hologram

In the hopefully near future, you won't need hulking contraptions to create holograms nor special glasses to see them. All you are going to need is your phone. This promise of science fiction made real comes from a group of researchers at the RMIT University in Melboune, Australia who have developed what they claim is the world's thinnest hologram. If and when they manage to solve the engineering and manufacturing challenges of turning the prototype into an actual hardware component, then the age of consumer holograms could soon be just around the corner.

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The advantage of basing your AI-powered personal assistant off an existing fictional character is that you have a ready-made visual representation of the assistant. When said fictional character takes the form of a hologram, it is almost begging to be given a real-world form. In that sense, it's almost surprising that there are so few implementations of Microsoft's Cortana as a fully functional hologram that, of course, can tell you the weather as well.

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The race towards self-driving, autonomous cars seems to have gone quiet lately. And although they surfaced in news this week, they weren’t exactly seen in a very positive light. At CES 2017 next month, however, car makers have the chance to rekindle interest in this future technology, and BMW is definitely not going to pass up that chance. Combining everything it had learned from its HUD and gesture control features, the BMW HoloActive Touch will make drivers feel like wizards making magic in the air to control their cars.

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Move over tele-commuting. Microsoft’s Holoportation will be the remote office of the future. The somewhat distant future. Microsoft has just published an update to its Holoportation idea that is making Star Wars like holographic communication a reality. And while the technology has already been proven to work, it’s far from being something you can really use anytime anywhere. In this latest iteration, however, Microsoft takes one step closer to that ideal, by allowing Holoportation to fit and be used inside a moving car.

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There’s a new product seeking crowdfunding on Indiegogo called HoloVit, and it promises to bring holographic videos to your living room. The HoloVit is a clear screen of some sort that works with your existing tablet, phone, or other display-centric device. Videos recorded with a black background show only the video’s subject on the clear screen, making it appear as if a small hologram is hanging out on your table or desk. It appears to work somewhat similar to that DIY iPhone hologram we saw a few years ago.

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There's no doubt that vinyl has been enjoying a wave of popularity for the last few years, especially as super special editions of artists' albums and new soundtracks. Now Star Wars is getting in on the artistic packages, with a new vinyl release of the soundtrack for The Force Awakens. But while many records use unique or exclusive artwork in the packaging, Star Wars has placed it directly on the vinyl itself, in the form of 3D holograms.

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A few years ago, Samsung and LG were almost at east other's throats, trying to beat the other to the flexible smartphone race. Both, however, have stopped short of that goal, settling for curved smartphones like the G Flex, or curved edge screens like the Galaxy S7 edge. Some, however, have never given up that dream. Researchers from Australia's Queen's University Human Media Lab have cooked up a smartphone that does flex just a bit. That, however, is only in service to the HoloFlex's real raison d'être: projecting holograms.

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Microsoft has shown off a lot of concept projects in the last year related to HoloLens, its $3,000 augmented reality headset, but this one just might be the crown jewel of them all. Dubbed "Holoportation," Microsoft Research's latest demonstration is the ability to view a live hologram of a person in another location. There's an impressive video of the tech in action below, but trust us when we say it's like something straight out of Star Wars.

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Today Microsoft HoloLens was released for purchase - sort of - for developers, in a kit that's made strictly for those that plan on making software for the device. This version of Microsoft HoloLens is not meant to compete with the other virtual reality headsets being revealed and/or released in the next several weeks. The Oculus Rift, for example, has had several developer kits released in the past. The HTC Vive, too, has had its own developer release before now. This is just the beginning.

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Holograms have been around for a long time and have been used for all sorts of things from video games to bringing Tupac back to the stages of Coachella. A well-executed hologram can look very real with a 3D effect that makes the object being projected look real. Scientists have now added a new wrinkle to holograms with something called an acoustic hologram.

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Holographic tabletop platform Holus connects to smartphones, tablets, and PCs to turn 2D content to 3D holograms. This machine uses projection in a pyramid-like structure inside a table-like box that allows you to display and interact with 3D content. Users are able to connect with the machine using full-sized HDMI and/or USB, and connections are supported through several types of smart devices. This is a crowdfunded project for now, but in the first 20 minutes of being on Kickstarter, it's both reached and surpassed it's goal by over 150%.

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The first full-length trailer for the live-action movie Jem and the Holograms is released to mixed reviews. If you were looking for something Truly Outrageous, you might be in luck. For all the wrong reasons. What you're going to get isn't the cartoon version of Jem. You're not going to get something campy and fantastical. Instead you're just going to get Pitch Perfect again. Just in time for Pitch Perfect 2! And lucky you, this movie was given a budget of $5 million to shoot, shot as fast as possible, made into a Chick-Flick while its 80's-era partners are given more than 100x that budget.

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