Microsoft Research demo prototype glass screen PC with gesture and eye-tracking control

Say what you like about Microsoft, but their Research arm certainly know how to put together an eye-catching demo.  Chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie has been doing a tour of US colleges showing off a prototype next-gen computer – among other things – that has a transparent glass display and can be controlled by pen, voice, touch-free gestures and eye-tracking.

The prototype machine docks with the transparent display – probably not something you'd want to throw into your laptop bag – and can be used to flick through large quantities of information such as text, photos or video timelines by tracking what your eyes are looking at.  Some of the functionality seems to have been previewed by Microsoft's "Look Ahead" vision of computing in 2019 which similarly impressed us earlier this year.

Mundie's other talks centered on environmentally-friendly and carbon-neutral computing, and what user interfaces and design paradigms may be central in the years to come.  There are videos of the transparent computer prototype in action on Microsoft's College Tour virtual press room, or at istartedsomething linked below.

[via istartedsomething]