[From FierceHealthIT]

California hospitals bring telehealth into the NICU

March 7, 2012 | By Sara Jackson

The University of California-San Diego Medical Center has teamed up with nearby Tri-City Medical Center to bring telehealth into the hospital’s neo-natal ICU unit, the hospitals recently announced.

The program offers full audio and video conferencing, which Tri-City physicians can use to consult with UCSD’s neonatal specialists on high-risk and emergency cases. The hope is to speed diagnoses and treatment plans for infants in distress, and possibly even reduce the need to transport fragile babies the 40 miles from Tri-City to UCSD, officials said.

“When a complex case arises our partners at Tri-City can request a consult and can contact us using the camera system,” Brett Meyer, UCSD’s medical director for telemedicine, said in a statement. “Our specialists can not only contribute to the care, but with telemedicine they are, in essence, virtually present in the room with the patient to render assistance.”… read more. “California hospitals bring telehealth into the neonatal ICU”

[From SIGNAL Online]

Navy Pursues a Better Attack Submarine Virtually

By Max Cacas, SIGNAL Online Exclusive
March 21, 2012

Technical advances in the field of virtual reality, also known as virtual worlds (VWs), are making it possible for the U.S Navy to tap into the collective expertise of its best submariners to design and build the next generation of attack submarines.

At the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, Rhode Island, designers are able to create collaborative environments for submarine development using a fully immersive virtual reality application similar to the popular Second Life environment, which enables them to interact with one another both audibly and visually. Numerous participants at remote sites worldwide are linked to one another through the Defense Department’s secure computer network.

Steven Aguiar is virtual worlds program manager at the NUWC Newport Division and oversees much of the current program work involving VWs and the design of command and control (C²) facilities on submarines.… read more. “US Navy pursues a better attack submarine virtually”

[From Business 2 Community]

Virtual World Real Potential

By Michael Katz, Published March 20, 2012

Walking into a bar or nightclub alone and striking up a conversation with a stranger is daunting for the majority of people. By nature, most people have insecurities which inhibit them from doing such a thing. But now, the latest addition to the world of virtual reality enables people to feel comfortable doing exactly that. Based within an application inside Facebook, Dot Friends allows users to determine exactly how they look, what they wear and even how they move on the dance floor.

The application, which is currently in Beta, lets users choose which places to “enter” anywhere in the world. Bars and nightclubs are represented by drop pins on a world map and on entering users are transported to a graphically enhanced experience of being inside a bar or club.… read more. “New Facebook app Dot Friends lets people visit and socialize in bars and nightclubs anywhere”

[From The Miami Herald;  the Cisco press release, which includes links to images, video and other coverage of the event, is available here]

Region’s first ‘virtual summit’ should set the trend

By Andres Oppenheimer
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com
March 7, 2012

The presidents of Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile did a smart thing the other day, which could save Latin America a lot of time, money and insufferable speeches in the future: they held the region’s first virtual summit.

The four leaders, who are preparing to launch a free trade bloc in June that will be known as the Alliance of the Pacific, met March 5 behind closed doors via video-conference. They were each sitting at a semi-circular table at their respective presidential palaces, flanked by their respective foreign and economy ministers, facing television plasmas where they could see their counterparts in a similar setting.… read more. “Latin American leaders’ ‘virtual summit’ should set the trend”

[From Atomic]

Virtual Reality comes to Skyrim

Killing the chickens at Whiterun never felt so good, but man, you will look like an idiot in this homebrew VR gear!

By Vito Cassisi
March 19, 2012

The idea of virtual reality interaction has intrigued the minds of many generations, yet has struggled to get a foothold in mainstream acceptance. Potential users have core expectations for VR technology including reliability, convincing immersiveness, and the ability to play without throwing up all over company.

An entrepreneur by the name of Chris Zaharia has produced his own “immersive” VR solution for playing Skyrim on PC, and has posted the instructions on his website.… read more. “Home-made ‘immersive’ VR solution for playing Skyrim”