In 2002, in a piece titled "The Future of Gear," we told you about a Microsoft Research project, a 360-degree VOIP phone called the RingCam. Well, the future is getting closer.

Britain's Sunday Telegraph ran a short but informative piece over the weekend, reporting that Microsoft's 360-degree RingCam, now called Roundtable, is going to be manufactured. Exactly when? Apparently soon, but a specific date isn't named.

The phone isn't really designed for consumers, and in fact the $3,000 or so price tag makes it one of those expensive pieces of gear that will probably grace expensive boardrooms and be locked in walnut cabinets when not in use. It's so cool, in fact, that Microsoft will make the Roundtable itself, and no other vendor will make it. Which is sort of an odd strategy, given that anything Apple makes is knocked off in weeks.

The article indicates that it will be part of a "range" of phones, which implies that a lower-cost version could grace the consumer market at some point. Check out the article itself for the details on some of these new devices.

(Funny personal anecdote: my aunt, an actress, used to work on cruise ships performing muscials as a chance to raise cash and see the world. Every Thanksgiving, we'd have dinner and record the conversation, so that my aunt could experience a virtual dinner with her family. With Roundtable, she could have had virtual dinner with us, in real time! Assuming that there would be low-latency on-board broadband, of course, which is doubtful.)

Pictured is an archived "old school" version of Roundtable. To see the up-to-date, slick-looking one, head over to the Inquirer's Web site.

Post by Mark Hachman