Virtual table brings distant loved ones together

People forced to live apart for a while often miss the subtle clues that tell one person how the other feels or what he or she is doing. Media Lab Europe developed a virtual table that provides insight by relaying images of what's on your table, giving another person clues to any changes in your daily life. Researchers in Dublin, Ireland, put unique RFID tags on items that people normally place on tables, such as coffee cups, keys, and cigarettes. The networked tables have built-in displays that show a slightly enlarged and brightened image of an object when it's put on the table and fade out the object's image when it's removed. This gives you a sense of what's going on, providing a rhythm of the household. Now that researches have proven the basics of the technology, their next step is to improve the human interface.