December 2012 Volume 33 Dear Subscribers, Merry Christmas! I am going to keep it short today so everyone can finish up their to-dos and their shopping before all economic activity ceases next week. Our main story today is about helping others. My favorite part of being a publisher is getting to promote our favorite charities around the holidays, a tradition now in its 4th year! This year’s list includes crowd-sourcing, micro-finance lender: Kiva, where we have established a lending team for telepresence and visual collaboration professionals. I am personally supporting the Fluoride Action Network whose work educating public officials on the toxicology of Fluoride has led hundreds of communities to abandon the practice in the past decade. Their work was helped significantly this year when the Harvard School of Public Health released the world’s 35th peer reviewed study showing a link between Fluoride and lower IQ. Their work is supported by 4100+ health, chemistry, and environmental professionals including multiple Nobel prize laureates in the fields of medicine and chemistry, multiple Goldman prize winners, winners of the National Science Prize, and many of the EPA’s own scientists and toxicologists that have also testified before Congress on Fluoride’s detrimental health effects. Please consider helping these charities or the charity of your choice this holiday season. Reminder: We are gearing up to continue our coverage in the next issue of Telepresence Options Magazine which will be printed in late February and put into the mail on March 1st for delivery to 100+ countries this year. You can subscribe for free at www.TelepresenceOptions.com/magazine. If you are interested in advertising in the issue, we just kicked off our 2013 advertising program. Thanks for reading, Howard S. Lichtman Publisher - Telepresence Options Telepresence Options Charities 2012 - Helping Others December 21, 2012 | Howard Lichtman My favorite part of being a publisher is getting to promote well deserving charities each year around the holidays. In the spirit of the season I wanted to take a moment to recognize and promote some charities that were founded by members of the telepresence industry and a couple that are near and dear to some of us at the Human Productivity Lab and Telepresence Options. The list includes: Kiva, where our Linked In group: Telepresence Industry Professionals has a lending team, Bicycles for Humanity co-founded by Pat Montani, CEO & Co-founder of IP-V Gateways, Vacations for Veterans founded by Chris Carr, Director of Video Markets at MASERGY, The Fluoride Action Network which I am supporting, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, . If anyone knows of any other worthy efforts supported by members of the industry then please pass them along and we will add them to the list. Continue reading... ZTE Launches a Videoconferencing Endpoint with a Firewall December 20, 2012 | Howard Lichtman Multi-billion dollar Chinese multinational ZTE is better known for mobile handsets and wireless telecom equipment than videoconferencing, but the $13.7 Billion USD company makes a short line of solid standards-based, videoconferencing appliances and video network infrastruture. This week they were celebrating the launch of their newest videoconferencing endpoint with a built-in hardware-based firewall, their partnership with Baltimore-based cyber-security firm CyberPoint, and the fascinating and timely way they got American "Pro-Modified" Chinese videoconferencing gear on the US government's GSA schedule. Continue reading... The Future of Telepresence: UNC's Augmented Reality Research December 18, 2012 | David S. Maldow, Esq. It may not be ready for prime time, but UNC's latest augmented reality telepresence research definitely has the right idea. In fact, we may be looking at a preview of the future of Telepresence. The term "Telepresence" has been under the gun lately, as the market for 3 screen solutions has reported disappointing numbers. However, Telepresence is not a product, it is a philosophy, and the team at UNC are pushing this philosophy to the next logical step. Continue reading... WISE TIVI Vision Turns Your TV Into an Android Powered Videoconferencing Solution December 16, 2012 | David S. Maldow, Esq. As exciting as the recent rumors of Apple's renewed interest in TV design may be, some people are ready for smart(er) TV's today. In a continuation of our Living Room Video Coverage, we take a look at the WISE TIVI Vision which brings the Android OS to your TV. It is a relatively simple matter to get your TV to mirror your iOS or Android device, but it is a temporary solution. A real smart(er) TV should have permanent computing capabilities. Android lovers are in luck, as the WISE TIVI Vision does just that, adding full Android 4.2 OS capabilities, and a set top camera to your TV for $90 (significantly cheaper than similar living room VC solutions). Your TV probably isn't touch sensitive, so you may be wondering how this works. WISE conveniently sells an integrated wireless keyboard, "airmouse" and a gamepad, which we