Microsoft is planning to demonstrate this week at its employee-only Microsoft Research showcase in Redmond a project it is calling the “Mobile Surface.” Microsoft is briefing a few select press on some of its TechFest projects before the event begins. I wasn’t briefed; I just found the link for this while trolling around on the Microsoft Research site.

From a description of the Mobile Surface on the company’s Microsoft Research MSR Web site:“Our goal is to bring Microsoft Surface experience to mobile scenarios, and more importantly, to enable 3D interaction with mobile devices. We do research on how to transform any surface e.g., a coffee table or a piece of paper to Mobile Surface with a mobile device and a camera-projector system. Besides this, our work also includes how to get 3D object model in real-time, augmented reality and multiple-layer 3D information presentation.”

Read more Experience information: No Microsoft Surface available, then simply bring your own..

Join an elite group of leading thinkers and museum experts for an incisive and up-to-the-minute analysis of trends in uses of mobile devices by museum and science center audiences. Hear assessments of current systems and projections about future possibilities in terms of how social networking and mobility tools can help museums connect with their audiences, and how they can help enrich and extend the learning experience. A special focus will be on outreach efforts to under-served communities. Share your views and concerns to inform designers about what services are needed and what problems need solving.

On April 26-27, researchers, museum staff, and program developers will be gathering in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They will be taking an in-depth look at what the future holds in terms of mobile media devices and social networking applications in the museum setting. Presentations will include data-driven analyses of what is going on in the field and insightful distillations of museum experiences to date. Forecasts of trends and developments that are “just around the corner” will be offered. In addition to plenary talks, interactive sessions will be held to draw on “crowd-sourcing” of attendees to identify consensus views as well as important points of divergence. This event promises both unique perspectives about the principles that guide new social media applications as well as practical advice about how to integrate such systems into contemporary museum practices.

Read more: SocialMedia – Welcome. For any questions or more information on the conference, please contact: Ellen Lynch at elynch@lsc.org or 201-253-1245

by Mark Spencer: With the budding number of consumers using mobile devices, such as cell phones and PDAs, to access the Internet, it’s imperative to make sure your website can be accessed by budding customers using these devices. Before starting, you need to clarify some points: Have you ever seen website on mobile device, are you sure that your customers will find the detail they are looking for and will they purchase from your website using handheld device. If you have some sort of idea to the points, then down under details are given to develop mobile website. Developer needs to ensure the World Wide Web Consortium W3C specifications for CSS and mobile devices. Developer also needs to check if the website is using tables, taking long time to download on a web browser and have lots of images. While the Internet works fundamentally the same on mobile devices as it does on computers. Developer needs to make sure that detail on website is easy to read and navigate on mobile devices.

Read more Developing Website for Mobile Devices.