The Ambient Display itself is part of the touchpad, and is itself a touch display. Being a small strip, you can set icons of frequently used programs there, as well as other non-interactive icons like the battery level indicator.
In a demonstration, tapping on the calendar icon shows a number of appointments that’s been saved to the laptop user’s account. Tapping on the Spotify icon on the other hand brings up player controls and info on the currently playing song. The Intel Ambient Display is part of the comparatively unimpressive Intel Ambient PC. That said, it still has a trick of its own, which is is that it has a 360-degree camera.
As with the other concepts, Intel says that it’s working with brands to implement the idea into their products. If we’re going to see this in shelves, it would likely be in two years’ time, according to Intel representatives.
