Everyone's latching onto the 3D part, but if some version of this just lets us have our Zoom calls without the looking at camera/looking at screen, impossible to make eye contact thing, that'd be a step forward.
Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
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Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
#402Thought: This could bring back phone booths. If this tech turns out to be too expensive (for normal people) we could still use it on a pay-per-use basis, like with a "video conferencing booth". You'd schedule your call and reserve a local booth for both participants through an app. And most companies should be able to afford having one of these in the office.
I'd pay something for this but I bet there's more of a business market.
Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
#403A good friend of mine at Google is the technical lead of this project (he has a Phd Princeton, and was a professor before joining Google). I've tried it in person and it was truly amazing. They used some very fancy tech when I saw the demo, so I'm thrilled it is finally being announced and possibly shared with a larger audience. Explanation of why it is amazing: It totally fools your perception. No glasses or goggles…
The question for me is how much it matters after the novelty wears off. I count at least 5 waves of 3D technology starting in 1851 with the Brewster Stereoscope. Each time there's a surge of popularity driven by the legitimately amazing initial experience. And each time people slowly stop caring. People were incredibly excited about Avatar, and many thought it would change the movie industry. But how many people now…
I honestly think it's amazing and I'm sure the novelty would wear off, but it would still be useful. One of the things that stood in the way of 3D viewing was dedicated hardware, which is the same issue here. Although the need to wear glasses is gone, you still need to buy some serious equipment for it. Maybe at some point this will be bundled into a normal TV setup and people will just take it for granted that it's there
Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
#404Thought: This could bring back phone booths. If this tech turns out to be too expensive (for normal people) we could still use it on a pay-per-use basis, like with a "video conferencing booth". You'd schedule your call and reserve a local booth for both participants through an app. And most companies should be able to afford having one of these in the office.
That's just reminded me that phone booths were usually filled with advertisements for "escort services". I'm sure it wouldn't take long for this to come back in this brave new world
Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
#405Hmmm. Personally, I would much rather have a lofi hologram that is capable of moving around, as much as I lack technical implementation specificity here :)
Starline seems amazing, but there's a black mirror quality to the ultra pristine resolution.
Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
#406Thought: This could bring back phone booths. If this tech turns out to be too expensive (for normal people) we could still use it on a pay-per-use basis, like with a "video conferencing booth". You'd schedule your call and reserve a local booth for both participants through an app. And most companies should be able to afford having one of these in the office.
Great idea.
I’d first go with an Internet cafe style booth booking. Book an hour slot and get your coffee included.
Setup cafes in major cities and I think people would use this - could imagine setting a meet with a friend in another country. Parents showing off their new babies. Etc.
Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
#407Oh wow, totally reminds me of the Solarians in Asimovs "The Naked Sun"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_Sun#Physical_distanc...
Reading this shortly before the pandemic spread gave me a really strange perspective on the whole remote working boom.
Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
#408Earlier quoted context omitted.
How much would you pay? I expect the lower end to be around $20,000 from hardware alone, plus at least gigabit down/up connectivity.
I doubt you need gigabit for an 8K stream. The real issue is the abysmal common network infrastructure. Latency will be a bottleneck if most ISPs don't care about treating your packets properly.
Most internet providers here in Finland provides you fiber connections from 100-1000mbs pretty cheap. And 4g/5g connections from 100-300mbs for cheap prices too. Most of them does not have any data caps.
I have 300/100mbs connection which costs 20 euros in month.
Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
#409Google Glass flop.
Calling it now.
Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together
#410On a related note, I wanted to share my amazing experience with a similar but lo-fi tech. My mom and dad for the past 2-3 years have mostly lived in two separate countries (due to work reasons) and I could tell they miss each other quite a bit. I got both of them an Echo Show 10" device each and set it up for them. I don't think I can explain how our lives have changed for the better, just based on this simple piece…
>The Echo Show is now pretty much constantly on video call for 14-16 hours a day in the living room of both houses and it has become an extension of the one another; a window into the other house. The audio and mics are good enough that at times you genuinely forget the other person is not in the same room. This has truly helped them, especially during Covid times. >It's actually good enough that my parents have thei…
Wouldn't it be really difficult to put a 55 inch TV in portrait mode?
Although I think as I live in a city with small apartments, wall-mounting is much less common. I guess with a decent wall mount perhaps it is trivial to rotate it?