[This story from PCWorld (where it includes more images and a video) makes a great point about what it takes to evoke a compelling sense of presence rather than just a compelling media experience. -Matthew] For virtual reality to be perfect, it needs to be less perfect Arcades that don’t feel like arcades, living rooms that don’t feel lived in—we take a look at virtual reality’s problem with perfection. Hayden Dingman Games reporter, PCWorld Sep 29, 2015 I’ve been pondering suspension of disbelief lately. It’s a thing we’re all familiar with, I think. It’s the state that keeps us from…

[It’s hard to imagine being able to not experience presence in this new CableRobot Simulator; the story is from Road to VR and features a 2:30 minute video; more information is in the Fraunhofer IPA press release. –Matthew] ‘CableRobot’: A Crazy Motion Platform for Complete VR Immersion, If it Doesn’t Kill You By Paul James – Sep 28, 2015 Now that some of the hardware problems surrounding virtual reality, such as 1:1 head tracking and high frame-rate displays, are being resolved, the ways in which a player’s physiology can be brought in line with the mind are being looked to…

[Natural Reality 2:1 uses VR to make us contemplate the roles of technology and nature in our lives; this story is from The Creators Project blog (where it includes more images). There’s more information about the production in a post on the Abundance Generation blog and a first-hand user report in a second post there. –Matthew] Escape into the Virtual Countryside By Kevin Holmes — Sep 25 2015 Virtual reality transports Londoners from the center of the capital to the rural marshes of east England in filmmaker Dorothea Gibbs, and Third Channel productions’ Natural Reality 2:1—produced by Rupert Lloyd and…

[It looks like live streaming of sports, news and other events in virtual reality is going to be a regular thing; I couldn’t find a link for the GOP debate clip mentioned in this Mashable story, but the author provides a first-person report about the sense of ‘being there’ that he got from watching it in VR. It’d be interesting to study viewer reactions to watching the upcoming Democratic debate live on TV and in VR. –Matthew] You’ll see the Democratic presidential debates in virtual reality, thanks to CNN Jason Abbruzzese September 24, 2015 CNN is offering you a front-row…

[This story includes detailed descriptions of the design process for a new high-end ‘virtual’ classroom and quotes from students using it that indicate it’s effective at evoking presence; the story is from Fortune and includes two more pictures. –Matthew] [Image: Strategy professor Bharat Anand leads a session in Harvard Business School’s new virtual classroom. Photograph Courtesy Harvard Business School] Harvard Business School really has created the classroom of the future Whether they’re in Beijing, Warsaw, or San Francisco, every student in Harvard’s HBX Live! virtual classroom now sits front and center. By John A. Byrne August 25, 2015 (Poets&Quants) —…

[Fiction both predicts and influences the development of technologies – in this Fast Company story (which features other pictures and three videos), the MIT Media Lab graduate serving as a consultant on the new FOX series Minority Report says “We’re imagining telepresence as being like the Skype of 2065.” If you’re interested in studying portrayals of presence, check out the new website for the Telepresence in Media Environments project (and let us know if you’re interested in contributing). –Matthew] How MIT Media Lab Pictured the Future of Tech And Marketing For “Minority Report” The producers followed Steven Spielberg’s lead and…