One the most talked about launches at CES 2011 was Microsoft Surface 2.0. The below video is from the Microsoft social media team who jumped into action after their Facebook page blew up with questions.

Similar to 1.0 yes but the differentiating point is that 2.0 can actually sense what’s touching it and instantly process that information.

Remember the opening scene in Minority Report where Tom cruise is working in a division of the police department that arrests criminals before they commit the crimes courtesy of some future viewing technology? This makes me think we aren’t too far off.

Like most people in the media world, there’s nothing I love more than creating daily pivot tables from mounds of data collected from DART or any other adserver. Then once I pivot, I create awkward looking charts with highlighted backgrounds for that key visual appeal. Talk about innovative and exciting!! Pivot tables are where it’s at!

Sensing the buzz, the folks at Microsoft Live Labs just made all of our lives easier by releasing PIVOT (which was demoed at TED). Pivots presents data in the form of a collection of images accompanied by textual information.

Check out the video above for a demo.