[ExI] Are Cities Dead? (was Re: moving bits, not butts)

[Emlyn]

On 9 March 2011 19:08, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 5:24 AM, Emlyn  wrote:
>> "Let's do lunch" would be a chain of cafe/restaurants in major cities.
>> You go there to have remote business lunches. The tables have a large
>> teleconferencing setup at one end. You and a business associate in
>> another city would book tables in your respective cities, turn up and
>> you both see each other in real time, more or less as though you are
>> seated at the same table. You have lunch, chat. Maybe there's a
>> dedicated fax-type machine, where you can put a document in and it
>> pops out the other side. Maybe you can draw on the screen and the
>> person at the other end can see it. etc...
>
> That's just Skype, isn't it? With maybe a bit of Google docs sharing.
>
> Skype can do conference calls and exchange documents.
>
> BillK

I can't see any restaurants called Skype?!?

Seriously, yes, we can do that over our phones, variously on PCs, etc
etc. But a good quality video conferencing setup is a different deal.
If basic PC video calls were enough, no one would travel for business
lunches, but they do.

I think two classes of business user might use this;
- some people who would otherwise have flown would switch to using
facilities like this if they were convenient and high quality (need
not be very cheap).
- some people who would have liked to meet for lunch but flying wasn't worth it.

-- 
Emlyn

http://my.syyn.cc - A service for syncing buzz and facebook, posts,
comments and all.
http://www.blahblahbleh.com - A simple youtube radio that I built
http://point7.wordpress.com - My blog
Find me on Facebook and Buzz