There's one small problem with the Microsoft Surface: it's big and expensive, limiting it to customers such as large hotel, casino and restaurant groups that plan to use the device as an interactive kiosk for guests. But Microsoft is working to bring this technology and a whole lot more to the market at large. Enter ThinSight.

The Microsoft Surface is a truly innovative product that opens up a new realm of computing. The ability of the device to recognise devices and extract and manipulate content from them is something that Microsoft is hoping to make available to a larger market going forward. As such, Microsoft Research is working hard to make similar functionality more available through a project called ThinSight.