Written on August 7, 2012 This is part 6 of CNNMoney’s series
looking inside Microsoft’s research lab. The Internet is really
good at sending digital items around the world in a split
second. Physical objects, not so much. Absent a Star Trek-like
transporter, our real-world stuff still needs to be physically
moved from location to location. That means objects have been
noticeably absent from the growing world of online
collaboration. To solve that problem, Microsoft (, Fortune 500)
is working on a bridge between the physical and digital worlds.
Called IllumiShare, it’s an Internet-connected projector-camera
combination that allows users to display physical objects to one
another in real-time. The IllumiShare looks like a tall desk
lamp hanging over a drafting table. It works with one or more
other IllumiShare devices by snapping constant images of the
table’s surface. It also simultaneously projects what it sees
from all of the IllumiShares in a meeting. When one user places
an item under the IllumiShare came