expect brings its pricing back up into competitive range. For videoconferencing, interoperability isn't a concern as there is no proprietary video protocols in use. You don't make a WISE video call, you use whatever ANDROID VC app you prefer, be it Skype, Google Hangouts, or even a paid client. Continue reading... Samsung TVs Can Be Hacked to Spy on Viewers Security firm exposes dangers of so-called "smart" products Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com December 14, 2012 A security firm has discovered a vulnerability in Samsung's 'Smart' TVs that allows the devices to be hacked which, if left unpatched, would permit the system's microphone and camera to used to spy on the viewer. Similar to an XBox Kinect, the Samsung 'Smart Hub' line of televisions allows users to control the television via physical gestures and voice control. A high definition camera is also used by the device to allow Skype calls. The device also includes facial recognition technology. However, these features can also be hijacked to turn the television into a modern day equivalent of George Orwell's telescreen. Continue reading... Swivl Joins The Pan/Tilt Tablet Videoconferencing Arena December 12, 2012 | David S. Maldow, Esq. Last week we covered the Kubi solution, a tablet/phone stand which can controlled by a remote participant. This allows a videocaller to "look around" when calling that tablet/phone. Today we are taking a quick look at the Swivl, a slightly different take on the same basic concept. This is actually the second generation of the Swivl, boasting new support for tablets, DSLR cameras, and android devices (the first generation appears to mainly support iPhones). The first version was so popular, and the demand to support tablets was so strong, that this next version was a no-brainer for the Swivl team. After one day on Kickstarter they have already reached 1/3rd of their pledge goal. Let's take a quick look at the extra bells and whistles that make the Swivl so interesting. Continue reading... Telepresence Options Launches Robotic Telepresence Feed December 10, 2012 | Howard Lichtman Telepresence Options, the leading publishing firm covering videoconferencing, telepresence, and visual collaboration is adding an additional RSS feed covering robotic telepresence. Robotic telepresence is an emerging visual collaboration technology that allows participants to remotely control robotic platforms equipped with videoconferencing capabilities. Robotic telepresence users are able to manuever around remote locations and interact with colleagues, friends, and family. The new RSS feed allows Telepresence Options readers to follow the publication's comprehensive coverage that includes both original reporting on the field and on-going syndication of the best stories from the rest of the internet using popular RSS readers including: My Yahoo, Google RSS, My AOL, and Newsgator. Readers can also Subscribe to Telepresence Options - Robotic Telepresence by Email Continue reading... The New Kubi Offers Greater Presence For Tablet Videoconferencing December 6, 2012 | David S. Maldow, Esq. Telepresence robots are an extremely exciting, and extremely troublesome, segment of the visual communication technology world. First of all, Telepresence purists take umbrage at the application of the T word to a technology that doesn't provide the illusion of an in-person meeting. More importantly, robotics companies have struggled with confusion and misplaced expectations from the marketplace, as well as serious technology hurdles (like remotely controlling a robot on an elevator via Wi-Fi). Various companies are making great progress in addressing these issues, but Revolve Robotics is attempting to avoid them altogether with their new Kubi product (see it in action here). Continue reading... Teledining: Then and Now December 5, 2012 | David S. Maldow, Esq. There is nothing like the business lunch. We feel an undeniable increased connection with someone after sharing a good meal with them. This can often serve to smooth the wheels of business. A good meal is like a good videoconferencing meeting; it is all about the experience. While we all fun this year at Thanksgiving, passing around iPhones with Facetime sessions to remote family, we can't really call that teledining. Proper teledining should (as much as possible) attempt to simulate a normal, across the table, business lunch; just as a proper telepresence solution should simulate a normal, across the table business meeting. BCC recently covered a Beijing teledining room in the video. Continue reading... ISPR PRESENCE 2012 Conference: From Academics and Research to Application By Hannah C. Pedersen and Angela M. Cirucci, We recently attended the 2012 International Society for Presence Research (ISPR) conference held in Philadelphia, PA in October. The presentations explored new ways to study presence and introduced innovative new ideas for practical applications. ISPR is a non-profit membership organization that was founded in 2002 to support academic research that is related to the concept of (tele)presence.