[From Singularity Hub] [Image: Ah, the holidays…when good people all over the world log on to Skype and share a virtual meal in Amsterdam.] Celebrate Together When You’re Worlds Apart: Virtual Holiday Dinner December 30th, 2010 by Aaron Saenz This holiday season 156 people living on six different continents got to eat dinner with their closest friends and loved ones even though they were thousands of miles apart. Was it Christmas magic, a Hanukkah miracle, or a Kwanza surprise? Nope, just another example of modern technology. Using five robotic telepresence ‘dolls’, Skype, and one oversized table, Dutch advertising firm Wieden+Kennedy…

[From The Los Angeles Times] [Image: An SPFXMasks employee, left, sprays a layer of paint on a mask called “The Player.” That model was used by a white man, right, in a string of robberies in Ohio. An innocent black man was held until the culprit was turned in. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times; Gary Landers / Associated Press)] Masks so realistic they’re arresting the wrong guy A white man who robbed Ohio banks looked so convincing in a black-male disguise that an innocent man was held. That’s not exactly how SPFXMasks of Van Nuys had intended its masks…

[From The Telegraph] Apple patent reveals plans for holographic display Television and cinema screens that produce holographic images without the need for special glasses are being developed by computer giant Apple. By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 26 Dec 2010 A recently granted patent reveals that Apple, the company behind the iPod and iPhone, has been working on a new type of display screen that produces three dimensional and even holographic images without the need for glasses. The technology could be used to produce a new generation of televisions, computer monitors and cinema screens that would provide viewers with a more…

[From MIT’s Technology Review Editors blog]  Attending the Christmas Party as a Robot Office parties can be even more trying when you send an electronic avatar in your place. Tom Simonite 12/22/2010 My recollections of the Technology Review holiday party, which took place yesterday, are a whirl of awkward shouted conversations, blurred vision and an embarrassing incident where I ran into a wall. Fortunately that’s only because I was attending as a robot rather than in person. The party took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while I was sat safely in my office in San Francisco, California.…

[From AP via NPR, where the story features additional images] Robot Waiters In China Never Lose Patience by The Associated Press JINAN, China December 22, 2010 Service with a smile also comes with an electronic voice at the Dalu Robot restaurant, where the hotpot meals are not as famous yet as the staff who never lose their patience and never take tips. The restaurant, which opened this month in Jinan in northern Shandong province, is touted as China’s first robot hotpot eatery where robots resembling Star Wars droids circle the room carrying trays of food in a conveyor belt-like system.…

[From TG Daily; additional information from other sources follows below] Christmas Yule Log to air in 3D for first time Mark Raby | Thu 16th Dec 2010 To countless Americans, watching the perpetually burning Yule Log on TV is a Christmas tradition, and this year it’s getting a high-tech makeover. It’s been part of the holiday TV makeup since the 1960s and has remained relatively unchanged over the last 44 years. Hundreds of millions of viewers have tuned in to see the relaxing fireplace burning with classic Christmas music in the background. This year, though, you can make it feel…