Google's Project Starline 3D videoconferencing system, unveiled last week, is well-timed for a post-pandemic world but still has a long way to go in seamlessly marrying the in-person and the virtual, three people who have used the system say.
Alphabet Inc.'s Google and its rivals, including Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc., all view "mixed reality," as it is sometimes known, as the next big new wave in computing — following smartphones — and all are staking out fresh ground.
Starline uses pricey cameras, sensors and cutting-edge screens to generate an illusion of depth, allowing users seated in special booths in different locations to see each other "life-size and in three dimensions," as Google puts it. "You can talk naturally, gesture and make eye contact."