Most of us have imagined a future when we can view holographic images of people in three dimensions. You know, where you push a button and your loved one pops up in your living room? At Google I/O 2021, we realized the dream of viewing a model of our loved ones in person might just be closer than we think. Google’s Project Starline is working to make it possible for you to view a life-sized 3D model of a family member or friend when communicating with them, therefore enhancing personal interaction and mimicking the experience you get when talking to someone face-to-face.
To use Project Starline, users sit at a desk that almost resembles a vanity, as it’s surrounded by lights and it has a mirror-like window in front of the user. As the user and the guest chat back and forth, the person on the opposite end looks like they’re actually sitting at the table. However, it’s really a virtual representation created by lights and compressed data. Google describes the experience you get when using Project Starline as though you’re “looking through a sort of magic window, and through that window, you see another person, life-size and in three dimensions. You can talk naturally, gesture, and make eye contact.”
The reason why it’s so difficult to create a life-like model like this is that it requires a great deal of data, computing power, camera advancements, and accuracy. Google is using research in areas like machine learning, real-time compression, and spatial audio to make this possible. The search giant also developed a light field system that allows you to see volume and depth in an image without the need for glasses or another augmentation device like a headset.
As of right now, you can’t purchase a device that uses the technology, as it’s only available in a few of Google’s offices and it requires custom equipment. However, over time, Google wants to make it more affordable to the general public. We’ll be watching for Project Starline technology, and we’ll keep you posted on any new developments in the future. For now, we’ll just have to keep video chatting, but we’re excited to see what comes of Project Starline.
Speech-to-text apps have flooded the App Store, making it easier than ever to type on our Macs with just our voice. I have previously covered one such app called TypeWhisper. However, there has been a dearth of good text-to-speech models, and most of the good ones are locked behind a subscription.
Ollama, an open-source app that lets you run local AI models on your computer, wants to change that. It works on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and your prompts are never stored or used for training.
Did you think hitting delete on your AI chatbot conversation actually makes it disappear? Georgia Tech researchers just proved that's not entirely true. They have built a forensic tool called ORISA that can dig deleted conversations from your phone and even rebuild them into a working chatbot session you can keep talking to.
How can ORISA bring deleted AI conversations back?
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).