[From OpEdNews.com] January 27, 2011 Game-Changing Narratives, Or: How Social Media is Changing Reality By Bud Goodall (about the author) Lately there has been a convergence of news narratives that coalesce into a series of otherwise disparate nouns: reality, gaming, social media, Tunisia, avatar envy, emotion, college-students-aren’t-learning-anything, the Internet, and revolution. For academics studying communication, the merger of these nouns spells good times, fascinating times, times that promise cool science and thought-provoking essays. For entrepreneurs, they provide investment opportunities. For the world beyond the academy and entrepreneurs, however, this new series of nouns creates life possibilities that are at once…

[A press release from The Media Development Authority of Singapore] New S$23 million research centre by NTU, ETH Zurich and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill will make virtual communication a reality This Singapore-Swiss-American partnership that spans three continents will revolutionise human communication in the 21st century Singapore, 26 January 2010 – Need to have a conference with others thousands of kilometres away? A glass-walled room lets all parties interact as if you were all together at one location. Can’t be physically present for a meeting? Send your avatar which will take on your appearance as well as gestures and even give…

[From The Nevada Appeal; a detailed article about Brock Enright’s “Videogames Adventure Services” is available in The New York Times here] [Larger image available here] Opinion Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Living on the edge of virtual reality By Ursula Carlson For the Nevada Appeal I like the words “virtual reality” because they suggest an alternate world, one that is not real, but that seems almost real. To me it’s like the world we encounter whenever we read a novel, watch a movie, recall scenes from the past or imagine scenes that might occur in the future. But this is not the way…

[From The Denver Business Journal; more information including a 3:09 minute video is available here] [Image: A demonstration of what an engineer sees inside Lockheed Martin’s Collaborative Human Immersive Laboratory] Inside Lockheed Martin’s out-of-this-world virtual-reality lab Denver Business Journal – by Greg Avery Date: Monday, January 24, 2011 – Last Modified: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 The newest advance at Colorado’s Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. campus isn’t as out-of-this-world as some of what’s made there, but it’s not exactly of this world, either. The Littleton-based division of Lockheed Martin Corp., the Bethesda, Md.-based defense and aerospace giant, this week publicly…

[From ESPN’s The Gamer blog] [Image: Hans Smith’s Association for Disabled Virtual Athletes will be featured in “MLB 11: The Show.”] Association for Disabled Virtual Athletes debuts in ‘The Show’ By Jon Robinson Jan 24, 2011 Hans Smith pitched his way through an up-and-down rookie year for the Cardinals last season. Don’t recognize the name? That’s because Smith is a virtual athlete who spent an entire season playing as himself in “MLB 10: The Show.” But Smith is anything but your average gamer. The 25-year-old baseball fanatic suffers from cerebral palsy, making it impossible for him to play the game…

[From The New York Times; more information and a 1:13 video are available here] Appearing Virtually at a Store Near You … By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN Published: January 18, 2011 Sexy may not be the first word that comes to mind to describe Barnes & Noble, but the sex appeal of the bookseller rose considerably this week among some readers of Esquire magazine. Beginning Tuesday, Brooklyn Decker, who was voted the sexiest woman alive by Esquire readers recently and is featured on the cover of its February issue, began appearing at the stores to pose for photographs with fans.…