ShareThisThis November, history was made in the United States. Those watching the events unfold on television saw something that no American has seen outside of movies and fiction -- a great leap for mankind appearing in HD for all the country to see.This November, CNN interviewed holograms.As part of the first election broadcast in high definition, CNN unveiled some election-night technology to make the great Tim Russert's whiteboard look like scratches on a cave wall. Correspondents waved hands over flatscreens to highlight states, show past election results and create scenarios for either candidate to win.Like an NFL commentator diagramming the pass rush, reporters drew lines across the country with their fingers to demonstrate alleys of Republican support and Iron Triangles of must-win states. But even this was small beer compared to the U.S. Capitol image.At one point, as two anchors talked across a room divided by an empty podium, the Capitol itself rose up from nowhere to appear between them. A three-dimensional virtual representation of each seat in Congress appeared above the miniature dome, and the anchors continued as if this sort of thing happens all the time.And as this was sinking in, the casual demonstration of a 3-D Senate race, a guest visited the studio. Reporter Jessica Yellin appeared live, from Chicago, while apparently standing in the New York newsroom surrounded by a blue aura of electricity or plasma or pixie dust. CNN was actually interviewing a hologram of its own reporter.Until this moment, the two greatest leaps in televised news technology had been Doppler weather radar and the ticker that scrolls on the bottom of the screen to distract you from the actual news. And now Scotty had actually beamed someone down just to talk about the big outdoor party for the Democratic candidate.Later in the show, hip-hop artist will.i.am appeared "via hologram" from the same location, expressing a similar sentiment that this was "like 'Star Wars' and stuff."The entire display was made more effective by the CNN staff's ability to sell it -- obviously, anchors could not actually see the glowing hologram before them, but they pretended pretty well. Weather reporters, after all, act like they can see the map behind them, but no one ever really fakes a conversation with a cold front.It was a night that made viewers think of the promise of things to come. Will the president appear as a glowing hologram on the nightly news? Will "fireside chats" be held with the glowing visage of our commander in chief? The president could make surprise visits, beaming himself down during the weekday weather.And these questions lead, ultimately, to questions like: When will I have these holograms in my house? What happens when someone is accidentally beamed in on top of someone else? Only time will tell.For now, we'll all remember where we were when history was made. One night in November, when we all expected a whiteboard and some dry-erase markers, CNN gave us a giant leap for mankind. And it truly was like "Star Wars" and stuff.(Ben Grabow writes for the young, the urban and the easily amused. Contact him at thinlyread(at)gmail.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
A wondrous election night of holograms and other high-tech
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