[Some fans of television programs go to filming locations and take photos that include photos of characters and scenes from the show, apparently attempting to form (presence) connections to the places and people in the fictional world. As a fan of Orphan Black, I favor the ones by arcsloth on that program’s Tumblr; an example is below, followed by a story from The Huffington Post about (and featuring many examples of) the same phenomenon for Orange Is The New Black. -Matthew] Teen Trespasses On Abandoned ‘OITNB’ Set, Show Has Great Response By Taylor Pittman Posted: 07/06/2015; Updated: 07/08/2015 A Netflix…

[I like that this article about the various uses of VR and presence (it even uses the term) in politics points out both the benefits and dangers; it’s from Upload and includes more images and two videos. For details on Bernie Sanders’ use of VR (mentioned at the end) see coverage in Variety. –Matthew] How Virtual Reality Will Influence the 2016 Presidential Election For better or worse. by Will Mason July 19, 2015 Virtual reality is on the precipice of transforming our world in many ways. From the way we entertain ourselves, to the way we interact with one another,…

[Shades of Lars and the Real Girl, Ex Machina and other films: The founder of RealDoll has some intriguing things to say here about the future of presence interactions that go way beyond physical intimacy; the story is from PSFK and includes seven additional vivid images. –Matthew] Sex Dolls with Artificial Intelligence to Ease Your Loneliness (and Maybe Shoot You a Text) We talked to RealDoll CEO Matt Mullen about the company’s latest project: making robotic sex dolls that talk, text, and email back Laura Yan 8 July 2015 Abyss Creations, the company beyond Realdoll (life-sized, silicone sex dolls), wants…

[Here’s a vivid first-hand report about an interesting experimental use of VR to evoke presence; it’s from PCWorld, where the story includes two more images. –Matthew] Oculus Rift took me for a ride in a real car during Honda’s trippy Dream Drive They drove, and I watched VR that synced to the motion of the car. I was on a racetrack. In a space station. Trippy indeed. Martyn Williams, IDG News Service July 24, 2015 As I climbed into the car, I didn’t have high hopes. I was trying out Honda’s Dream Drive, a prototype technology that pairs an Oculus…

[This is an unusual example of presence involving perceiving a medium as a social actor; it’s from RocketNews24, where the story includes 13 additional images (via Sina News via Zaeega) (side note: when I accessed DesignTAXI’s coverage of the same story, an advertisement appeared for The Ashton-Drake Galleries Online’s sale of the “Waltraud Hanl ‘Sweet Butterfly Kisses’ ‘So Truly Real’ ’Touch Activated’ Interactive Baby Doll). –Matthew] [Image: Song Bo takes his “daughter” Xiao Die to an IMAX film.] Emotional pictures show lonely man’s trips out with “love doll” daughter [Photos] Fran Wrigley May 6, 2015 Two years ago, Song Bo…

[I’d like to see research results, but it seems likely that the VR component of this important campaign will lead to greater presence, persuasion, and hopefully behavior change, than the same information in video or text. The story is from USA Today, where it features a different image and the short (30 second) and long (3:53 minute) videos; for more information see the AT&T press release via PR Newswire. For details on Volkswagen’s interactive in-theater PSA “Eyes on the Road” (mentioned at the end of the story) see CTV News’ coverage and watch the 1:23 minute video on YouTube.…