Hundreds of the region's most innovative digital businesses have come to Newcastle for the massive Thinking Digital conference which attracts some of the brightest minds in the world. John Hill was there.

IMAGINE a window that shows you a friend in a different country, one that adjusts to your movement and allows you to share data and play games on screen.

Imagine downloading data from your computer or mobile on to a piece of electronic paper. Imagine highly intelligent robots, or toothbrushes which remember your cavities.

This promise is all but a reality in the digital age, and Thinking Digital conference-goers saw that future in talks such as those by Microsoft Applied Sciences research director Steven Bathiche yesterday.

Microsoft’s Magic Window was just one of the technological advancements showcased and discussed on day one of the event at The Sage in Gateshead.

But Thinking Digital isn’t just a place to wonder at shiny things. It’s a place to share ideas about how technology may affect and improve our lives.

Bathiche said: “People can’t love machines like other people can love people. The maxim behind computing is how do you take technology out of the way and connect yourself to people you want to interact with. That’s hard from a technology perspective, but that’s what we want it to do.”

Insights into the use of technology included the story of Ewan McIntosh, the co-director of a digital strategy that brought the SNP an election win.

But there was also variety, from Nancy Duarte’s insights into presentation, Heather Knight’s robot, a hurdy gurdy demonstration by Caroline Phillips and a bit of gossip on the row between Google and Facebook from Newsweek’s Dan Lyons.

He said: “It used to be the base information that was valuable. Now it’s what you do with the knowledge that’s important.”

Thinking Digital continues today, with speakers including one-time Twitchhiker Paul Smith and the BBC’s Matthew Postgate. Keep up to date with the conference on our Twitter: @John_PJ_Hill