Microsoft Demos Hologram 'Holoportation' (zdnet.com) 49
Microsoft "continues to plug away at making holoportation possible," reports ZDNet:
In a new demonstration, officials showed off a scenario where a life-sized holographic representation of a person could be beamed into a scenario with real-time simultaneous language translation happening -- a communication scenario on which Microsoft has been working for years. At Microsoft's Inspire partner show (which is co-located with its Ready sales kick-off event) on July 17, Microsoft demonstrated such a scenario on stage during CEO Satya Nadella's keynote. Azure Corporate Vice President Julia White donned a HoloLens 2 headset and [demonstrated] a full-size hologram of herself translated simultaneously into Japanese and maintaining her speech cadence and patterns. [Microsoft later said that the life-sized hologram was created at Microsoft's Mixed Reality Capture Studios.]
Microsoft pulled off the demo by combining a number of its existing technologies, White said, including Azure speech-to-text, Azure Speech Translation and neural text-to-speech. The text-to-speech from Azure Speech Services allows apps, tools and devices to convert text into natural human-like synthesized speech. Users can create their own custom voice unique to them.
In a video of the demo, White first appears to be holding a smaller version of her hologram in the palm of her own hand.
She jokingly telling the audience, "Let me introduce you to Mini-Me."
Microsoft pulled off the demo by combining a number of its existing technologies, White said, including Azure speech-to-text, Azure Speech Translation and neural text-to-speech. The text-to-speech from Azure Speech Services allows apps, tools and devices to convert text into natural human-like synthesized speech. Users can create their own custom voice unique to them.
In a video of the demo, White first appears to be holding a smaller version of her hologram in the palm of her own hand.
She jokingly telling the audience, "Let me introduce you to Mini-Me."
Meet the Designer (Score:2)
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That's a lot of i's to separate from the M's.
Ah well, infinite time, is what she said. Bye M.
NOT holograms (Score:1)
I wish these marketing droids would learn WTF a hologram actually *is* before putting their ignorance on display to the world.
Re: NOT holograms (Score:1)
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It's Microsoft. If you actually expect them to name things intuitively, you must be new.
In any case, this is reminiscent of holography use cases in sci fi. Frankly it looks better than Star Wars holograms so I'm willing to give them a pass on the headset thing.
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The Star Wars "holograms" set a relatively low bar in terms of realism. Disney has had some rather impressive "hologram" like ghosts in their haunted mansion for decades. It had been around few the better part of a decade before George Lucas released Star Wars.
That whole attraction is chocked full of rather impressive effects that are incredibly simple once you know how they were done. For example, the sculptures that seem to watch as you go by and the ghosts. The ghosts being the result of a bright light b
Has the definition of "hologram" changed? (Score:5, Informative)
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Holograms are cool so the marketing drones have decided the word means whatever is convenient for them.
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AI is "artificial intelligence", that is, intelligence which is man-made, or artificial, rather than produced by nature itself and evolution. Because nobody can agree on a precise definition of "intelligence", however, we can't exactly say when we have or have not achieved an implementation of AI.
The only thing that makes one AI less "true" than another is the subjective definition of intelligence in the first place.
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I'm sick and tired of seeing articles that use the word "hologram" to refer to something entirely different
Hologram means whatever the fuck marketing department says it means.
Prior art (Score:2)
Robert Picardo and Chris Barrie did this decades ago
Marketers redefining the word "hologram" (Score:5, Informative)
The term "hologram" refers to using a diffraction pattern to reconstruct a 3D light field image. They record not just the single point of view, but every point of view possible through the plate holding the original diffraction pattern. The plate acts sort of like a window - you can look through that window at any angle to "see" the recorded object as viewed through that window. Change your viewing angle, and the image you see changes appropriately.
Holograms take advantage of a specific trait of light and diffraction patterns - the two are conjugates of each other in the Fourier domain. A Fourier transform of the light from an outdoor scene coming in through a window as it hits the window results in a diffraction pattern (if the window were frosted, the blobs of color you would see on it instead of the outside scene is this diffraction pattern). If you then run another Fourier transform on the diffraction pattern, you get back the original light field. That's why they're made with a laser - the coherency of the laser light allows you to create a diffraction pattern specific to the frequency of the laser light. Hitting the holographic plate with the same laser then effectively runs another Fourier transform, converting the diffraction pattern back into the original light field.
Degrading the term 'hologram' like this will make it difficult/impossible to distinguish when real 3D holographic projections are eventually made practical.
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No, he's right. People only see different views of this because the 3D engine behind it renders individual stereoscopic 2D video overlays for each viewer's eyes, from different angles.
It's not holographic, it's VR/AR technology.
The only real predictor for technology (Score:2)
would be how quickly it is adapted and deployed for porn.
If the porn industry ignores this, it's probably already dead.
Looker (1981) (Score:2)
This is where it's headed...
https://youtu.be/eLtAG4JQX90 [youtu.be]
Sort of a silly, but interesting plot. In a nutshell...an agency is scanning models and having a plastic surgeon correct their features down to the last millimeter. Then the women are scanned again...and killed. Because why have a model under contract when you can just computer generate them into any scenario you want in perpetuity.
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"you yanks still don't have chips in your credit cards, "
Yes we do.
"or use the metric system, "
Yes we do, we just don't like it.
"or drive on the correct side of the road. "
The "right" side is the correct side of the road. Give us a call when you can dictate your wims to the world and get them fulfilled.
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A next generation "real doll" can do the sleeping, and machines have been signing autographs since the 1930s
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I know it was hilarious. People were talking about it in the theater. Also, you can computer generate the model but can't take a few millimeters off here and there without using plastic surgery?!??!?
The main part they got correct was movement. Once the models started moving viewers liked them less. This seemed like a reference to the uncanny valley. (Though, of course, the writers didn't know the term nor much else about technology to actually use it.)
not (Score:2)
Not a hologram
Not 3D
Not lip synced
Just a pretty picture and translation software ...