Sneak has all too often seen demos of video conferencing services fall flat, and so was keen to attend HP’s latest attempt – if only to poke fun. Developed in conjunction with Hollywood studio DreamWorks, the new HP offering – featuring life-size imagery for that fake real meeting feel – is called Halo. No relation to the Xbox shoot-em-up of the same name, but possibly related to the risky business of high-altitude, low-opening parachuting. The experience was typified by Hector Ruiz, chief exec at Halo customer AMD, who forgot that video camera plus check sports jacket equals eyestrain for onlookers. Yes, it looks like real life, but only if your colleagues typically wear Rorschach blots.

19 Dec 2005