[From Princeton Patch] [Image: Sandy Bay, Bahamas, from WavesDVD] Virtual Vacations Robin Birkel Posted on February 27, 2012 Traveling is a hobby of mine. Before kids, my husband and I traveled the world at any time. Now we have to wait for school vacations to take off on a new journey, which limits our winter getaways. That’s when I implemented virtual vacations. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” ~ St. Augustine I’ve always felt the need to fill the gap between vacations. Since my family loves foods from around the globe,…

[From CNET, where the story includes a 1:47 minute video] Brainwave-controlled skateboard is totally mental Chaotic Moon Labs’ Kinect-controlled skateboard was pretty awesome, but the company has managed to blow our minds with its Board of Imagination. Crave talks with one of the creators to find out how it works. by Bonnie Cha February 23, 2012 Remember the Board of Awesomeness, the Kinect-controlled motorized skateboard from CES? Well, it just got more awesome. The creator of this high-tech board, Chaotic Moon Labs, has come up with a new version called the Board of Imagination that works by reading your brain…

[From New Scientist’s One Per Cent blog; more details and a video are available from Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)] Virtual tailor’s dummy makes designing clothes easy 31 January 2012 Duncan Graham-Rowe, contributor Creating the pattern for a new dress design can be fiddly, so Amy Wibowo at the University of Tokyo, Japan, is using augmented reality to make it simpler. Six ceiling-mounted cameras are trained on the dummy and on two tools held by the designer, one for creating surfaces and other for cutting them. The tools and the dummy both have markers, so the cameras can work…

[From Kotaku] Google Glasses To Augment Gamers’ Reality Google is in the news this week not so much for their software and search offerings, but for their hardware, and whispers of an item yet to come. According to the New York Times, Google is developing a type of Android-based glasses that will, in some way, project content immediately into the wearer’s field of vision. The glasses reportedly include the features users have come to rely on in their smartphones, like GPS, cameras, and the ability to play and record audio. The Times reports: Several people who have seen the glasses,…

[From The Information Daily; more information about the ALIZ-E project is at here] Valentine’s Day – Time To Hug Your Favourite Robot? On St. Valentine’s Day, we want to be close to the ones we love. Researchers from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK are testing whether one day that special person in our life could be a robot. Source: European Commission Published Wednesday, February 15, 2012 Experiments have shown that children, for example, can become extremely attached to a robot playmate, but can the robot in turn can develop a bond with a human being? Could we…

[From AllThingsD via Telepresence Options, where the posts include a 3:58 minute video; other reviews are available at NewsFactor and TIME] Real Bonding With Family Around the TV Via Skyp Walt Mossberg January 25, 2012 As you read these words, millions of people are conducting video chats using the popular Skype service, now owned by Microsoft. Most of these calls are low-resolution encounters between two individuals, conducted over personal computers. This week, I tested a new device that aims to transform Skype video chats into room-size experiences, involving whole families or groups of friends on each end—seeing each other, chatting…