[From The Hindu] Berlin, March 30, 2011 The driving experience of the future, a blend of real and virtual In the world envisioned by conceptual architect Juergen Mayer H, driving a car is a blend of digital, virtual and conventional reality. Imagine the year is 2030 and you are driving through a virtual city named Pokeville in a free car, which you accessed from a pool. You are showing a visitor around and, in a bid to impress the person, you have decided to ban the ugly buildings, rubbish heaps and ghettos from the tour. No problem: Just press the…

[From Fast Company’s Co.Design] Condition ONE App Makes War Reporting Immersive and Scary [Video] War correspondent Danfung Dennis wants his DSLR-powered newsgathering technology to change the visual language of video journalism John Pavlus Posted March 28, 2011 DSLRs can make gorgeously cinematic images out of just about anything you stick in front of them — including war, death, and destruction. (Somehow, Hollywood-style tracking shots don’t seem an appropriate way to cover post-earthquake Japan.) Award-winning war correspondent/DSLR videographer Danfung Dennis thinks the visual language of conflict photojournalism is “dying” — and with an interactive system called Condition ONE, he’s trying to…

[From The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW); a 1:02 minute video is available here] Fruit Ninja live, bring your overcoat by Dana Franklin (RSS feed) on Mar 28th 2011 Your virtual overcoat, that is. Students in a virtual reality workshop at the FH Wedel University of Applied Sciences cloned Fruit Ninja, the best-selling game for smartphones and tablets, in 3D using the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE). The result is a life-size, fully immersive fruit slicing experience that transforms the casual game into a serious workout where players slay seedy sprouts with their (almost) bare hands.…

[From DigInfo.TV, where the story includes additional pictures and a 1:41 minute video] Paranga Adding Tactile Feedback to E-Reader Devices 23 March 2011 At Interaction 2011, a research group with members from Osaka University demonstrated the Paranga, a device which recreates the sensation of turning pages when using an e-book reader. “E-books are becoming popular, but the only feedback they give you is pictures and sound. For example, if you want to skip ahead several pages in an e-book, you scroll with your finger to the desired position. But the problem is, that’s not very intuitive. The advantage of this…

[From The Guardian’s Film blog] 3D technology has even sceptical directors embracing another dimension From Herzog to Coppola, big names are filming stereoscopically – and the technique’s full potential is still to be revealed Posted by Ben Walters Thursday 17 March 2011 guardian.co.uk Six years ago, 3D cinema seemed about as likely a candidate for a revival as Odorama. Today it owns the multiplex. After swiftly dominating CG animated features, it gained toe-holds in horror, action and concert films, achieving inarguable momentum even before the success of Avatar. Now – objectionable as it might be to refuseniks such as Walter…

[From DigInfo TV, where the story includes additional pictures and a 1:35 minute video] 3D Multi-Viewpoint Fog Projection Display 17 March 2011 At Interaction 2011, a research group from Osaka University exhibited a fog display that enables multi-viewpoint observation. “Ordinary fog displays use a single projector with fog on a flat surface, but this display uses three projectors, each showing a different picture. So when the observer moves around the fog, they get a three-dimensional view.” This system utilizes the fact that dispersion of light by fog has directionality. It projects different pictures, from different angles, onto a cylindrical fog…