Google Bringing Project Starline's 'Magic Window' Experience To Real Video Calls

Google announced on Monday that it is preparing to bring its experimental Project Starline videoconferencing technology to the market. The company is collaborating with HP to integrate the system, which creates 3D projections of participants, into existing platforms like Google Meet and Zoom. The move aims to make the technology more accessible for offices and conference rooms, potentially transforming the way people communicate and collaborate remotely.

WTF would we want that...?

[cayenne8]

WTF would we want that...?

Why would anyone want 3D renderings of participants, I mean hell...we don't even ever turn the cameras on that we have now, you know?

I really don't wanna see 3D projections of "Todd" in his boxer shorts, unshaven...you know?

Re:

[WoodstockJeff]

You must be old... like me.

15 years ago, a company we contracted to insisted that video calls were insecure. We were encouraged to disable our cameras for calls. We don't even have them installed on any production machines, only laptops that have been purchased for sales people.

Since then, this same company is puzzled when they set up conference calls with us, and we're the only ones that do NOT have video. "Sorry, that's considered a security issue, and we do not have video cameras."

Personally, I prefer no

Re:

[LazarusQLong]

same here, we, in my business location, are told cameras are a security issue, so our laptops are purchased without them (Actually some subcontractor deletes them then delivers the laptops to us for use) and every-damn-time we have to teleconference with people in our same organization, but a different location, is upset that our camera's don't work... it's almost as if they never listened when we told them over and over and over again that we weren't allowed to have them...

Besides, who wants to look at m

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[fahrbot-bot]

I really don't wanna see 3D projections of "Todd" in his boxer shorts, unshaven...you know?

So... too distracting? (Asking for a friend, named Todd.) :-)

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[AmiMoJo]

Haven't you seen Star Trek? The video calls are 3D by the TNG era.

Seriously though, while this could make the experience better, the reality is that laptops have potato cameras. Even the best laptop cameras are terrible.

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[ls671]

I really don't wanna see 3D projections of "Todd" in his boxer shorts, unshaven...you know?

I'd sure enjoy 3D renderings of Casandra although, shaven or not.

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[pacinpm]

I think the goal is a compression. It's cheaper (as in bandwidth costs) to send head movement when you already have 3D model ready instead of sending whole video stream (even compressed).

2026 headline, "Google cancels Starline"

[iAmWaySmarterThanYou]

There's no point in posting articles about any new Google projects. The odds they survive 2-3 years is too low to bother reading past, "New Google project released in beta".

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[nightflameauto]

There's no point in posting articles about any new Google projects. The odds they survive 2-3 years is too low to bother reading past, "New Google project released in beta".

It makes a fun late-night drinking game. "Drink every time a project is announced and discarded within the same calendar year." Of course, you have to be careful with that game or you end up needing an IV of fluids to survive.

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[Voyager529]

There's no point in posting articles about any new Google projects.

Exactly this.

The problem is that Google forgot the critical step of "have the ladder at ground level to get people invested, THEN pull the ladder up".

If a holoprojection conference room is going to be a five-figure investment by companies (if not more), then those initial investors need a way to ensure the hardware doesn't rot in a corner if Google cancels the online connectivity it's completely dependent upon.

If Google wants this to happen, the best way to ensure trust is for HP to sell a server to go alon

Beyond FUBAR

[TwistedGreen]

They're funding useless crap like this while cutting heads from their core teams? What is wrong with this company?

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[timeOday]

It's small niche, then again each sale of one of these systems should bring in the same amount of money as a massive number of free gmail accounts do.

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[bill_mcgonigle]

It's google, man.

Killed in 18 months.

As you were, sir.

Oh look, the Telehuman :-).

[Jeremy Allison - Sam]

I'm just gonna leave this here..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Seems like just more added distractions

[93 Escort Wagon]

I saw the little video snippet Google put together to try and show why this would be advantageous, but it seemed completely silly and forced (at first I thought it was some sort of embedded ad, to be honest). I've never been part of a work discussion - in person or otherwise - where anyone was making big emotional pleas and grand gestures.

I see no value in - or point to - this.

HP? I'm out

[Dixie_Flatline]

I know nothing about this, I've never heard of it, and I absolutely do not care to learn about it. If HP is involved, it's bad. Period, end of story. I'm not sure what BS thing they'll try to do to sell a subscription to your own stuff, but I want no part of it.

How does this help anything?

[DaveyJJ]

How does this marvellous "magic window" experience ...

"which creates 3D projections of participants, into existing platforms like Google Meet and Zoom [and] transform the way people communicate and collaborate remotely."

... transform how I communicate? I don't care if my coworkers are just their initials in a meeting, have their backgrounds blurred, are off camera dealing with some cat barf, drinking coffee and eating lunch, etc. Transform? God, what synergistic team-aligning corporate speak BS. Woohoo, 3D