[From designboom; more information and a 2:13 minute video are here] Jinha Lee: Beyond  While touchscreen devices are more ubiquitous than ever, really only allow users to draw in two dimensions. Beyond is a concept that allows users to sketch in three dimensions of an interactive surface developed by Jinha Lee and Hiroshi Ishii of the MIT Media Lab. The system utilizes a collapsible input device for direct 3d manipulation. The small pen-like tool collapses into the digital world when pressed against the screen, giving the illusion that it is inside the virtual space. By moving the pen around the…

[From Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York] [Image: A medical student from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is shown testing the new haptically-enhanced virtual surgery simulator.] Designing Touch-Sensitive Virtual Reality Tools To Train and Test Tomorrow’s Surgeons Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Researchers Receive $2.3 Million NIH Grant To Develop and Validate Virtual Reality Hardware, Software for Training and Certifying Laparoscopic Surgeons Published July 15, 2010 Minimally invasive surgery is increasingly common and effective for operating inside the human abdomen. In these laparoscopic procedures, which use slender, handheld tools inserted into the body of the patient, the skill of the…

[From the University of California, San Diego News Center; a 0:31 minute video is here] Heads-Up Virtual Reality (HUVR) Bridges Visual with Tactile, in 3D and on the Cheap July 16, 2010 By Tiffany Fox Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have created a new, relatively low-cost virtual reality device that allows users not only to see a 3D image, but “feel” it, too. The Heads-Up Virtual Reality device (or HUVR, pronounced ‘hover’) couples a consumer 3D HDTV panel with a half-silvered mirror to project any graphic image onto the user’s hands and/or into the space surrounding them.…

[From BBC News, where the story includes a 3:55 minute video] 13 July 2010 Milo made his world debut in 2009 at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles ‘Virtual human’ Milo comes out to play at TED in Oxford By Jonathan Fildes Technology reporter, BBC News, Oxford Microsoft has shown off its “virtual human” that reacts to a person’s emotions, body movements and voice. Milo, as he is known, is designed for use with the firm’s hands-free Xbox 360 motion controller called Kinect. The technology is the brainchild of veteran UK games designer Peter Molyneux. “I want to introduce a…

[A press release from Stony Brook University] Stony Brook University Receives NSF Grant to Design Revolutionary “Reality Deck” One-of-a-kind ‘holodeck’-like virtual reality theater will have more than a billion pixels for life-like immersion into data to be explored and manipulated STONY BROOK, N.Y., July 13, 2010 – Stony Brook University received a $1.4 million National Science Foundation grant to build what its creator described as the closest thing in the world to Star Trek’s “holodeck.” Known as the “Reality Deck,” the Immersive Giga-pixel Display will be a 40′ x 30′ x 11′ high room in Stony Brook University’s Center of…

[From CNN] ‘Virtual preaching’ transforms Sunday sermons By John Blake, CNN July 14, 2010 (CNN) — The Sunday morning service at Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas, was humming along with hymns and prayers when something unusual happened. The lights in the sanctuary suddenly dimmed, and members of the church hushed as they peered at a pulpit shrouded in darkness. The parishioners then erupted in cheers and whistles as Ed Young Sr., the church’s senior pastor, emerged from the darkness with a microphone in hand. “Please be seated, be seated,” Young said as he grabbed the Bible. “How are you guys…