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We can build immortal celebrities from ChatGPT and their existing back catalogs
It's amazing just who you can bring back from the dead given enough deepfake tech and a few hours of AV recordings.
Looking Glass says it can turn any photo into a hologram
Looking Glass Factory has unveiled a service that promises to turn any photo into a 3D holographic image.
VW's GTI Aurora concept has a hologram-controlled sound system
Trunk-mounted sound systems are often about bragging rights, but VW might have more reason to boast than usual. It's showing a Golf GTI Aurora concept car whose centerpiece is a hologram-controlled audio system accessible from the back. You can push floating buttons, grab 3D sliders and, of course, produce eye-catching visuals. VW hasn't outlined the exact technology at work, but you don't need glasses, gloves or other extras to operate it.
Celebrity holograms sketch me out, but are they the future?
Roy Orbison has been dead since 1988 but that didn't stop him from going on a North American tour last winter. Nor has it stopped Whitney Houston, Ronnie James Dio and the Notorious B.I.G. -- or at least their estates -- from reincarnating these deceased celebrities as holographic projections. And this is just the start. The technology is already seeping into sports, porn, even political campaigns. But is holographic technology the future of communications and entertainment or is it an exploitative sideshow leveraging the likenesses of dead celebrities for the profit of their heirs?
Holographic tech could be key to future quantum computers
A breakthrough in studying light might just be the ticket to the future of quantum computing. Researchers at EPFL have found a way to determine how light behaves beyond the limitations of wavelengths, opening the door to encoding quantum data in a sci-fi style holographic light pattern. The team took advantage of the quantum nature of the interaction between electrons and light to separate beams in terms energy, not space -- that let them use light pulses to encrypt info on the electron wave and map it with a speedy electron microscope.
Presidential candidate Andrew Yang will use 3D holograms for remote rallies
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang revealed this week that he's planning to use a 3D hologram to hold campaign rallies in multiple cities at the same time. Yang discussed the hologram during an appearance on TMZ Live. The segment showed off a hologram version of Yang dancing and performing with the famous Tupac hologram that appeared at Coachella in 2012.
'Unique challenges' derail Amy Winehouse hologram tour
If you were hoping to catch Amy Winehouse's hologram tour this year, you may have to settle for a big-screen biopic instead. BASE Hologram, the company behind the production, announced on Twitter yesterday that it is "putting the tour on hold until we determine the best path to a creatively spectacular production" that would properly honor the singer's legacy. Apparently, the company has run into "unique challenges and sensitivities."
Mall of America debuts helpful holographic elf for the holidays
How would you keep a shopping mall lively in an era when more and more people are buying their holiday gifts online? The Mall of America has a one-word answer: holograms. It's partnering with mixed reality firm VNTANA on what's billed as the "first-ever" holographic shopping concierge. Visit the mega-mall's Holiday Cottage throughout the season and you can speak to Ellie the elf (no, really, that's her name) for help tracking down top gifts. Ask about how to find an Xbox One for the kids, for instance, and Ellie will point you to the Microsoft Store.
Vimeo launches channel just for holographic video
Vimeo has a reputation for pushing the boundaries of video technology in a bid to stand out, but it's taking things a step further. The service recently launched a channel dedicated solely to holographic video. You'll need one of Looking Glass Factory's holographic displays, but the result is what you'd hope for: it's streaming, glasses-free video with a genuine sense of depth. While the clips you'll see are currently demos, it beats having to launch apps one at a time just to see holographic clips.
Researchers create 'true' 3D holograms by trapping particles
SciFi movies like Star Wars and Avatar depict holograms that you can see from any angle, but the reality is a lot less scintillating. So far, the only true color hologram we've seen come from a tiny, complicated display created by a Korean group led by LG, while the rest are just "Pepper's Ghost" style illusions. Now, researchers from Brigham Young University (BYU) have created a true 3D hologram, or "volumetric image," to use the correct term. "We can think about this image like a 3D-printed object," said BYU assistant prof and lead author Daniel Smalley.
Twisted light could make wireless data faster than fiber
As fast as fiber optic lines have become, they're still hamstrung by one key limitation: you still need to transmit that data over wires, which limits where you can transmit and the affordability of the fastest connections. Scientists may have a way to eliminate those cables while offering even faster speeds, though. They've discovered a way to 'twist' photons in a way that not only crams more data into each transmission, but survives interference from turbulent air. If you pass light through a special hologram, you can give photons an optical angular momentum that lets them carry more than just 1s and 0s -- and so long as the light's phase and intensity are right, you can reliably beam that data over long distances.
