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What I want:

1. ML algorithm to make me look like I'm looking straight at the camera/you. Solutions are coming, but I bet there's an uncanny valley aspect. It shouldn't look like I'm staring at you constantly.

2. Better document/whiteboard collaboration. It should function the way it does when in a room together: everyone sees the document easily and clearly; gesture at a part of the document; highlight/focus the part you're editing, etc. Actually, a lot of that could be better than in-person.

I don't need reaction animations and other features-in-searh-of-a-use-case.



(1) doesn't seem like it should be too hard, relatively: there's likely a direction you're mostly staring at, or keep returning to (especially on audible cue), so you can 'just' adjust that one to be direct-at-camera, and add noise or show original otherwise.

(I can't do this, but I say relatively easy in the sense that you're already doing the CV and adjustment all the time, so it's just an adaptation to turning it off or doing it slightly differently sometimes based on aspects of the CV.)

Personally though I just plan to print a widget to fix my webcam to my microphone stand, so it's at a more eye-level height and moves in and out of the way with the mic.


1. Is what Nvidia Broadcast offers today. It's pretty good but feels odd and turned it off after a few uses. Something unnatural about it.


> Something unnatural about it.

That's the uncanny valley I mentioned above.


FaceTime has had #1 for a few years now.


I use FaceTime all the time, and I've never seen it do this. Is there a setting for it?


It's called "Eye Contact" in Settings -> FaceTime.


How am I just finding out about this? Apple is doing a very poor job of promoting it.

I just tested, and if you look just a little to the left, right, or above the camera, the effect goes away -- smoothly apparently (I was creating the effect for someone else, not seeing it myself)




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