Title:
Taking a Closer Look at the Future of Video
Conferencing
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
High-quality systems used in video conferencing are
called telepresence systems. The images are
life-size yet not truly lifelike. They lack the
depth that people would normally see if they were in
the same room together. But this could change in the
future with new kinds of three-dimensional
telepresence systems. Last week, we told you about a
3-D system at the University of Arizona. Researchers
can send a moving image over the Internet and show
it on a special screen in close to real time. People
would not have to wear special glasses like they
often need to watch 3-D movies. The system uses a
lot of cameras to take pictures of a person from
different positions. Lasers reproduce the pictures
combined into three-dimensional images, or
holograms. The image appears more realistic with the
more cameras that are used and the more pictures
that are taken. Howard Lichtman is president of the
Human Productivity Lab. His company advises other
companies on buying and using telepresence systems.
Mr. Lichtman also publishes Telepresence Options,
which reports on the industry. He says this latest
development would have done wonders for the "Star
Wars" movie with the famous "Princess Leia" hologram
scene. The researchers in Arizona say their 3-D
system is still years away from completion. Even
then, Howard Lichtman says it may have trouble
competing with systems already on the market. Most
telepresence systems are two-dimensional. But Mr.
Lichtman says the images are very realistic. He says
it is a 2-D image, but it is clear and realistic. He
says you would think you were in the same physical
space with people who might be thousands of
kilometers away. Howard Lichtman says prices for
telepresence systems are going down as more people
use the technology. A new eighteen-million-dollar
project aims to create eleven telepresence centers
for federal employees around the United States. The
government is working with the AT&T company to save
money and reduce pollution by reducing the need for
travel. For VOA Special English I'm Alex Villarreal.
For more reports about technology go to our website,
voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find our
programs online with transcripts and MP3 files. And
you can find us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at
VOA Learning English.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
