This is one invention that promises to slow down the sale of coffee table books and become the perfect topic of conversation over coffee. Its an interactive coffee table that senses when you keep down your daily cuppa. It then creates ripples beginning from the place you set down your cup. The ripples slowly spread over the table and then gently dissappear. The 'ripple' effect is created by the presence of LEDs.

'The tables are designed to respond in a subtle and gentle fashion to stimulus provided by human interaction. They are normally dim and constant-- the most you'll see in a dark room is a faint glow of twinkling like the night sky. When you set your glass down on the table, however, the table "sees" the motion that induces a slow ripple starting in that location that spreads out to other areas of the table as it dissipates. The overall effect is a bit like touching a pool of water, in that your local disturbance turns into an overall gentle rippling, and eventually settles down. It is decidedly not a disco floor-- there is no blinking, no programmed oscillations, or for that matter, any digital electronics at all-- the circuitry is completely analog to improve aesthetics and reduce eyestrain. '

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