How many Video Conferences go on in your house or office?
It was a half day for my two middle school kids, so I picked them up and brought them home early. As I walked into the house to get ready for a GoTo Meeting, There was my 13 year old, on her MacBook Pro, on-line video chatting with here study group getting ready for several tests tomorrow.
I made a mental note, like "Cool". Its really interesting watching her interact, through video and document sharing.
I then walked downstairs to our home theatre room where my 11 year son was playing XBOX Kinect with a friend of his while video chatting another friend of his who lives across town. As I watched the boys interacting in video chat and then playing ping pong through their avatars that moved as they did, I thought "Way Cool."
So I walked over to my home office, just in time for my next meeting. It was a GoTo meeting with a colleague in Israel.
I have been using cameras on my desktop and laptop computers for 10 years now, starting off web conferences with a camera on and then shutting it off when starting the powerpoint or document presentation/discussion.
Now, GoTo meeting has a new feature called HD Faces, and I am in their Beta program, loving the video conferencing capability of it... and I thought to myself.... "Wow... This is really Way Kewl."
Three Video Conferences going on in my House simultaneously.
My First Video Conferencing Experience
For many of you who know me well, I started looking at Video Conferencing back in 1983 when AT&T invited me to Epcot Center at Disney World where they showcased... "PicturePhone Meeting Service" (PMS - go figure). I spent other time as an innovation management adviser to IBM, AT&T and others after that looking at various alternative ways to leverage the video, multimedia, rich content, and avatar representations for shopping applications, video conferencing, collaboration and many other alternatives...
We have come a long way... baby.
I am still giddy about the pervasiveness of video conferencing from today's experience. I have been Facetiming for a few months with people all around the country, as well as with my family when travelling. Being able to travel and be on the other side of the continent and see my wife and two kids on my iTouch while they huddle around my daughter's Mac is absolutely amazing and makes travel so much more bearable.
What I look forward to, is the experience with my iPad when I'll be able to hold HD video conferencing with colleagues, clients and family, wherever I am.
So, Call me sometime. I'd love to see you.
The experience is amazing and video will become more pervasive. This is the time for Video and Tablets... nearly all of the tables have front and rear cameras getting ready for Video. 4th Generation wireless networks are preparing for not just downloads of music, videos and other content, but video conferencing as well.
(The downside is that I can see our broadband providers try to move faster to increase bandwidth charges for heavy users... and watch many of the economic benefits go out the door).
Dick Tracy (Who?) was way ahead of his time. He had the first video watch I believe.
Call me. I look forward to seeing you soon.



