ON THE NEW, LIGHTER KATIE COURIC

LIVE OR MEMOREX?

There's a bit of a media kerfuffle over a re-touched photo of CBS's new $15 million a year, evening news anchor Katie Couric. 

As Buzzle.com explains in it's headline:

"Katie Couric Magically Loses Weight in Photo Distributed to Media

Thanks to digital manipulation, CBS’s new anchorwoman Katie Couric dropped at least 20 pounds and became younger-looking overnight in a photograph distributed to media outlets, without acknowledgment of the retouching."

The story goes on to give CBS's reaction:

"Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of communications for CBS Corp., told reporters that the digital alteration of the photograph was done by someone in the CBS photo department who "got a little zealous."

Looking at the before and after photos, two questions come to mind:

1.  How long before technology can make it possible for "virtually made-over" celebrities can be portrayed on broadcasts.  Not virtual "Max Headroom"* type of avatars mind you, but real anchors, actors etc., that provide the voice and real-time motion, but the image on the screen is a virtually made-over representation. 

Think about it as a "Video-Over" instead of a "Voice-Over" performance.

2.  Then how long before Google, Yahoo! or Microsoft then make it available as a free, ad-supported, online service where mainstream users can do them same for their own videos?

It may sound like science fiction now, but may not be in the "near future".

*  New companies like Oddcast.com already provide services to publishers and consumers to generate virtual avatars today.  See Fred Wilson's blog for a good example of this on the upper right side bar.