From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Sun Mar 30 2003 - 20:20:49 MST
..Like out of a good sci-fi novel.
<<Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,58103,00.html
02:00 AM Mar. 29, 2003 PT
LAS VEGAS -- At MGM Grand's Tabu nightclub there's a lot more than Bruce
Willis dancing on the table tops.
The club -- where the action flick star has been spotted -- is test-driving a
revolutionary technology in which images displayed on table tops change in
reaction to motion that occurs above them.
Wave a hand above a black-and-white image of a woman's pursed lips on the
table top and the area below your hand turns to color. Other tables appear
littered with dozens of paper clips that scatter to other parts of the
surface when an object passes over them. Yet another table is decorated with
a fairly plain motif, until an item -- say, a drink -- is placed on it. At
that, a Lord of the Rings-style circle of fire surrounds the object.
This "motion-reactive" technology, developed by San Carlos, California, <A HREF="http://www.reactrix.com/">
Reactrix Systems</A> is likely to soon become much more than mere entertainment.
At Tabu, it's a gimmick to wow club-goers, but both 20th Century Fox and Toys
R Us are already testing it as a way to advertise their products.
The movie studio tried it at malls in Los Angeles and near San Francisco from
November to February to promote the film Daredevil. Folks could, for
instance, wave across an image of star Ben Affleck as attorney Matt Murdock
to transform him into his superhero character.
At the flagship Toys R Us store in New York City's Times Square, a Reactrix
display pushes a variety of name-brand toys. In one instance, a racetrack
oval is projected and revolving around it are logos for Sony PlayStation 2,
Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Game Cube. If someone places a hand across the
oval, the logos stop at the "obstruction" and back up on each other until the
path is cleared.
It could be the first step toward the sort of interactive advertising
imagined in the futuristic film Minority Report, where a Gap ad recognizes
Tom Cruise's character in a mall and asks him how he's enjoying his recent
purchase.
"This has the impact of television with the involvement of a video game and
the proximity to the point-of-purchase of an in-store display," said
29-year-old Reactrix CEO and co-founder John Friedberg. "TV is a high-impact
advertising medium, but when that viewer walks into the store a few days
later, the message isn't really fresh in the person's mind. In a store like
Toys R Us, people play with the interactivity right where they can buy the
product."
The intrigue for users is as much in wondering what the interactive display
will do as in wondering how it works. Friedberg said sensors in the
projectors pick up motion between it and the image and can respond with an
infinite number of possible changes. The premise was designed by Reactrix
co-founder, 23-year-old Matt Bell, who developed the basic technology as a
computer science undergraduate at Stanford University. He graduated in 2001.
"The computer sees where a person's location is in a display and triggers
interactivity within the graphics," Friedberg explained. "It detects a
person's movement and uses that to affect the imagery."
At MGM Grand, the two Tabu displays are a hit. The images are projected onto
4.5-square-foot, gray concrete tables upon which Willis has reportedly
danced. The images have been reacting since the lounge's late-February
opening.
"It's a marketing tool that we've converted into an entertainment
experience," said Greg LeTourneau, MGM Grand Hotel-Casino executive technical
director. "It's goofy, and it drives everybody nuts." >>
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