The Promise of Multimedia A Step through the Looking Glass

a In a loft apartment in New York's Tribeca district, Kenny Miller is having a multimedia interaction. On cable television, he is watching a live programme produced by his friend, David Levitt; over the telephone he is asking Mr Levitt 'to perform for us'. Instantly the picture changes and Mr Levitt's falsetto bubbles from the box, singing an ode to Mr Miller. The camcorders, audio mixers and Macintosh computers strewn around the room look on in mute fascination.

b The heart surgeon is about to perform the most delicate part of the operation when the blade slips and slices through a vital artery. An aircraft pilot is about to land in thick fog, but misses the runway and crashes. Fortunately, neither of these scenarios is real. They exist in the memory of a computer that is simulating the event in what has become known as virtual reality.

c Computer simulators have been used to train pilots since the seventies. Since then, computer simulation has made significant advances, and researchers are now talking seriously of using simulators in more complex situations, such as the training of heart surgeons. The great advantage of working in virtual reality is that the patient never stays dead.

d If the 1980s were a time for media tycoons, the 1990s are for self-styled visionaries like Mr Miller and Mr Levitt. These gurus see a dawning digital age in which the humble television will mutate into two-way medium for a plethora of information and entertainment: movies-on-demand, video games, databases, educational programming, home shopping, telebanking, teleconferencing, even the complex situations of virtual reality. It will, says Time Warner, the world's largest media group, let consumers tune in to 'anything, anywhere, anytime'.

e If the exchange between Mr Miller and Mr Levitt was primitive, it was at least tangible - and thus rare. The most extraordinary thing about the multimedia boom is that so many moguls are spending so vast sums of money to deliver programmes that are still hypothetical. The talk is of fibre-optic networks broadcasting 500 channels; of 'teleputers' that will change the way commerce is pursued and leisure enjoyed; of a global information industry that Apple Computer reckons will one day be worth $3.5 trillion.

f An important part of this concept has been the development of electronic gloves that are wired to be sensitive to the movement of the wearer's fingers. By flexing an index finger or bending a thumb, the wearer can begin to manipulate images of the virtual reality world of the computer. NASA scientists envisage, for instance, that astronauts will wear a virtual reality helmet and see exactly what a robot outside a spacecraft is seeing. By manipulating electronic gloves, the astronaut can manipulate the robot's limbs and perform an otherwise dangerous task in relative safety.

g Is this the future of television? In an embryonic form, it is. Mr Miller is the technical director of the 'new mead' division at Viacom, a cable-TV firm. Mr Levitt used to teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab.

h It does not take too much imagination to realise that the image need not be routine and boring. It could be Meryl Streep or Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the room could be anything from an opium den in China to a chalet in the Swiss Alps.

i At the moment, virtual reality in civilian use is still at the stage of creating simple situations, such as a room full of objects. Wearing the virtual reality helmet puts you in this room. Sensors in the helmet follow head movements, and the computer permanently revises the interior of the room, so whichever way your head is moved, appropriate images appear on the two screens. It is all done so quickly that to all intents and purposes, you are actually inside.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-10