Heavy metal legend Ronnie James Dio will tour the world as a hologram
The latest instance of the musical death and resurrection show is none other than Ronnie James Dio, who died in 2010. Thanks to a hologram (actually a high-tech version of an old parlor trick), the former Black Sabbath frontman will start touring Europe the November 30th before hitting the States next spring. "His" set will change nightly, according to Rolling Stone, and audio recordings were pulled from his entire career. "He" will play each night with a backing band and some dates will have singers Tim "Ripper" Owens (Judas Priest) and Oni Logan (Racer X) on stage as well. The stage will hearken back to the Sacred Heart and Dream Evil tours, and apparently the band may book between 80 and 100 shows. So, if you missed the man responsible for creating the devil horns hand sign in the flesh, you could see him in 1s and 0s soon enough.
You don't need a headset to see these 'no-lograms'
Genuine, Princess Leia-type color holograms are still pretty rare. Most of what we think of as holograms are actually Pepper's Ghost, Tupac-style illusions that trick your brain by using 2D images to simulate 3D. A French artist named Joanie Lemercier has taken the idea and added motion tracking to make it work even better. That way, the "no-logram" can change perspective as you move around it, fooling your brain into thinking the objects are truly 3D.
Microsoft's true holographic display fits in your glasses
A lot of the technology billed as holographic, well, isn't. Not even HoloLens. Real holography requires a laser-generated 3D image, and it's no mean feat to stuff that into something you can comfortably wear. Microsoft just made some important progress, however. Its researchers have developed a true, near-eye holographic whose optics can fit inside a regular pair of glasses. The mirrors and the liquid crystal on silicon needed to achieve the effect sit inside the frame -- it's only the electronics that have to stay outside. While this extra-compact size would normally result in an unusable picture, corrections in the holographic projector make it easy to read details down to individual pixels.
Porn doesn't need a XXX hologram
In December, the internet exploded with news of a XXX hologram. CamSoda, a small adult-cam site was bringing a holographic cam girl to the 2017 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. I had to see it for myself. Decades of work have gone into the pursuit of true, full-color video holograms as sophisticated as Princess Leia's cry for help in Star Wars. I didn't expect a porn conference to be the place where more than a half-century of scientific research would bear fruit. But two weeks after CES, I was on my way back to Las Vegas for porn's premier event. I was fully expecting an industry stuck in the past, but hoping for something more.
Ron Jeremy predicts porn's ... present?
When I met porn superstar Ron Jeremy for the first time, he was driving a Saturn Ion and sporting a flip phone. He carried a cassingle for his 1996 rap collaboration "Freak of the Week" and talked excitedly about the 1980s like they were yesterday. Ron was living in the past, but that didn't stop him from predicting the future -- or something. His vision isn't so far off from the one being pushed by futurists, analysts and the media. He sees big-budget porn making a comeback, VR-connected male masturbators and sex robots with holographic faces that allow you to choose your own bedroom adventure. Sex robots haven't completely materialized, but we're well on our way to anatomically correct automatons, and while our sex toys aren't tethered to our VR headsets, we've done that too. Oh, and Ron, didn't you spend more than ten years acting in and producing big-budget adult films? Ron may be a few years late to the party, but a sex robot with an interchangeable holographic face? That we can get behind. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.
ICYMI: Holograms for the home and a drone to plant trees
Today on In Case You Missed It: A company has developed a 'personal volumetric display" which is apparently science-sounding for a Princess Leia machine in your very own home. Looking Glass is marketing its Volume machine for $1,000, though so far, they're only available for pre-order.
Celebrity augmented reality 'holograms' are coming
Get ready for celebrity 'holograms' beyond the usual 2D illusions. RadicalMedia and Uncorporeal are partnering on 3D captures of celebrities for augmented reality and eventually virtual reality performances, giving digital stand-ins a greater presence. You could go to a venue and see a convincing virtual concert or lecture no matter where you sit, and with more freedom of movement for the star of the show. The technique encircles a green screen stage with 48 cameras, creating a hologram-like effect that not only works in any AR or VR format (including future headset tech), but can carry over to 2D video.
Pro Football Hall of Fame brings in holographic coaches
Think visiting a sports hall of fame involves little more than looking at athletes' relics? The Pro Football Hall of Fame wants to liven things up a bit. It's introducing the A Game for Life exhibit, where holographic versions (sadly, not likely true holograms) of famous figures like Joe Namath and Vince Lombardi will deliver pep talks and convey just how hard it is to make the Hall of Fame. This isn't just a glorified slideshow, either. The exhibition theater uses 15 projectors and 360-degree audio to give the NFL veterans more of a presence, and Rudy screenwriter Angelo Pizzo helped produce the script.
George Carlin will be reborn as a stand-up hologram (update: maybe not)
The greatest honor the 21st century can bestow upon a dead artist is to have their life's work reduced to commodity entertainment for nostalgia fiends. That's why so many singers have been brought back as Pepper's Ghost-style holograms in the hope of squeezing a few more dollars from their memory. George Carlin is the latest to become zombie entertainment, and will become a permanent fixture at the forthcoming National Museum of Comedy in New York State. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, chief curator Kliph Nesteroff reveals that a Carlin hologram will be a "gimmick to bring people to Jamestown."
