Communications

A few years ago, Google showed off its Project Starline tech that would make you look like a 3D hologram on a video call for a more connected experience. It's now called Google Beam, and you can pick up the gear from HP for the princely sum of US$25,000.

Drawing parallels with other species, not naming names, the voices of female frogs are being drowned out by their much louder and boisterous male counterparts – so much so we don't know how nearly 99% of the ladies even sound.

For the last few years, Google has been developing 3D video technology that would allow distant colleagues to chat as though they were in the same room. Now the tech giant has rebranded Project Starline to Google Beam to prepare for commercial rollout.

Researchers have developed DolphinGemma, the first LLM for understanding dolphin language. It could help us translate what these incredible creatures are saying, potentially much faster than we ever could with manual approaches used over decades.

The world’s longest quantum communications link has been set up between China and South Africa, spanning a record-breaking 12,900 km (8,015 miles). The connection takes advantage of quantum physics for “unbreakable” encryption.

Augmented reality comes to deep-sea divers, thanks to the US Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Coda Octopus's Divers Augmented Vision Display (DAVD) system. The setup turns any standard diving hard helmet into a digital information center.

Starlink isn't the only American company to offer direct-to-cell satellite connectivity. AST SpaceMobile has been at it for years and was the very first company in the world to "phone home" from space. Now it's looking to provide 100% coverage of the US.

If you've ever found yourself in a dead zone, maybe you find solace in the quiet. Or maybe you've found yourself in an emergency and help is not coming. Either way, the ability to connect if and when you need to has its merits.

SpaceX has just launched 20 of its Starlink satellites up into Earth's orbit, enabling direct-to-cellphone connectivity anywhere on the planet. That completes the constellation's first orbital shell, following a test of six satellites back in January.

Back in August 2021, Portl launched a 7-ft-tall hologram projection box for life-like remote communications. Now renamed Proto, the company has revealed that its Epic technology is allowing cancer patients to consult life-size virtual specialists.

A fascinating new insight into elephant communication has been uncovered, revealing that males will harmonize rumbles, from one to the next, to signal that it's time for everyone to move on. Researchers liken it to a barbershop quartet.

Wild elephants have exhibited a rare ability among animals: communicating with others in their social circle using individual ‘names.’ The new research suggests that their human-like communication may mean elephants are capable of complex thought.