Double Robotics’ iPad-eqipped telepresence robot is the first beneficiary of the $25m fund Grishin announced earlier this year. His cash will help Double ramp up manufacturing, which will be useful as early demand has been high. Read more »
Don’t have the $2.5 billion budget that Nasa spent to design, build and launch the Mars Curiosity rover? For a fraction of the price you can virtually be in two places at once thanks to telepresence robots for every budget, including those using iPads or smartphones. Read more »
Got an old netbook? For a $225 Kickstarter pledge, you can turn a netbook into a telepresence robot, remotely controlling it over from a web browser or a smartphone. Over a web connection, you could even use the Oculus robot to speak with remote workers. Read more »
Cisco’s move into living room video conferencing with its Umi product never got going, hampered by a high price and competition from free alternatives. Now Cisco has confirmed that it is no longer selling the consumer telepresence gear, though it will continue to support existing users. Read more »
Video conferencing startup Vidyo is known primarily for low-cost telepresence systems that compete with the likes of Cisco. But a set of APIs and an upcoming program through which partners can develop and exchange applications could give a boost to its white-label video conferencing business. Read more »
One of the major drawbacks with traditional room-based telepresence installs is that systems from different vendors are typically incompatible with each other. Video conferencing and online meeting provider FuzeBox, makers of the Fuze Meeting service, announced Fuze Telepresence Connect, which hopes to overcome these interoperability problems. Read more »
Telecom giant Alcatel Lucent’s research and development arm Bell Labs is hoping to replicate the feeling of in-person, natural communication with a fascinating concept it calls Immersive Communications. It uses “mixed reality” to insert the video feeds of real people into customizable artificial environments. Read more »
Video conferencing company Polycom is moving upmarket by agreeing to buy the assets of HP’s Visual Collaboration business, including its Halo Products and Managed Services division, in a $90 million deal that will put Polycom in more direct competition with Cisco Read more »
Cisco’s entrance into the consumer telepresence market hasn’t gone as smoothly as it had hoped, so it introduced new, lower-priced Umi products and lowered the price of the service. Unfortunately, the new pricing will do little to make Cisco’s consumer video chat offering into the mainstream. Read more »
HP today announced it’s releasing a new line of high-definition videoconferencing products. These new Visual Collaboration products provide a solution that not only works via hardware installed in conference rooms, but can also be accessed on desktop and laptop computers. Read more »
One way to bridge the gap between remote workers and aid remote collaboration is to invest in telepresence technology. These systems have traditionally been expensive, but that cost is coming down all the time. XVD Corporation launched its low-cost EspressoHD system in North America today. Read more »
Yesterday, Cisco launched its consumer telepresence offering, Umi, which will provide high definition video calling in the home. At $599, plus an additional $24.95 per month for unlimited calls, it seems a little pricey for its target consumer market, but could it work for SMBs? Read more »
Cisco rolled out its consumer telepresence offering this morning, unveiled under the Umi brand. The offering, which can be used with existing HDTVs, is available for pre-order today — but the $599 price tag will probably be a little out of reach for Umi’s target market. Read more »
Cisco is looking to make its move into the consumer video chat market, with the introduction of new telepresence products for everyday users. But Cisco may have lost the consumer video chat battle before it’s even begun; worse yet, it could undercut its own enterprise business. Read more »
It’s rare to see our political leaders use common sense when making decisions, so when they do, we should celebrate. House Republican leaders led have reportedly sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking her to allow the use of Skype for video conferencing purposes. Read more »
In March 2009, Cisco announced its intention to acquire Pure Digital, a manufacturer of low-cost digital video cameras. This note examines why Cisco would choose to acquire Pure Digital, a large departure from its past consumer-focused acquisitions. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
What effect does having an international team have on the individual web worker and the team as a whole? Read more »
We’ve written before about some of the big-ticket telepresence systems – and our skepticism about their place in the average web worker’s life. But between the super-expensive systems and the cheapest of webcams, there seems to be another level of telepresence emerging – systems that are […] Read more »
Real-world games have been tried before, but population density has always been one of their biggest challenges. The gaming might be good in Shattrath, but go to Times Square and you’re alone. Could World of Warcraft’s loyal followers help it make the first big real-world MMO? Continue Reading Read more »
After losing a bowling match to a seven-year old, I finally got around to using the WiFi connection in the Wii. No worries, the Wii invoked the "mercy rule" during our baseball game as I scored five runs to her none in the first inning. Anyway, […] Read more »
