There is a lot of talk and hoopla about "telepresence".
To most, the current definition of telepresence has evolved to mean: A very expensive room-based super-high-quality videoconferencing capability. And you need to buy two.
Many years ago (starting in 1992) we developed a concept called "Personal Telepresence". This was based on your personal computer and included the ability to meet with multiple people via videoconferencing, exchange files, show movies, work on a whiteboard, "staple" papers together, etc. etc. The cost was estimated at the time to be around $5000 per end.
YeOldeTechy says: Great applications for "being there" and "collaborating as if you are in the same room" exist on your desktop (ie no need to schedule a room or travel to that room)....and you do not need to break your bank account. Anyone with a computer can use (and afford) "personal telepresence" like capability.
See the following links and see my Reviews on three products that offer the ability to "be there" for a fraction of the cost of a super duper telepresence system:
Mirial
ooVoo
Polycom PVX
SightSpeed
Check out this interesting article about Tandberg and Polycom working with Microsoft to bring "telepresence" to the desktop.
