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Project Starline: Feel like you're there, together

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

#321

Post by fataliss »

pinko wrote: post #190
asenna wrote: post #159

On 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…

I can echo (no pun intended) this experience with the Echo Show, but I would love something much bigger and higher-def. My family is separated long-distance, and I would pay big money for a higher-def "window to another home" product.

Can't one facetime on an appleTV/macMini with a webcam? Or use an ipad Pro?

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

#322

Post by [deleted] »

pinko wrote: post #190
asenna wrote: post #159

On 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…

I can echo (no pun intended) this experience with the Echo Show, but I would love something much bigger and higher-def. My family is separated long-distance, and I would pay big money for a higher-def "window to another home" product.

[deleted]

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

#323

Post by retreatguru »

deadfire55 wrote: post #304
pinko wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can echo (no pun intended) this experience with the Echo Show, but I would love something much bigger and higher-def. My family is separated long-distance, and I would pay big money for a higher-def "window to another home" product.

Facebook has a 15.6" version of this called Portal Plus. I can't speak to the quality/value of it.

We tried Portal Plus at work to bring our two remote workers closer to the local office but it never really caught on in the office setting. The quality and tech was quite good though. Fb login required of course which was a minor nuisance.

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

#324

Post by lurkerasdfh8 »

machello13 wrote: post #12

Reminds me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2prsYbV1TkM from Silicon Valley. I imagine the real-world experience will be pretty similar for a long time.

Reminds? this is literally it!

Also, microsoft did this a couple years ago, without fancy volumetric display, just face tracking on their expensive 8k(?) tv for meeting rooms, and it was a complete flop.

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

#325

Post by kumarvvr »

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…

Perhaps one drives the other. Availability of magical tech will drive adoption of best practices in all the areas you have mentioned.

In India, ISPs already advertise low latency and high speeds for "PUBG Gaming". The market evolves to solve the needs of consumers. Advertising for low latency for gaming was unheard of in Indian ISP scene, just a few years ago.

So having this tech, would induce customers to get better hardware, wiring, ISPs etc, and would induce ISPs to provide better service.

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

#327

Post by goldenchrome »

thepasswordis wrote: post #256
bellyfullofbac wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the topic of buxom women, my first thought about this tech was, it'll be the next frontier for OnlyFans/porn accounts on Snapchat. Before you laugh or be prude, porn content was what made VHS and BluRay succeed (or are these urban legends?) and they were pioneers in stuff like online video streaming.

Ah yes, the people whose first thought is not how they can use this to commodify women’s bodies are “prudes”. Yes of course. Women: become literal prostitutes for the only fans corporation. You could be RICH! It’s so fun! They have t-shirts! Remember how I said you could be RICH?!

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

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

#328

Post by goldenchrome »

barbazoo wrote: post #48
crooked-v wrote: post #42

This is a really interesting project, and I wonder how long until Google unceremoniously cancels it and drops support for anyone who's bought into it.

And have they announced yet how they're planning to invade my privacy with this?

Well, they'll have extensive 3D data about your body and your house.

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

#329

Post by kikokikokiko »

speeder wrote: post #141
abhv wrote: post #2

A 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…

I want to try this just to see what happens, if I will have again the feeling something is more real than reality. Because optometrists are illegal in my country (here only medics can decide what glasses you can use), currently I don't have stereoscopic vision, although my brain CAN do it, if I had the correct images sent to my eyes somehow. (one of my eyes muscles is slightly shorter than the other side thus the ima…

Brazilian guy here: my girlfriend just bought two pairs of glasses from China, I don't know from which site exactly, but some AliExpress type of site. She paid 5 dollars each, just telling which degrees she needed for each eye. The quality was the same from the 200 dollars pair she bought with a medical note here in Brazil. Unbelievable. Just telling that, if you want it, you can import it through the mail and it will pass through customs without a problem.

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

#330

Post by wpietri »

imiric wrote: post #272
wpietri wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> When I want to see people in person, it's not because of a lack of stereoscopy. Of course, I'm not saying this will replace physical communication (I should've said "simulating" instead of "replicating"). But it's a clear step forward for traditional teleconferencing solutions. What do you think is the next leap from 2D video and displays? We're at the point of diminishing returns as far as increasing resolution go…

It's not a clear step forward except in technical terms. Those often don't matter. For example, the big revolution in the last 20 years is not faster computers, it's mobile ones.

I don't have much reason to think there is any near term "next leap from 2D video and displays". 2D renderings are more than 40,000 years old. They have improved drastically in resolution and fidelity. Computers added being dynamic and interactive to that. it's really not clear that 3D rendering adds much.

> Judging by the expressions of the people in the demo and some of the comments here, you're underestimating how impactful this could be

I am not, because that kind of novelty-driven excitement has driven every wave of popular 3D rendering technology for 170 years. VR/AR has been close to mass market adoption for 25 years. We've just been through an unprecedented period of demand for at-home entertainment, and the hardware that many said was finally, finally the thing turns out once again not to matter.

People have had those excited faces every time. There were people jazzed about the possible impact every time. The Brewster Stereoscope. The ViewMaster (with the US Defense Department purchasing 6 million reels on the theory it would revolutionize training). 3D movies in the 1950s. VR in the 1980s and 1990s. 3D movies again this century. 3D TV for 2 CESes. And then the latest wave of VR, which you agree is still not there despite fantastic investment from companies floating in cash.

Could it be different this time? Maybe! But if we keep measuring it by novelty effects, we're setting ourselves up for the exact same failure that keeps happening.

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