Telepresence Options - Industry News

Leap 3D out-Kinects Kinect

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:10:01 -0500

May 22, 2012 via KurzweilAI.net -- Leap Motion is unveiling its Leap 3D motion control system, Technology Review Hello World reports.

Leap Motion appears to outrank Kinect in terms of its capability. The technology, reports CNET, can detect motion with up to a hundredth of a millimeter accuracy; it's nuanced enough to detect fingers, for instance, enabling the possibility of touch-free pinch-to-zoom.

When the device is available for commercial release, it's expected to retail for around $70. The device itself is fairly simple -- a small USB input device (plus an advanced software platform).

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Brain chip helps quadriplegics move robotic arms with their thoughts

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:55:15 -0500

[Image: Reach out: In a clinical trial, a woman used a brain-chip system to control a robotic arm with her thoughts and reach for a drink of coffee. The BrainGate Collaboration (braingate2.org) and Nature]

It's the first study to show that brain chips can assist paralyzed people to perform complex real-world tasks.

May 16, 2012 by Susan Young via ISPR -- A paralyzed patient equipped with an implanted brain chip has been able to use a robotic arm to reach for and pick up a bottle of coffee, bring it close enough to her face so she could drink from a straw, and then place the bottle back on the table.

The quadriplegic patient was outfitted with an electronic brain implant that can drive a robotic arm to reach and grasp objects (see video). A study published today in the journal Nature shows that people with the brain chips can use the devices to perform complex three-dimensional tasks that could be helpful in daily life. Furthermore, the implanted electrodes can record neuronal signals for as long as five years--longer than had been suspected. In previous studies, patients using brain implants have been able to move a cursor on a screen, but not perform complicated movements with objects in the real world.

The results are the latest announcements from a team led by John Donoghue, a neuroscientist at Brown University. Donoghue and collaborators had reported in 2006 that patients paralyzed by spinal-cord injuries could use brain-machine interfaces to drive the movement of cursors on a screen and do simple open-and-close movements with a robotic hand. Now the researchers have shown that a brain-machine interface can direct more complicated tasks. "Not only can people control a computer cursor, they can control really complex devices like a robotic arm that can carry out the functions that our own arm can do," says Donoghue.

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Polycom Corporate Branding Shifts Focus To Software

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:13:32 -0500

May 24, 2012 by Chad Berndtson CRN.com -- Hoping to position itself as a software-centric video collaboration company less tethered to its hardware roots, Polycom on Thursday confirmed the first major branding change in its 22-year history, including a new corporate logo. Along with the brand change comes a marketing blitz that will include a slate of training and marketing resources for Polycom channel partners.

Much is changing at Polycom, which has a largely new executive team since Andy Miller took over as CEO in 2010. In addition to its core videoconferencing and unified communications products, Polycom in the past year has sought to expand what it can offer customers in areas such as video management software and mobile UC, with an emphasis on driving those products -- and increased services opportunities -- through its roughly 7,000 solution providers.

The brand change -- partly a shift from thinking about video in terms of endpoints to thinking about it in terms of collaboration software -- is designed to reflect that, said Kate Hutchinson, Polycom's chief marketing officer.

As part of its overall corporate shift, Polycom has de-emphasized businesses like its wireless handsets, which it plans to divest to an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners. It has also strengthened ties with strategic vendor partners like Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT), Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and Juniper to counteract not only Cisco (NSDQ:CSCO), which dominates the global enterprise video market, but also channel savvy up-and-comers such as LifeSize Communications and Vidyo.

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Cisco Killing Cius Softly

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:42:56 -0500

BYOD and software claim another victim.

May 24, 2012 by Eric Krapf via NoJitter.com -- A little over a year ago, at Enterprise Connect 2011, Barry O'Sullivan of Cisco told a keynote audience that, one year hence, the company's Cius tablet would be its single largest-selling endpoint. Instead, just over a year after O'Sullivan made that prediction, Cisco has decided to kill the Cius.

The announcement came in a blog post by Cisco's 2012 Enterprise Connect Cisco keynoter, OJ Winge. Here's the key takeaway paragraph:

"Cisco will no longer invest in the Cisco Cius tablet form factor, and no further enhancements will be made to the current Cius endpoint beyond what's available today. However, as we evaluate the market further, we will continue to offer Cius in a limited fashion to customers with specific needs or use cases."

So, technically, not killing Cius. But there's no reason to expect Cisco will expend much effort to sell the tablets from here on in.

Instead, Winge wrote, Cisco will focus on its software communications platforms--the Jabber UC client and the WebEx conferencing system.

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ZTE launches HD video conferencing products

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:19:22 -0500

Thu May 24 2012 by Lee Bell via The Inquirer -- Telecom Equipment Firm ZTE announced a line of high-definition video conferencing products in the UK today.

Launched in partnership with UK distributor Touchline Video, the ZTE T700 4MX and T700 8MX video conferencing systems promise to offer "superior" call quality and "outstanding" visual communications for small to medium businesses.

Touchline's Business Development and Marketing Manager, Kerry Lees, told The INQUIRER that both new products are able to perform at this level as they "support high resolutions at a very low bandwidth".

The systems will stream HD 1080p30 resolution video calls at 1Mbit/s and HD 720p30 resolution at 512kbit/s.

Touchline's managing director Barry Cross said in a statement that the software has been developed as an "efficient means of B2B communication" as these days enterprises are opting to economise on processes and travel.

"Video conferencing presents a logical and efficient means of B2B communication while reducing expenditure," he said.

Sales director at ZTE UK, Paul Cobos added that the demand for a good quality video conferencing tool is growing not only as a substitute for travel, "but also as a way of increasing efficiency in the workplace".

