Here's an almost consumer level product which is a 3D laser scanner. It costs around $2500 and you can put any smallish object on front of the scanner to be scanned in. It scans the object and scans a full color texture for the object. Apparently it can also control the turn table to scan the multiple angles of the object automatically. Pair this up with a 3D printer and you have your own almost consumer priced fabrication lab that fits on top of a desk.

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Here's a video which shows an illusionist's trick in action. The guy is standing on a table, he lifts up a towl, and disappears. The trick is that there is a mirror running down the middle of the table facing the camera which reflects back the camera side of the table. The illusionist is behind the mirror.

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Guy demonstrates a coin trick using a glass table to show the movement of the coins. He flicks each coin under a towl while pretending to pick it up and then drops a palmed coin out of his hand into the glass.

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This video has a table top screen (either an LCD or a projector from below) which they call a tangible musical instrument. Basically you drop blocks on it and the interface detects the function or sample of a block. The sample or function plays a sound or modifies the surrounding blocks. It's a half virtual half physical sample studio.

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This video from Microsoft shows off a prototype device that projects a screen onto a tabletop and then allows you to interact with it via motion sensing. Probably the best example of it's use in the video is they have one side of a chess board (the side you are playing) as physical objects and the other side as virtual. So the person you are playing against is displayed via the projection over the chess board.

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This video is three different zero gravity experiments done on the ISS. The first clip is of how waves behave in a zero gravity sphere of water. The second shows an air bubble inside the sphere and the third shows an antacid tablet activating in a zero gravity water sphere.

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I'm going with whoever designed this walking table watched Star Wars a few times too many. Apparently this was filmed at some Dutch design show and features the guy on the far side pushing the table causing it to walk across the floor. The legs of the table remind me of the droids in Phantom Menace. It's hard to tell if the table walks in four directions or only two. I'd also have to say that the top of the table shifts down to stand on the legs so that it doesn't walk around by accident. Would this have been more useful before the wheel was invented?

Check out the walking table video below for yourself or click over and view it on the host site.

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In this video there are five pool tables setup with a bunch of dominos on each table. The guy on the left starts the domino fall off by shooting a pool ball which hits another pool ball and finally the dominos. The dominos snake all over the table and while they fall they also send different pool balls falling into their pockets. Then it gets to the good part when the dominos fall towards the edge an a set of pool ques that go from the first table to the second table. A ball hit by the last domino rolls between the two tables and starts the dominos on the second table. Repeat for for 5 tables full of dominos total. Amazing.

Watch this amazing domino pool table combo video below or click over and view it on the host site.

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In this video a guy spoofs 'Pirates of the Caribbean' cereal. First up it shows a short soundless clip from the trailer and then it cuts into the cereal commercial. The guy plays as Captain Jack Sparrow and explains about how nutritious PotC cereal is for you. He goes on to say that it is the only cereal you can eat with rum instead of milk. The table is setup like a Cheerios commercial and then it's stacked with pirate gear like a compass, pistol, hat, etc. The guy gets some of Sparrows mannerisms down as well but falls out of character at a few points. Still a pretty good spoof. If you like cereal commercials.

Watch the full video of the PotC spoof cereal commercial below or click over and view it on the host site.

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In this video they demonstrate a desktop interface system where the desktop is a 3d space and 'documents' (or windows) are physics effected objects that can be thrown around, stacked, organized, unorganized, folded, crumpled up, and/or enlarged. The majority of it is them working with small 'square' documents which only show the type of the file (the icon like a PDF). However, near the end of the video they start working with browser windows and images which look and 'feel' like a real stack of physical photos. The interface seems to be completely mouse based with lots of 'circle the 3d document objects' to select them and then perform a function. Probably the best one is the effect of crumpling a document or window up, throwing it in a corner, and watching it bounce around. It seems like it would be a more natural way of organizing (or at least ) accessing windows because instead of a flat surface you have a stack of off center windows where you can see a small amount of the content in each. Combine this with the top down touch screen table display for a couple days ago. Now apply the same functionality to video games or each individual website in a web browser for the win.

Watch the full video of the 3d desktop object demonstration below or click over and view it on the host site.

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