The person facing you appears so real that you instinctively reach out to touch them.
In fact, that is the only thing that reminds you that they are not right before you – instead of in the next room, across the city or halfway around the globe.
For in every other aspect, Google Starline's 3D video calling technology is dazzlingly realistic, so much so they have called it the “magic window”.
This week, after years of methodical research and quiet enthusiasm, the technology company said it was finally ready to commercialise Project Starline, which could well and truly upset the apple cart of the communications world.
Google will work with computer maker HP to bring its system into homes from 2025. There are further plans to integrate it with Google Meet and Zoom.
The news came after nearly a decade of development that was kept hush-hush, except for a brief announcement in 2021, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic may be over but the systems developed in that time have changed and, in the process, changed the way we work, travel (at least for work) and communicate across the board.
You could be forgiven for thinking Google may have missed the boat, given the dominance of Zoom and Teams – but Google has a far bigger play at hand.
Glimpse of the future
On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos in January, selected reporters were invited to try Project Starline with those who helped to create the technology, and The National was among them.
In an upstairs room of a quaint Swiss hotel, with snow piled high on the steps up to it, we were given a demonstration on the condition we would not record anything or write about it at the time.
We took it in turns to speak to each other from the room next door.
The results were more than impressive.
It is not just the crystal clear screen and lifelike appearance of a friend or relative that makes this so sought-after.
It is the potential for this technology that comes with it. For a medical doctor to be able to talk a patient through a procedure, with props or tools before them, for a teacher and student to learn a language huddled together, and for far-flung relatives to break down the barrier of the screen, it holds huge promise.
Items held in your hand and waved look startlingly real, at least in the booth in which the device we tried was set up.
The magic is only broken when you lean far forwards or backwards – the effect is like breaking through a Zoom background – or if you try to thrust an apple through the screen to your friend.
“After thousands of hours of testing across Google offices and with enterprise partners, we found that meetings in Starline feel more like being in the same room instead of traditional video calls,” the Alphabet-owned company said this week.
What remains to be seen is how much this technology will cost, and there has not even been a ballpark figure given.
Google said it is taking Project Starline “out of the lab” and bringing it to the workplace – and that gives you a hint of cost and initial use.
But Google and HP probably want their technology to reach as large a market as possible, and as with all technology, costs will surely come down over time.
This is no VR headset
This also is not Oculus, the VR headset that takes you into an immersive world, or Apple Vision, which costs $3,500 to $4,000.
Instead of feeling inside of a 3D-generated room as with Oculus, with fake hands and slightly pixelated view – which after a while gives you a weird dizzy feeling – Starlink is more like a vision from the computer beaming into your actual space.
It feels like you are speaking to a person in a room. Even the subtleties of human interaction have been factored in.
And the sound moves as you move your head, in the same way as the latest spatial headphones.
At a time when many companies are getting fed up with apps such as Zoom and Teams – particularly dozens of faces in little boxes on a screen, struggling to keep focused – this could be a game-changer.
But how soon we see it opened up outside the workplace could be the biggest factor in its success.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Overview
What: The Arab Women’s Sports Tournament is a biennial multisport event exclusively for Arab women athletes.
When: From Sunday, February 2, to Wednesday, February 12.
Where: At 13 different centres across Sharjah.
Disciplines: Athletics, archery, basketball, fencing, Karate, table tennis, shooting (rifle and pistol), show jumping and volleyball.
Participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and UAE.
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'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
Joe Root's Test record
Tests: 53; Innings: 98; Not outs: 11; Runs: 4,594; Best score: 254; Average: 52.80; 100s: 11; 50s: 27
Thor: Ragnarok
Dir: Taika Waititi
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson
Four stars
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Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day - 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227 for four at the close.
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Fitness problems in men's tennis
Andy Murray - hip
Novak Djokovic - elbow
Roger Federer - back
Stan Wawrinka - knee
Kei Nishikori - wrist
Marin Cilic - adductor
Scores
Scotland 54-17 Fiji
England 15-16 New Zealand
Fringe@Four Line-up
October 1 - Phil Nichol (stand-up comedy)
October 29 - Mandy Knight (stand-up comedy)
November 5 - Sinatra Raw (Fringe theatre)
November 8 - Imah Dumagay & Sundeep Fernandes (stand-up comedy)
November 13 - Gordon Southern (stand-up comedy)
November 22 - In Loyal Company (Fringe theatre)
November 29 - Peter Searles (comedy / theatre)
December 5 - Sinatra’s Christmas Under The Stars (music / dinner show)
