After my presentation at the NTT Research Labs in Kyoto yesterday, I had a tour of some of their presentation-related work. In this room you can collaborate in real time with people from several different locations around the world. Except rather than being on a small screen, you step into a space with massive displays where all the participants are life size. You can move around the space just like in a real room (and the sound even changes to reflect where the person is in the "room.") Here I am in Kyoto and the researcher is in Atsugi, but we both are looking at the screen and pointing -- he sees me just as I see him. It actually felt pretty close to actually being in the same room.

Examining Google Earth from different locations in Japan.

Musicians (NTT researchers) play LIVE together but from four different locations. Each musician can see the other three (but not himself, just like in real life).