A few weeks ago I went to the Mob Museum, and although I was skeptical I have to admit it was quite interesting. There were many displays, both static and interactive, including a Tommy gun you could fire (not real bullets, of course, that would end badly). You could sit in a replica electric chair, stand in a lineup, and they had the actual wall from the St. Valentines Day Massacre. Macabre, but this is the Mob we’re talking about.

One of the displays that stood out to me was a table whose surface was displaying an overhead animation of a freeway, and had a series of what looked like drink coasters on it. Placing the coasters on the table would cause the display to sprout headshots of various gangsters that you could tap on to bring up more detail. You could also drag them around using your finger, and zoom in or out using pinch-to-zoom.

I have a short video below to give you a better idea of how it all worked. What I really want to mention is that while this was not indicated in any way in the display itself, the table is actually an evolution of the original Microsoft Surface, now called PixelSense. Here in Vegas we have a few others in places such as the Revolution Lounge at The Mirage, The Rio, and the Hard Rock on the Strip.

The intent with the original Surface was to have the large, touch sensitive Samsung display serve as a commercial application, where you could – for example – browse a menu on it, then pay for your food/drinks by placing a credit card on the table which it could read. There were also obvious educational possibilities.

Here’s the video, and you can see the functionality isn’t perfect. It glitches a little, and the pinch-to-zoom doesn’t function fluidly. It’s more of a novelty than anything else, but it was a neat exhibit that I would hope is expanded in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0gyQHFoPcA