I'm getting pretty tired of this Musion company claiming "Star wars" level "holograms".

Its not a hologram. It is a 2d projected overlay on a giant film mirror stretched in front of the stage. There is no parallax, there is no depth. The people onstage cannot even see the image that is being overlayed with them.

Its noting more than a "smoke and mirrors" trick from the 1800's called the "Pepper's Ghost" illusion. They've been using it for decades at Disney theme parks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper's_ghost

There's a lot of exciting innovation going on in many fields right now, this just isn't one of them. Call me when my beer-fetching robot can project a 3d image on my coffee table.

Very disappointing. The headline implied holograms. There is no hologram there, this is just a fancy version of iChat.

Interesting idea about "telepresence," but terrible execution. I doubt that the presenter could even see the other two.

I would imagine that for meetings you would want to physically interact with the other presence (position yourself at different places relative to the other, maybe even attempt a virtual handshake with light), but if it's just a projection onto a wall then it's really nothing more than an expensive and slightly more effective video conference. I can do that with two macbooks.

Sorry if this looks like a rant. I guess I was expecting a step towards the holodeck on Star Trek.

That is exciting technology, but I have to say, the video was pretty disappointing. It might be more interesting for the people in the audience, but from here, there's nothing to showcase the difference from a simple 2D projection.

That's because there is no difference from a simple 2D projection.

Is there technology to make real time 3D holograms? Why or why not?

Yes, some work has been done using ionized air as the reflecting medium, though in reality the image itself is still 2d.