[Unfortunately this technology won’t be available for the trip to ISPR 2014 next month… This is a press release from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and Fraunhofer IAO via OpenPR; follow the links at the end for much more information including more photos] VR-HYPERSPACE – Flying in comfort using Virtual Reality Future technologies to help airline passengers experience increased comfort and space and an altered self-perception Press release of Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and Fraunhofer IAO 02-10-2014 Tübingen & Stuttgart, February 6, 2014 – Does this sound familiar? After a long check-in procedure you are finally…

[From the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus blog] Futurist Attends Educause Conference via ‘Doppelbot’ February 6, 2014 by Lawrence Biemiller Has your budget for attending conferences been slashed again? Here’s an idea: Send a remote-controlled robot instead. That’s how Bryan Alexander, a futurist and education-technology consultant, attended the Educause Learning Initiative conference, in New Orleans this week. Without leaving his home, in Vermont, he maneuvered a slightly-gawky, two-wheel “telepresence robot”–essentially, an iPad mounted on a sort of miniature Segway–around the Riverside Hilton’s meeting rooms. He chatted with friends and acquaintances, peered at conference posters, and even posed for pictures.…

[From 02] O2 launches ‘Wear the Rose’ – the first ever Oculus Rift sports experience Published: 06/02/2014 O2, proud partner of England Rugby, today announced that it has created ‘Wear the Rose’, the first fully immersive 360-degree virtual reality sports experience, using the revolutionary Oculus Rift technology. ‘Wear the Rose’ from O2 will allow fans to be immersed in a multi-sensory take-over and feel as though they are part of the Senior England Rugby Team, whether it’s a team talk from Captain Chris Robshaw, getting tackled by hooker Tom Youngs, or receiving a pass from fullback Mike Brown.…

[From The Creators Project, where the post includes animated gifs; more information and gifs are available on the Prosthetic Knowledge site] From Berlin To Tokyo, People Are Turning Their Faces Into Tablets By Ella Riley Adams — Feb 6 2014 With her Yamada Taro project, Katsuki Nogami explores ideas of international identity and the anonymity of technology. Yamada Taro is a placeholder Japanese name, like John Smith in the US. To create placeholder people, Nogami attached iPads to performers’ faces. The performers then took photos of people they encountered on the streets of Berlin and Tokyo. Each photo appeared on…

[The first of two art-related news posts today… this is from the Guardian; more information, including two videos, is available from the Tate‘s web site] Robots to roam Tate Britain at night Artist collective known as the Workers wins inaugural digital prize with plan to let loose remote-controlled robots in gallery at night Mark Brown, arts correspondent The Guardian, Thursday 6 February 2014 It is an enticing proposition: the chance to be all on your own in a gallery or museum in the middle of the night. Tate Britain may not allow that but it hopes for the next best thing.…

[From New Scientist, where the story includes a 1:33 minute video] Natural sense of touch restored with bionic hand 05 February 2014 by Douglas Heaven We have the world at our fingertips. A sense of touch can sometimes be as important as sight, helping us to avoid crushing delicate objects or ensuring that we hold on firmly when carrying hot cups of coffee. Now, for the first time, a person who lost his left hand has had a near-natural sense of touch restored thanks to a prosthesis. “I didn’t realise it was possible,” says Dennis Aabo Sørensen, who is so…

[Another story all about creating presence experiences, but without using the term; it’s from Wired, where you can find a second picture from Royal Caribbean] Cruise Ship’s 80-Inch ‘Virtual Balconies’ Livestream the High Seas By Damon Lavrinc 02.04.14 Passengers stuck in the bowels of Royal Caribbean’s latest behemoth can now pretend they’re living the high life with a “virtual balcony” — marketing-speak for an 80-inch HD display that pipes in real-time video to create a pseudo window, complete with a banister for “a feeling of safety.” Eighty-one interior staterooms aboard the 15-deck Navigator of the Seas will get screens that…