[From The Sydney Morning Herald, where the story includes more images and a 1:18 minute video] [Image: Pressing on in Hawaii, via Scenic Cycle’s Sydney spinning studio. Photo: Brendan Esposito] Scenic Cycle: Ride the world in virtual reality July 9, 2014 Stephen Lacey with Steve Colquhoun I’m huffing and puffing up one of the most iconic climbs in cycling folklore: the Alpe D’Huez in the French Alps. The mountain is a mainstay of the Tour de France and it’s definitely one that separates the sprinters from the climbers. Who can ever forget Marco Pantani’s battle with Jan Ullrich in 1997?…

[From the Los Angeles Times; more information is available from This Place and an article in BBC News, which includes a short video interview] London firm creates mind-controlled commands for Google Glass Salvador Rodriguez July 11, 2014 Forget voice commands and touch gestures: A London firm has developed a way for Google Glass users to control their devices just by thinking. This Place, an agency that specializes in creating user interfaces and experiences for programs used in the medical industry, developed a software called MindRDR that allows Google Glass to connect with the Neurosky MindWave Mobile EEG biosensor, a head-mounted…

[From Forbes] [Image: Raghuram Sukumar experiences the YouVisit Oculus Rift virtual college tour; a description and 1 minute video are available at Happy Schools] Virtual Reality And The Brave New World Of College Recruiting Chase Peterson-Withorn 7/07/2014 As colleges and universities face an increasingly tech-savvy applicant pool, many recruiters are seeking out novel ways to speak the new generation’s language. The launch of the Common Application in 1975 – and later online version in 1998 – was one of the most expansive attempts schools made toward revolutionizing the college admissions process. Originally 15 schools participated and last year it processed more…

[From Wired, where the story includes two more images] The Oculus Rift Game That’s So Real It Nearly Destroyed Me By Chris Kohler 07.10.14 I can hear the alien breathing. I’ve played lots of videogames, lots of run-and-gun shooters in which I happily charge down a corridor into certain death. Not this time. I’ve got my back pressed against the wall of an abandoned spaceship, and I’m inching down a hallway, my head darting left and right, looking for danger everywhere. And I wonder, is this the one? Is this the Oculus Rift demo where I rip the headset off…

[From Fast Company’s Co.Design, where the story includes another image. The much-missed Cliff Nass would have appreciated this.] The Psychology Of Anthropomorphic Robots Subtle anthropomorphic cues, such as faces or voices, increase robot humanity. Google’s self-driving car is onto something. Eric Jaffe June 16, 2014 By now we’ve all seen the prototype for Google’s self-driving car: a teeny little road bopper shaped like a gumdrop. What’s immediately striking is that the car seems to have a smiley face designed into the front. Headlights for eyes, a forward sensor for a nose, a bumper line for a mouth tilted slightly upward…

[From Newcastle University’s Institute of Neuroscience] [Image: Dr. Jeremy Parr, Paul Smith and Dr. Morag Maskey in the Blue Room. Source: The Journal] Children with autism overcome real-life fears in virtual world 3rd July 2014 Immersive reality can help children with autism spectrum disorder overcome their fears and phobias, new research has shown. In a study published today in PLOS ONE, experts at Newcastle University describe how, following treatment in an immersive virtual reality room, eight out of nine children were able to tackle the situation they feared. Four children were found to have completely overcome their phobias.…