generation of hunched night creatures with intimate knowledge of our chiropractors, we've suffered and conformed to our traditional interfaces for too long. Touch was the future of workstations. But as articulated by ReadWriteWeb, the upcoming Apple tablet is not the workstation of the near future. It simply isn't practical. For those of us who still want to gawk at the cool regardless of its practicality, here is an assortment of 2009's most interesting interfaces.

When Microsoft Surface was first unveiled, we were fooled into believing Minority Report-style interfaces would infiltrate every aspect of our lives. Hotels, bars and restaurants would be wired wonders. Every table top and wall would dance with our finger tips. The world was supposed to be blanketed in a sultry neon mystique. While the touch experience has been widely incorporated by mobile phone manufacturers, it's rare to see large scale touch installations in our everyday lives. One startup company is skipping the everyday and targeting your nightlife.

Ever since Jeff Han demoed his Multi-Touch Workstation at the 2006 TED Conference, the world has been waiting for a high resolution sensory work experience. As a generation of hunched night creatures with intimate knowledge of our chiropractors, we've suffered and conformed to our traditional interfaces for too long. Touch was the future of workstations. But as articulated by ReadWriteWeb, the upcoming Apple tablet is not the workstation of the near future. It simply isn't practical. For those of us who still want to gawk at the cool regardless of its practicality, here is an assortment of 2009's most interesting interfaces.