Silicon Valley veteran Phil Libin assumes that video conferences will not only remain an integral part of everyday life after the end of the corona pandemic, but that the possibilities of technology will also change the way we work.

Imitation of the old At the moment you are still trying to have the usual kind of meetings with people in one Recreate boring space on the Internet, said Libin in an interview with the dpa. “The first generation of something new often tries to imitate the old reality.” But video conferences would feel different in just a year, predicted Libin, who previously headed the Evernote note-taking app, among other things.

Among other things the trend to individualize background and environment in video conference apps such as Zoom or Google Meet will intensify. “We sometimes spend more time in these virtual rooms than in real rooms – in this respect it is logical that one thinks about how to decorate or individualize them.”

Improvements remain Video conferences would also remain outside of the working world where they were better than previous attendance models, said Libin. “I will definitely not make an appointment for many visits to the doctor, go there, sit in the waiting room with other patients, 20 spend minutes with the doctor and then drive back.” Video conferencing could also be better in education if you do it the right way Future.

After leaving Evernote, Libin became a partner at the venture capitalist Catalyst in San Francisco and then founded the app developer studio All Turtles. During the pandemic, the mmhmm app was developed there, which aims to bring new types of video conferencing functions to platforms such as Zoom. This includes the option of fading in a presentation while the speaker remains in the picture.

Another innovation is “Big Hands”: software recognizes gestures made by a user such as raised and lowered thumbs – and blinds them a larger hand drawn over it so that it can also be seen in the small gallery view.

(kbe)