As you know, history was made last Tuesday as the United States elected the first African-American president. Election night was also historical as CNN aired the first ever holographic interview.

I have included a YouTube video of the holographic interview between Anderson Cooper and will.i.am of the Black-Eyed Peas. You can view it after the jump, and you can watch Cooper as he underplays the whole aspect that this is the first ever holographic interview on television.

As well he should. You see, will.i.am is not an actual hologram, but a special effect. Technology from SportVu and Vizrt shot the footage of will.i.am live with 35 high definition cameras in a ring. These cameras captured the subject in a 3-D realtime setting, and then synced with the cameras at CNN studio.

As you can see, the effect went off without a technological hitch with perfect panning shots, but is not really a hologram. It is more of an adaptation of the “bullet-time” technology used in The Matrix.

This is probably not the last time we will see a holographic interview, but I really hope that talk shows and Barbara Walters interviews don’t start using this technology. Be sure you watch the video to see Anderson Cooper cut off will.i.am’s comment about Star Wars, and make a completely unrelated allusion to Star Trek. Listening to it is like geek kryptonite.

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