When Internet 2-level network performance becomes commonplace at some point in the future, which applications will make the best use of this giant leap in bandwidth? Virtual laboratories, digital libraries, and distance-independent learning are among some of the advanced applications currently being explored. Jaron Lanier, who helped lead in the development of virtual reality during the 1980s, is now guiding an attempt to validate the Net of tomorrow with a nascent technology known as tele-immersion: long-distance transmission of life-size, three-dimensional synthesized scenes, accurately sampled and rendered in real time using advanced computer graphics and vision techniques. Such replication of visual content in large volumes of everyday reality should lead to more naturalistic teleconferencing work environ- ments (and less business travel), greater fidelity in relaying news and entertainment events (high-def will seem positively low-res), and even Star Trek Holodeck-like telepresence in remote locales (beam me up, Jaron).
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