[This could be big step toward the wider adoption of AR– the story is from Tom’s Hardware where it includes several different images and a 2:44 demonstration video. –Matthew]

Introducing HoloLamp: Portable, Projector-Based, Glasses-Free Augmented Reality

by Kevin Carbotte
January 5, 2017
Source: HoloLamp

You could say that CES 2016 was the year of VR, but at CES 2017, it may be AR’s time to shine.

This year at the big show, augmented reality moves from a futuristic idea towards a tangible consumer product. Microsoft started selling its Hololens developer kits in 2016, but one of those will set you back $3000. Meta just started shipping Meta 2 developer kits to early customers. The AR HMD’s specifications lead us to believe the experience is comparable to Hololens, but with a much wider field of view. Meta pre-sold the dev kits for $949, but after the new year, the company raised the price somewhat.… read more. “HoloLamp: Portable, projector-based, glasses-free Augmented Reality”

[Saturday’s historic marches on Washington, D.C. and around the world were captured in immersive 360 videos and photos by many news organizations; I’ve compiled a selection of links to them below. It’s interesting to compare the sense of presence and related impacts created by the different combinations of content and form used in these efforts to give users a sense of the experience of being there. Some of these and others are also available on YouTube (search for “women’s march on Washington 2017 360”) including C-SPAN’s 9:00 minute video (not on their website since it didn’t air). Standard format videos are available too of course, including the full 6 hours of the Washington march from ABC, and compilation videos from CNN (1:03 minutes), The Guardian (1:16), and USA Today (1:13). And of course thousands of still images are available (e.g.,… read more. “Media attempt to evoke presence at Women’s March on Washington, D.C. and around the world”

[The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is creating a “vast catalogue” of detailed, 360 degree virtual versions of Washington area sites – “think of it as virtual reality that allows you to travel through any transportation asset as if you were there”; this story is from The Washington Post. –Matthew]

[Image: A construction worker looks at scaffolding being put up Jan. 11, 2017, near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington as part of a stage to be used in the inauguration festivities for President-elect Donald Trump. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)]

TSA team works to ensure inauguration safety with library of ‘virtual’ sites

By Lori Aratani
January 14

For nearly a week in November, Jim Bamberger and his crew of six spent their days and some of their nights photographing every square inch of Dulles International Airport.

Runways. Restrooms. Stairwells. Click. Click. Click.

Within a month, the thousands of images they captured over 55 hours were stitched together to recreate a 360-degree virtual version of Dulles.… read more. “TSA team works to ensure inauguration safety with library of ‘virtual’ sites”

[As this story from New Atlas points out, key benefits of the new Teleport telepresence robot are its simplicity and affordability; the original story includes a gallery of 7 pictures and the video mentioned at the end. In coverage in the Brisbane Times (which includes another video), Teleport creator Marita Cheng is quoted as saying “It gives you much more freedom and mobility, it makes you feel like you are there… People who have used our robots say it is 100 per cent more immersive than what they thought it would be. I guess if you look at the product it is just a screen on some wheels but when you actually use it and you can explore for yourself a location that is thousands of kilometres away, that is when you begin to understand how rewarding it is to be in two places at once.”… read more. “New brain-controlled Teleport robot lets physically challenged see the world”

[Another example of the need to consider the ethics of presence; this story is from CNN. –Matthew]

[Image: Leia (Carrie Fisher) is no longer a ‘Princess, going by ‘General’ in “The Force Awakens.”]

Carrie Fisher’s death renews questions about digital re-creation

By Brian Lowry, CNN
January 16, 2017

Carrie Fisher’s death was a jolt to the broad community of “Star Wars” fans. But it could help spark a necessary and overdue conversation about what might be called digital etiquette, and the practice of using computer-generated imagery to re-create and manipulate the likenesses of dead actors.

Last week Lucasfilm responded to rumors that Fisher’s “Star Wars” character could be digitally inserted into future movies, issuing a statement that read, “We want to assure our fans that Lucasfilm has no plans to digitally re-create Carrie Fisher’s performance as Princess or General Leia Organa.”… read more. “Carrie Fisher’s death renews questions about digital re-creation”