[The pandemic has enhanced several efforts to market a holographic communication system. The bullet-pointed story below from Axios reports on a new smaller version of the PORTL holographic system (see a September 2020 ISPR Presence News post about the original vending-machine size product). For more details about the new mini hologram unit see the press release via Global Newswire
(which notes that the company and product are changing names to Proto). Mashable
covers Proto and a competitor and notes that:
“Photos and even videos of these 2D holograms (they may look 3D, but the images are still projected onto a flat screen) can’t convey the realness and energy as convincingly as experiencing them in person, which makes for a hard sell.” …
“It seems unlikely the average Zoom user will be using a HoloPod set-up [ARHT Media’s hologram product] just to talk to their long-distance partner or immunocompromised grandma. But for a TV interview for CBS Sports with different NFL stars from around the country, the Portl proved how it can efficiently bring everyone into the same space without any travel costs, and look better and more realistic than Zoom. [CEO] Nussbaum said viewers thought CBS Sports had put the players in a white box to interview them in person — that’s how convincing the holograms are.”
Fast Company provides an overview of the market that includes this:
“At this year’s South by Southwest conference, a startup founded by an AI researcher and a veteran of Ubisoft, is looking to bring the technology a step closer to the mainstream. Matsuko, a finalist in this year’s Extended Reality & Immersive Technology category at SXSW Pitch, has created a real-time hologram-meeting app that looks to make remote video meetings feel more like IRL conversations by using 3D holograms. And all you need to make it work: an iPhone and the company’s app.
‘If these past two years have shown us anything, it is that as humans we need each other’s presence,’ said Maria Vircikova, cofounder and CEO of Matsuko. ‘And even though we have come a long way with remote communication, today’s tools are still way too distant. Our brain is wired for the third dimension, and we need a sensation of people physically being there.’
Vircikova, an AI researcher, and Matus Kirchmayer, a former programmer on the Assassin’s Creed video game (who also ran the AI Behaviors team on the first game), cofounded Matsuko in 2017 and have been working in stealth until just recently.
The company started after the two attended a lecture given by Zoom CEO Eric Yuan and, in an ensuing conversation, realized their combined skills could build a 3D holographic technology that feels more real than talking to a computer screen.
The app lets people stream holographic images of themselves via their iPhone camera. Other meeting members, using the app and wearing XR glasses (or, soon, the Meta Quest 2) will be able to see the other party as if they were in the room (though the image is a bit jagged, much like when someone uses a virtual background on Zoom).”
–Matthew]
[Image: Source: New Atlas]
3D “holoportation” for the masses
By Jennifer A. Kingson
March 1, 2022
A company called PORTL that lets you beam a lifelike, real-time image of yourself into its vending-machine-size box has introduced a lower-budget miniature version, potentially bringing video calls to American living rooms.
Why it matters: For consumers seeking better alternatives to Zoom and FaceTime, there’s the PORTL M — or mini — a 2-foot-tall rectangular device that can receive a curiously intimate (if tiny) walking, talking image of a faraway loved one.
- It’ll also be good for gaming, fitness classes, telemedicine and displaying NFTs, its makers say.
- The larger version, which is about 7 feet tall, won an innovation award at CES this year and has been “doing tons of rentals for trade shows and conventions, experiential events,” says David Nussbaum, PORTL’s CEO.
- Glamorous engagements could include “holoporting” Super Bowl players into CBS Sports studios for live interviews.
For more quotidien uses, the larger PORTL, which costs around $100,000, has been snapped up by banks and other companies that want to use it for interoffice communications and as an alternative to business travel, Nussbaum tells Axios.
- Colleges are using it to beam in lessons from teachers to classrooms.
- The medical community is using it to holoport 3D images of surgical procedures to students and doctors.
Driving the news: The household-size PORTL M, available for presale at about $2,000, can be seen in action this month for the first time at SXSW, where people will be able to try it out.
- “It’s everything that the big one is, squeezed down into little Mike-Teavee-Willy-Wonka-sized, bite-sized, fun-sized,” says Nussbaum.
- Children are “going to love playing games on it,” he said. “And it comes off the stand and hangs on the wall, so it is a beautiful display for your artwork.”
- Anyone shown on it “will have all of the shadows and reflections and all the volumetric effects needed to make it look like they’re kind of floating inside of the device.”
What’s next: PORTL has introduced a mobile app that will eventually let TikTok users, YouTubers, Instagrammers and others create content for the unit.
The back story: Nussbaum founded PORTL three years ago, in part so that his kids in L.A. could have a more meaningful relationship with their East Coast grandparents: “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if Grandma beamed into our home?”‘
- He also envisions the PORTL M as great for military families and incarcerated people.
- “There’s a place for Zoom and a place for physically getting on a plane and traveling, but there’s a lot of room in between.”
Erica’s thought bubble: Sure, video calls get the job done, but they’re far from ideal. They do a poor job of recreating what it’s really like to be in a meeting: It’s easy to tune out, there are awkward silences, and there’s no way to read body language.
- For remote and hybrid work, creating more lifelike ways for people to virtually “be” somewhere will be hugely important.
- Imagine how much more attention your manager would command as a hologram than as a Zoom square.
Go deeper: “Holoportation” lets you beam yourself anywhere
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