Forget Zoom, PORTL Wants to Offer Hologram Communication

The company promises virtual interaction in a phone-booth-sized machine

Portl hologram machine
PORTL's hologram machine is currently available for $60K.
PORTL

Inspired by Tupac Shakur’s hologram performance at 2012’s Coachella Festival, the Epic HoloPortl machine from the company PORTL promises a phone booth-sized device that can beam live holograms into your home.

HoloPortl is “when you can’t BE there, BEAM there” technology, according to founder David Nussbaum, and offers a more immersive virtual communication experience than, say, Zoom.

Technically, this isn’t a hologram; the machine utilizes stretched,li transparent LCD 4K screens embedded into a light box that gives the impression of three dimensions.

The $60,000 telepresence device was already used at this year’s (virtual) ComicCon in Los Angeles and the Emmy Awards, and units have been used and delivered to several malls, airports and movie theaters. Nussbaum also thinks PORTL will become more common — especially in our current pandemic times — with CEOs beaming into meetings or celebrities making virtual appearances.

As well, the company is working on a mini, desktop-sized variation that could offer content bundles similar to Mirror or Peloton.

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