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Students create sensory room to bring beach, ballpark to those with disabilities

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:04:22 -0500

A sense of reality

New projects bring beach, ballpark to those with disabilities

May 21, 2012 - AMESBURY via ISPR -- The noise inside Coastal Connections' Lower Millyard facility can be loud at times with all the activities happening at once.

The open space at the nonprofit school in Amesbury bustles with energy as students with an array of disabilities work together with staff on different exercises and games.

Sometimes, the students just need a quiet space.

Enter the sensory room.

Thanks to a group of soon-to-be engineering graduates from UMass Lowell, an empty room furnished with only a chair and bare walls can now be a beach, a forest, an aquarium, a coffee shop, a boat or even McDonald's.

"Our project is a virtual reality sensory room," said Bonie Rosario Jr., one of five students at UMass Lowell who worked on the project.

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Did Apple Accidentally Announce FaceTime Over 3G?

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:15:58 -0500

May 21, 2012 by Michael Harper via RedOrbit.com -- When Apple introduced their wildly popular and best-selling iPhone 4 in 2010, one of the most-touted features was FaceTime, a video conferencing service which utilized the front-facing camera on the phone. Such a feature had been clamored for and even widely predicted to appear on the device.

Though incredibly easy to use, the feature can only be used when both parties are logged into a Wi-Fi network. Though this decision undoubtedly made the carriers happy, users were disappointed the service was tethered to a Wi-Fi connection.

Now, hints have arisen which suggest Apple might begin to support 3G wireless data.

As reported on Friday by Gizmodo, Romanian Apple website iDevice first noticed the new hints towards 3G capability in the new iOS 5.1.1.

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Intel Previews World's First 1Gb/s Internet Modem

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:06:29 -0500

Image via CrunchBase

Intel Shows DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem with 1Gb/s Speed

Intel Corp. on Monday previewed its first DOCSIS 3.0 cable gateway solution that is capable of 1Gb/s data transfer. The Intel Puma 6 technology will help enable service providers to meet consumer demand and offer new services while extending their extensive network investments. A test program by South Korea's SKbroadband is targeting production deployment of 1Gb/s Internet connections in 2013.

As the number of Internet-connected devices in the home grows, service providers are challenged to provide higher broadband speeds to more customers utilizing an existing cable network. A service provider's ability to scale up to this high level of bandwidth will help enable new high-bandwidth experiences for what the industry calls "TV Everywhere," an immersive blend of Internet, television, gaming and applications across multiple screens throughout the home.

With the advanced technology of the DOCSIS 3.0 specification, multiple system operators (MSOs) can offer more users faster access to bandwidth-intensive experiences such as streaming video or online gaming using their existing network infrastructure and DOCSIS 3.0 equipment. Due to the flexibility of this technology, the Intel Puma 6 achieves the 1Gb/s downstream speeds by bonding up to 24 DOCSIS channels (up from eight bonded channels in a typical deployment today). Intel Puma 6 has an upload speed that is double current-generation DOCSIS modems. With up to 240Mps upstream (eight bonded channels), more consumers will benefit from new services that include video conferencing, cloud storage and easy sharing.

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Oovoo gives Facebook users their own Google Hangouts

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:01:32 -0500

May 22, 2012 by Ryan Kim via Gigaom.com -- Oovoo, the video conferencing service popular with the young set, is helping Facebook get some Google Hangout-like coolness with a new Facebook app that offers up to 12-person video chats. The Facebook app is part of a big overhaul for Oovoo's product lineup, which includes a redesigned iPad app that handles 12-way calls and displays four simultaneous video calls as well as a new web app that can also handle 12-way video chats.

New York City-based Oovoo is now up to 46 million registered users who are increasingly using Oovoo to broadcast their lives and spend hours on end with friends. The new products and updates should accelerate usage even more, especially now that Facebook is part of the Oovoo network. Facebook already has a video chat application thanks to a partnership with Skype but that app doesn't allow multiparty video. With the Oovoo app, users can now conduct 12-way video calls right inside Facebook and they can easily start calling either Oovoo users or other Facebook users. Facebook users who haven't downloaded the app get prompted to do so the first time.

The iPad app is also a big improvement for Oovoo. It supports four streams simultaneously and 12-way calling. Previously, the iPad, iPhone and Android apps supported six people on a call but could only display one other user live at a time. The iPad app's UI has also been upgraded to allow one-click Facebook registrations and the ability for users to initiate calls by dragging and dropping contacts into the calls.

Oovoo is providing a new way to invite people into chats with Call Link, which allows users to send out a chat invitation via email, text or through social channels. For people who click on the link, they can fire up a new web-based version of Oovoo that doesn't require a download.

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Fallacy of Telepresence When it Comes to Video Conferencing

Tue, 22 May 2012 09:53:14 -0500

May 22, 2012 by Simon Dudley via BizJournals.com -- In business conversations about video conferencing today, the term "telepresence" has somehow become synonymous with video conferencing altogether. That's not quite right.

Telepresence is another word for the notion of transparency in communications. When you sit in a telepresence room for a video conference, you are indeed seeing through the technology to be part of a meeting. Almost by definition, it is as though you are looking through a window. In that way, you have captured one of the most important parts of video conferencing: the technology has to give users a window to another place.

But that's not all that goes into the definition of video conferencing as a real business solution. Where telepresence as a synonym for video conferencing falls apart is that it ignores the other key requirements for a practical business solution--namely, that it has to be simple to use, scalable, and offer full features at an affordable price point.

If a business has to spend $300,000 on a telepresence room and even one key conference participant lacks that technology, that person can't be involved in the conference--and the investment is lost.

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