CC Skywave SSB 2 With AM FM SW WX and Aviation Bands / Includes SW Wire Antenna Adapter

Putting a New Face on Instant Messaging

Techstination feature for Thursday, September 27, 2001

Putting a new face... on instant messaging. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. It is the way an entire new generation prefers to communicate. Instant messaging on services like AOL, MSN and Yahoo has become a way of life for millions. Now, a Moscow based company called SeeStorm... that's S-e-e Storm... .is putting a new face on the technology... .along with a voice. SeeStorm CEO Andrew Svirindenko...

"People can choose a character which will represent themselves online and they can choose among several pre-defined characters which could be some celebrities or public figures... or some animation characters, basically like in a game. Or they can choose to be themselves."

Using a photo. As you chat online... using your voice... your online character moves its lips and conveys emotions and facial expressions... .

"Which means that a camera, PC camera, Web Cam, looking at the face of a human being sitting in front of PC and basically our software will recognize facial expressions and emotions and puts them in real time onto the 3D character."

I have my doubts about how many people will find it useful... but the company is hoping to make money licensing the technology. You can download the software to try it for free at seestorm.com. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.