A reminder (if such were needed) that technology is a double-edged sword: while remote-controlled tech can be used to kill, it can also be used to save lives, as demonstrated by the first successful remote-controlled robot heart surgery procedure, performed earlier this week in London [via SlashDot].
Granted, the surgeon was only on the other side of a wall from the patient, but proof-of-concept is proof-of-concept.
This topic – telepresence – started knocking around in my head when I walked into a business meeting almost a year ago in Kirkland, Washington. A wall-sized (literally, exactly, one wall floor to ceiling, side to side) picture showed a room the same shape as the one we stood in. People walked into the room and sat down.
They were in Silicon Valley. Continue reading Telepresence: virtually as good as being there →
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