There’s no doubt about it: Microsoft Surface-type computing interfaces are compelling. The idea of taking graphics and data and then moving them, bumping them, merging them — it’s a way of interacting with computers that we have only been able to picture in movies.

But so far, we’ve mostly seen lightweight applications of the medium. Brochureware (yawn). Interactive restaurant menus. Video, image and music file managment (not boring, but not life-changing either).

Late last year, Marley Gray, Microsoft’s point man on banking, had this to say about the potential role of Surface computing in financial services:

While Microsoft Surface isn’t currently deployed in any retail banking scenarios, we envision Surface as a platform that could potentially enable a shift in the way customers learn, service, and buy products in a retail banking environment. In addition, it can be used as a way for customers to browse product information by financial scenario or direct product comparisons as well as in private banker meetings for things like financial planning and account opening.

Is there a serious application for surface computing in the bank environment? The above video about virtual autopsies shows how gestural computing can let users manipulate complex and layered information. And isn’t that a good way to describe finances – complex and layered?

Whether it’s a consumer considering at different investment options or a business owner considering cash-flow scenarios, the structure of financial instruments and services can be mind-numbingly complex. Or boring. Either of which results in prospects not paying attention and not comprehending the full value of what the bank has to offer.

What if…bankers could conduct “what if” scenarios with customers by moving and sliding visuals, rather than pointing to data tables? Would financial planning be a more compelling offering if budgeting was an object-oriented exercise? Could bankers themselves benefit from seeing their accounts (and the risk therein) displayed more visually?

Experiate Blog: How to make the store employee care
How does digital signage content affect the rank and file? Are they left apathetic or motivated? Paul Flanigan explores this topic, drawing on his experience with one of America’s largest minimum-wage employers, Best Buy.

Sociological images: A historical look at the changes in work type
In 1850, over 50% of U.S. workers were farmers. Today? Barely over 1%. Meanwhile, office-related jobs have grown from nearly nothing to being the dominant form of employment. If you like demographics, be sure to check out this interactive graphic.

Gartner: 2009 Hype Cycle Special Report
Still kicking yourself for missing the boat on the World Wide Web? Well, there’s still time to cash in on emerging technologies. But you’ll need a guide, like Gartner’s “Hype Cycle Special Report for 2009,” which indexes key technologies and trends, plotting them along a linear path through such territories as “Peak of Inflated Expectations,” “Trough of Disillusionment” and “Plateau of Productivity.” To wit: according to the recently released report, electronic paper is on the “Slope of Enlightenment,” which is to say that we’re past all the hype and the technology is nearly ready to offer some tangible business benefits.

Businessweek: Borrow from Home Depot’s “Free” Expertise Strategy
Since the publication of Chris Anderson’s book (Amazon | free on Scribd), there’s been a lot of chatter about the concept of “free.” Businessweek contributor Carmine Gallo describes Home Depot’s take on the concept: more than 100 short videos on YouTube, teaching you how to install fixtures and do home repairs. “When you don’t have a lot of money to spend on marketing, giving away free advice can help build your brand by establishing you as a trusted expert in your field,” he writes.

Wall Street Journal: Using the lottery effect to make people save
Jason Zweig uncovers an innovative financial product that comes from some credit unions in Michigan. These financial institutions are offering an account that is a “cross between a certificate of deposit and a raffle ticket.” The one-year CDs reward regular savers with a chance to win raffle prizes, up to $400, as well as a chance to win the grand prize: $100,000.

What’s so interesting from a marketing perspective are the vast differences in equipment, screen sizes and environmental context from one ATM to the next. With so many variables, how is it possible to influence, much less control, the customer experience at this touchpoint? There are plenty more photos where these came from. Please leave a comment if you’d like to see more.

Spain
Creative commons photo credit: Stripy T-Shirt

Chicago, Illinois, USA
Creative commons photo credit: Manufacturer

Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Creative commons photo credit: Pat Hawks

New York, New York, USA
Creative commons photo credit: dandeluca

New York, New York, USA
Creative commons photo credit: davidwg

Jerusalem, Israel
Creative commons photo credit: mockstar

Rhyolite, Nevada, U.S.A.
Creative commons photo credit: Nevada Tumbleweed

Yazd, Iran
Creative commons photo credit: Paul Keller

Jönköping, Sweden
Creative commons photo credit: Wrote

Tokyo, Japan
Creative commons photo credit: saschapohflepp

California, U.S.A.
Creative commons photo credit: TheTruthAbout…

Brussels, Belgium
Creative commons photo credit: Photocapy

Singapore
Creative commons photo credit: Abhishek_Kumar

Doha, Qatar
Creative commons photo credit: whiteafrican

Take RFID. It’s certainly not a new technology by any stretch, but the practical application of RFID within the context of in-store digital media is still somewhat unproven, or at least far from mainstream. If we drill down even further to the banking vertical (the world John Ryan works it), it becomes even more challenging to imagine how RFID chips can be used to enhance the customer experience or further the dialogue between bankers and their customers. Sure, lots of visions about the “bank of the future” involve RFID, which identifies customers as they enter the branch, etc., etc. But that’s way off, for a host of reasons, including privacy issues and cost.

So, what can be done with RFID that doesn’t require millions of dollars, complete branch overhauls and (gasp) the involvement of IT?

In the spirit of our last post on DIY digital signage technology, I’d like to draw your attention to some strange RFID technology that I found on a gadget blog and that seems to be ripe for integration with digital signage.

Mir:ror is a personal RFID scanner that connects to any PC via USB. When used in conjunction with its accompanying software, Mir:ror is able to trigger different actions on it’s host PC, such as launching software or running macros. The Mir:ror costs around €50.

Violet, the company behind Mir:ror also sells colorful RFID tags (cost: €20 per dozen), which users can affix to any object, such as file folders, coffee mugs, etc. The tags themselves can be assigned attributes, so that once you’ve tagged an item (say, your car keys), you can drop it on the scanner and it reads the RFID tag and then prompts an action (e.g., email your loved ones that you’ve arrived home safely).

So, back to the question of using RFID in a digital signage context: it seems that a product like Mir:ror opens up all sorts of possibilities for letting users (customers or employees) interact with on-screen content. For instance:

• Sales staff with RFID tags on their badges could interrupt regular programming to launch guided sales content.
• Staff or customers could wave brochures or objects representing different products in order to launch specific content about that product.
• Sales staff, identified by their own RFID tags, could launch guided sales content that is tailored to the products that rep is licensed to sell.
• Customers could interact with content by waving different tagged items in front of the Mir:ror scanner. For example, in response to a survey question, such as “Where do you live?,” a customer could wave a card with the Union Jack printed on it to register their answer as England.

With this form of interactivity, it would be possible to turn any monitor into an interactive monitor (good news, if your budget doesn’t allow for touch screens). That is, if your digital signage platform allows for interactive content.

What’s more, by having users move objects to interact with the screen, we introduce a kinetic element to the UI — a dimension that is lacking in many interactive experiences.

What would you do with cheap RFID scanners and tags? Please let us know in the comments section!