TelePresence

This Cisco Blog article reviews the Cisco's virtual sales meeting which assembled more than 19,000 people virtually. From the article: "It’s been several weeks since we assembled more than 19,000 sales people virtually for Cisco’s annual sales meeting. Cisco broke new ground for the sheer size of this virtual event, as well as the creative combination of technologies that included TelePresence, WebEx, IPTV and a very engaging Alternate Reality Game (ARG) called “The Threshold”.

This Singularity Hub article looks at Telenoid R1, the new telepresence robot developed by Osaka University and ATR. From the article: "Imagine talking to your friends through a robotic copy of Casper the Friendly Ghost. That’s what I imagine it must be like to use Telenoid R1, the new telepresence robot developed by Osaka University and ATR. The diminutive robot is just 80 cm long (~31 inches), ghost-white, and has stubby limbs that make it look exactly like a cartoon ghost. Creepy yes, but also a little adorable. It’s designed to be a minimalist human form, something that could be recognized as either male or female, young or old (alive or dead?).

This hypergridbusiness article reports founders of teleXLR8, a discussion program conducted in the Teleplace virtual environment, are hoping that the project becomes the next TED for virtual worlds. From the article: "Founders of teleXLR8, a discussion program conducted in the Teleplace virtual environment, are hoping that the project becomes the next TED for virtual worlds.

Teleplace, Inc. is one of the leading providers of enterprise-grade, behind-the-firewall, fully immersive virtual collaborative environments.

According to teleXLR8 organizer Giulio Prisco, Teleplace’s built-in multi-user videoconferencing, voice, and powerful collaboration tools, makes it a good fit for the project.

Apple TV has been around since about four years before Google dominated tech headlines last month with the Google TV demo at Google I/O. It was a wakeup call for an Apple TV update when there was such a huge response to the Google TV demo. Rumors about a new Apple TV were flying in Silicon Valley just a week after Google TV was announce. Apple's renewed initiative for Apple TV sets the scene for a battle between technological superpowers for the future control of a $ 150-billion dollar advertising market.

Article Resource: Apple TV rumors hit the grapevine the week after Google TV demo

The Apple TV update

From this Science Daily article: "Telemedicine facilitates communication between family physicians, hospitals and nursing services -- yet current solutions lack flexibility and are consequently very expensive. A new software program is now available that can be tailored to a range of applications.

This ZDNet article reports: "The growth in teleoperation systems has achieved a critical mass that has led researchers to explore ways to collaborate, share facilities and access each others’ telerobotic devices.

Nine research teams from universities and research institutes around the world recently collaborated on the first successful demonstration of multiple biomedical robots operated from different locations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

From the Harvard Business Blog: "In a tight economy, with companies spending much less on IT, the tech giants will take growth wherever they can find it. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Cisco and HP are in a pitched battle for customers for their high-end teleconferencing systems. According to the report, it's "one of the few technologies that has benefited from the downturn, growing 30% from last year as businesses look to reduce travel expenses."

Cisco TelePresence team sent us information about the recently launched “Why I Want Cisco TelePresence” video contest at http://www.whyiwantciscotelepresence.com/contest/. This new contest is designed to entice individuals from around the world to submit their ideas about why or how they would like to use Cisco TelePresence in their work lives – how they might connect to co-workers or peers in other locations; the benefits they would uniquely reap; why they would be the ideal person to use a Cisco TelePresence system. Winners in two categories, Productivity and Shaping the Future, have a chance to win $3,000 each.

This ZDNet Emerging Tech article takes a look at a technical paper (pdf) which covers more than 50 years of history of bilateral teleoperation. From the article: "In case you’re not familiar with the concept of bilateral teleoperation, this is just a way to remotely control robots. Two researchers have written a technical paper which covers more than 50 years of history of bilateral teleoperation. This paper has just received the ‘Automatica Best Paper’ in the survey/tutorial category. The award will be given at the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Triennial World Congress held in Seoul, South Korea (July 6-11, 2008). But read more…

This HaiVision Systems press release (pdf) reports their MAKO-HD video encoder/decoder technology has been used to transmit live surgical stereoscopic 3D high definition 1080i video from Intuitive Surgical’s daVinci S robotic surgical system. From the press release: "Orchestrated by Capital Health's Centre for the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgery and BEAM Regional Telehealth, attendees at the CUA meeting at the Shaw Conference Center are witnessing a comparison between robotic and traditional approaches to a urology procedure (radical prostatectomy).