The BendDesk, a research projected created by members of the Media Computing Group, is an attempt to converge digital and physical workspaces into one desk.  The concept desk features a curved multitouch display and supports up to ten touch points.  The display can bring up digital content like documents, photos, or videos.  And thanks to its ergonomically impressive design, the digital desk doubles as a physical desk; it can easily support a laptop, paperwork, pens and pencils on the horizontal surface.  For now the BendDesk is merely an in-house concept project, so don’t expect to see something like finding a place in your room any time soon.  The best we can do is watch it in all its futuristic glory in video demonstration form above.

[Via Engadget; MediaComputingGroup]

OK fine it won’t.  But the Infinity Cocktail Table will provide a stellar optical illusion thanks to a clever use mirrors and LED lighting.  Want to entertain your guests with it?  That’ll be $880.

[Via Gizmodo]

Pulp Furniture, designed by Dan Hochberg and Odelia Lavie.

As you can tell from first glance, the Pulp Furniture series, which includes a coffee table, complimentary seating, and a wall clock, gets its inspiration from the pulp packaging that protects goods like eggs.  Although the set is made of paper, they are structurally sound and are constructed with human weight and stress amount in mind.  Says Inhabitat: “Lightweight, transportable, biodegradable, recyclable and just plain awesome.”  I couldn’t agree more.

[Via Inhabitat; Gizmodo]

The table consists of 22,742 pieces clicked together with traditional lego construction techniques (no glue), a 136mm grommet is located in its centre. It sits on a polished Stainless Steel square hollow section structure built by B.A. Engineering of Prussia St and is topped with a 10mm sheet of toughened glass manufactured by Action Glass.

Ah, to sit at the head of a Lego boardroom table.  Imagine…

[Via Behance; Likecool]

500 tiny compasses + rare earth magnets + a glass tabletop = coaster magic.

Instructables shows you step-by-step how it’s made, if you’re so inclined.

[Via Instructables; Gizmodo]

We’ve seen multitouch surface tables before, but never have we seen them quite as stylish and visually attractive as the Touchy Remix from Intactlab.  Being heralded as “the marriage of precision engineering and quality design” the Touchy Remix was designed to support and enhance collaboration with surface computing.  Its minimalistic and curvy shape attracts people to sit around it, unlike the boxy Microsoft Surface-esque tables that come off as uninviting.  It’s made from a fiberglass shell built around an aluminum chassis.  Though its design is most prominent, I’ll share some internal notes with you: it features a 40″ WXGA (720p HD) internal projection screen and runs custom software from Intactlab that comes preloaded onto an integrated Mac mini; there’s four USB ports and a dock for an iPod.  See additional pictures below and a demo video of it in use after the break.

[Via Engadget; Intactlab]

(Click here for more…)

The Evolce ONE features a 47-inch full high definition LCD multitouch display and can recognize an unlimited number of touch points.  It also has haptic feedback.  It can run Windows 7 and it is compatable with all of 7′s multi-touch capabilities.  Check out an additional hands-on video after the break, as well as the official press release.

[Via Engadget]

(Click here for more…)

Ideum’s 100-inch multitouch table has 86 viewable inches, a 16 x 5 aspect ratio, and a 2,304 x 800 resolution.  The coolest feature?  It supports 50 simultaneous touch points; most surface tables like these can only recognize a few touch points.  It also has the ability to show images in radio, microwave, infrared, visibile, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma rays.  It currently sits at Space Chase Gallery at the Adventure Science Center.

[Via Engadget]

Virtual Autopsy Table.  Developed by Norrköping Visualization Centre with CMIV.

Have a look at the inside of a human being. In this installation, with the help of an easy to use multi touch interface, the user can freely interact with stunning volumetric 3D datasets of real scanned human bodies.

The datasets in this demo have been created with state of the art techniques within medical imaging; Dual Energy Computed Tomography. The data has been imported straight from the scanners and has not been edited or modified before rendering, what you see is not a 3D model, it’s a full volumetric description of a human body.

The visualization techniques used in this table is already utilized successfully as a compliment to the conventional autopsy. Apart from avoiding cutting in the body the medical experts, such as coroners, can see things that are difficult to discover in a conventional autopsy. Furthermore, the technique opens up for new opportunities in countries where autopsies are not accepted due to cultural reasons. The technique will revolutionize the traditional health care in many areas.

Basically the Virtual Autopsy Table is a multitouch surface that allows you to manipulate 3D images of human bodies.  How exciting and so very cool.  Doctors (or more specifically, morticians) all around the world must be shaking their medical coats right now.

[Via Engadget; vimeo page]

Human Furniture Collection by Samal Design.

They are disturbingly “inspired by men’s beauty and sensuality.”  The collection is created with “MDF and plastic with metal structure inside for support.”

[Via Gizmodo; Cubeme]

This concept table is created by Agnieszka Lasota.  In his own words…

My furniture are vehicles of time, with the aid of technology they allow a journey into the past. Elements of old furniture found at random I treat as museum artifacts — I place them carefully into a glass showcase. Instead of restoring I secure them in their present state. I show them as they are now, bringing back to life their original function in a new form. Sometimes, with electric polarization, I change the glass into a frosted one, hiding contents. I use the slide of the piece in its best time. Then the projection of the picture from the past becomes sharp and readable. The furniture shines again in old glory.

See more images in the gallery below.

[Via KanyeBlog; Design-Milk]