Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

blog.google

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

441–450 of 539 posts

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#441

Post by russdpale »

Pxtl wrote: post #128

This is cool as hell, but I have to say I feel like we're solving top-level problems when most consumers don't even seem to be getting solutions to the most basic pain-points. For me, the problem with video-calling isn't the image-quality. It's all the much more mundane technological problems - high latency, lag-spikes caused by bad ISPs, failed noise-cancellation for people who don't use headsets for audio, bad wifi…

Convenience and necessity. If the apex tech is so wonderful that its convenience becomes necessity, then it will become those proverbial stones on the bottom.

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#443

Post by [deleted] »

thepasswordis wrote: post #351
goldenchrome wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this any different from me wasting my life working for FAANG? Why is commodifying my brain any better than commodifying my body?

I don’t know. You should ask some of the abuse victims coming out of the prostitution industry why they’re so upset, and remind them that their job is basically the same as working at google.

[deleted]

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#444

Post by soVeryTired »

gearhart wrote: post #430
tomklein wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn’t that be way faster than the speed of light?

Depends how many thousands ;) light travels about 3000km in 10ms https://www.google.com/search?q=speed+of+light+*+10ms

That’s in a vacuum, in a straight line. In fibre optic cable, light travels around two thirds of that speed.

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#445

Post by benhurmarcel »

spurgu wrote: post #124

Thought: 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.

> And most companies should be able to afford having one of these in the office.

Most companies don't give decent webcams already, I doubt they'd consider paying thousands for such a system.

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#446

Post by janandonly »

Give it a year or 2 and the iPad Pro will have this as a standard feature in Facetime.

> Project Starline is currently available in just a few of our offices and it relies on custom-built hardware and highly specialized equipment. We believe this is where person-to-person communication technology can and should go, and in time, our goal is to make this technology more affordable and accessible, including bringing some of these technical advancements into our suite of communication products.

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#448

Post by adamauckland »

birdman3131 wrote: post #340
imiric wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you might be underestimating the value of viewing a 3D model on a no-glasses 3D display. This is one of the basic aspects of in-person communication we take for granted that current 2D technology can't replicate. You can move your head and actually see a different angle of the person in front of you. This can even be subtle, our brain will still pick up the effect, and it makes the experience beyond what we u…

Any benefit from the 3d seems like it would be vastly overshadowed by the massive artifacting in the hair though.

I thought that as well watching the video, but have you used a PSVR?

I've got one and the first minute is always noticing how low res the eye screens are, then as soon as the game starts, I've forgotten and I'm _there_. The 3D part makes up for the low quality

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#449

Post by adamauckland »

wpietri wrote: post #240
imiric wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tell me a problem that it solves. Replicating the experience of in-person communication much more closely than video and 2D displays will ever do. That's a noble research goal if nothing else, I don't get the skepticism. There are several reasons 3D content and previous generation displays didn't take off, but there's no reason to believe a revolutionary new approach and product couldn't change this (e.g. electric…

> Replicating the experience of in-person communication much more closely That's not a problem people express much, at least not in ways where "3D" points to a solution. When I want to see people in person, it's not because of a lack of stereoscopy. I want to hug them, to break bread with them. > there's no reason to believe a revolutionary new approach and product couldn't change this There is indeed! In specific, t…

Wow, this is a pretty ableist take. Deaf people or hard of hearing exist.

I've got a hearing problem where I struggle to make out what people are saying on a phone but with a video call I can add lip-reading and visual cues which helps me keep on thread.

Re: Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

#450

Post by alkonaut »

ibrahimsow1 wrote: post #188
hirundo wrote: post #49

My dad used to tell a story about my grandfather's first experience with television in the late forties. There was a buxom woman on the screen, and he walked up to it, trying to look down her cleavage. It didn't work. Does Starline give you a different view when you change your perspective? It looks like it does to some extent. If so, it might work before long, but grandpa died about fifty years too soon for it.

If this uses fully fledged lightfield[0] it might be able to. [0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/techcrunch.com/2020/06/23/googl...

Why would you need lightfields to make a TV that shows a different projection if you change vantagepoint?

The device knows where the viewer's eyes are in 3D, so can display an image of the other end, as viewed from that point (within some constraint).

Post reply on HN