Who needs the real thing?
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- November
- 28
If Thanksgiving was too much family togetherness for you, what about a virtual family dinner instead?
Think of all the benefits. No need to travel. No irritating relatives. Plenty of room at the table. And when the arguments begin, just turn off the camera.
Seriously, a prototype for a virtual dinner is being developed by researchers at Accenture Technology Labs in Chicago as part of its Online Health Services. The aim though is to overcome the isolation of older relatives who live alone, not to shut out the relatives you don’t like.
Here’s how it works: Ceiling-mounted cameras act as sensors that track the cook as he or she prepares dinner. Once the dishes are on the table, a screen pops up at the end. (It’s transparent when it’s not in use.) A computer application runs through a directory of friends and relatives to find out who’s available for dinner and their image is projected onto the screen. And your older relative has someone to talk to during dinner.
Virtually, anyway.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 1:44 pm by Noreen O'Donnell.
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