Portl inventor David Nussbaum poses for a photo next to an AI-powered life-size hologram of himself.LOS ANGELES - Looking for a new way to communicate during the pandemic? A Los Angeles company has created phone booth-sized machines to beam live holograms into your living room.
Each PORTL device is 2.1m tall, 1.5m wide and 0.6m deep, and can be plugged into a standard wall outlet. Anyone with a camera and a white background can send a hologram to the machine in what Chief Executive David Nussbaum calls"holoportation." Prices for the machine start at $60,000, a cost that Nussbaum expects will drop over the next three to five years. The company also plans a smaller tabletop device with a lower price tag early next year.