Competition, Telecommunications and Our Country's Prosperity

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Telepresence and Holography / Holograms - November 2008

Editor’s viewpoint on their differences, likenesses and future...

We all just recently viewed an historic CNN holographic interview on an historic Election Night. CNN stated this type of imaging has never been done before on National TV and I believe that. I haven’t seen anything like it. The live interview caught me by surprise and sure had the “wow” factor attached to it didn’t it? Here’s a link to the actual interview.

CNN Hologram Video

The question now has to be asked. Is it Telepresence?

I’m no expert on the subject but I’m going to throw my hat into the ring, go out on a limb and say yes, I believe it is. Although I know many video conferencing purists are rolling their eyes and grabbing their guns right about now with my statement.

While I do know that Telepresence still hasn’t been universally defined (Houston, we have a problem), here’s how I see it…. Broken down to its simplest form - “tele” (through electronic means) and “presence” (present). This is how I’m justifying my opinion by lumping holography and Telepresence together. Just as Telepresence is surely an offshoot of video conferencing, holographic imaging (like we viewed on CNN) surely has to be considered an offshoot of Telepresence. The interviewer was “telepresent” from Chicago and beamed into the CNN Election Headquarters. She was most assuredly - “telepresent”. There was negligible latency, the imaging was fantastic and both interviewers were rehearsed on what they would say. I’ve just recently read that CNN actually “downgraded” the experience to make it “movie” quality and not as good as it could have been. Maybe they thought us mere mortals would be shocked if they showed their complete hand. I have a feeling it was so big to them, they didn’t want it to get upstaged by the historic election. I’m willing to bet we’ll see the “true” power of this technology in the upcoming weeks and months when they can put the pedal to the medal and show it off without having it sidetracked.

What an amazing time for this technology (all differences and opinions aside). Telepresence Doctors, nurses, teachers, schools and healthcare (healthpresence) will benefit from the recent gains in this state-of-the-art industry whether holograms, Telepresence or holography. Airlines also have to see the threat to a portion of their business travel. Hell, who wants go through security and fly to Miami for a two-hour conference when you can look them in the eye via Telepresence?

Beam me up Scotty! Simply amazing…!

Visit the free Telepresence Forum for more information and discussion

Your Editor and Administrator - L II
"Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" TM

Let's review briefly what competition today has done for us. We have long-distance prices that are 50 percent lower than they were 10 years ago. We have fiber-optic network, four bands of it, across the country. We have tremendous capacity for transmission of digital signals over this fiber-optic network. We have an explosion of products in computers, in telephone equipment, in faxes, in voice mail, in all of the products that just 10 years ago we as consumers couldn't even imagine.

It is competition in breaking apart the local network from the long-distance network and allowing competition in the equipment side of the business which has caused this tremendous forward movement for consumers, lower prices, and bringing the United States to the forefront of the telecommunications revolution.

It is a fact that competition has made this country the preeminent leader in the world in telecommunications. Japan is behind us, Europe is behind us. We are exporting products, we are creating jobs, but more than that we have tremendous productivity and we have products and lower prices better than anywhere in the world. It is competition that has gotten us to this stage, and it is the antitrust decree and the modified final judgment which is responsible for that.

The time has come to move this important industry from the courts to legislation. The time is here, the time is now, and by taking the next step and opening the local loop, still monopolized by the Regional Bell Operating Companies, to competition, which only this bill can do fully and effectively and immediately, we can move into the next phase of the telecommunications revolution in this country. If we do that, if we do it wisely, if it we do it promptly, if we do it smart and with courage, we can continue to lead the world in this basic and vital industry which is now 10 percent of our gross domestic product.

The job of building the Nil the infrastructure that will permit broadband, interactive communication between all members of our society has been aptly compared to the building of the nation's interstate highway system. Like the construction of the highway system, the construction of the Nil will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. And just as roads have enhanced this nation's productivity and living standards, the completion of the Nil will make firms and individuals more productive. The Nil will also enliance the quality of our lives by creating new ways to educate adults and their children, improve our health care, give us better and cheaper ways of buying products and services, and entertain us at home.

There is no question that it affects the life of every American. It affects the economy of this country and it affects our competitiveness and productivity.

Sammy Beanard has researched and written about the telecommunications business and other issues.

To see more of his writing, visit his articles about free reverse phone directory searches and public criminal records sites.

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To learn more about Telepresence, the revolutionary new style of immersive video conferencing; visit these websites:

Telepresence - "Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" - Telepresence
Telepresence Web Portal - Telepresence Internet web portal
Telepresence Report - 24/7 breaking Telepresence related news and information
Via Telepresence - Video conferencing via Telepresence
Telepresence Forum - Free user discussion forum for everything Telepresence related
Telepresence Today - Telepresence information and editor qualified headline news
Telepresence Resource Directory - Telepresence web resource directory
Telepresence Tube - Telepresence videos, pictures and more