[This story from The Wall Street Journal considers the prospects for videoconferencing via virtual reality and concludes with the question of whether mass adoption would decrease or increase face-to-face meetings. See the original story for several more images and a detailed infographic. –Matthew] [Image: Developers are working on virtual-reality systems that one day could replace videoconferencing as a common tool for business meetings. Photo: iStockphoto/Getty Images] Virtual Reality Takes On the Videoconference If meetings are held in virtual reality with avatars, will people feel more connected? By Cat Zakrzewski Sept. 18, 2016 Get ready for your next conference call—in virtual…

[Another early-days but promising application of presence-evoking technology involves putting users ‘inside’ a city’s or nation’s technology infrastructure to maintain equipment and diagnose (and hopefully repair) problems; this story is from Fortune, where the original includes a 2:23 minute video. –Matthew] Virtual Reality Goes Electric Utility PG&E thinks VR technology may make inspecting equipment faster and safer. by Jonathan Vanian September 28, 2016 For an electric utility, a technical glitch could trigger a huge blackout, plunging entire cities into darkness. Typically such an event would require utility workers to scramble to a faraway substation. But what if they instead strap…

[Here’s an interesting perspective on the possibilities for presence-evoking technology from FedScoop. –Matthew] At DARPA, virtual reality is more than a toy Trung Tran, a program manager at DARPA, told an audience of virtual reality enthusiasts about the agency’s current goals, urging them to consider government partnership if they have big ideas. By Samantha Ehlinger September 27, 2016 For virtual reality to become more than another quick-to-fade fad like 3-D televisions or the overhyped Google Glass, it needs the type of careful nurturing that only government can give it through long-term developmental investments, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program…

[This post from SAP Community Network provides a thoughtful consumer’s observations on prolonged in-home use of VR; it’ll be interesting to revisit these and others’ observations as presence technologies evolve. –Matthew] 3 months in Virtual Reality, what I learned so far… Posted by Patrick Willer on Sep 5, 2016 I can vividly remember my first VR experience. It was 25 years ago! It was early 1990s. I was a teenager addicted to video games. When I wanted more sensation than my Game Boy could provide, there was only one option: the arcade hall. My favorite happy place took my pocket…

[This story from The Guardian highlights one of, if not the, most important applications of presence-evoking technology, the preservation of individual and cultural history. The original version includes an additional image and a 0:51 minute video; also see “Holocaust Survivor Experiences Her Own Rescue in Virtual Reality“ (which includes a video) in TIME. –Matthew] The virtual Holocaust survivor: How history gained new dimensions Pinchas Gutter survived a Nazi death camp – and now his story will live on through a hologram that can answer your questions Thomas McMullan 18 June 2016 Pinchas Gutter goes out of his way to find…

[Presence-evoking technology continues to advance toward the visions imagined in science fiction; note especially the possibilities for fully interactive videoconferencing and entertainment mentioned in this press release from the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute. –Matthew] [Image: Right in the middle of the action with VR glasses: A new camera system virtually represents people naturally and realistically. © Photo Fraunhofer HHI] Beam me up to the video conference When science fiction heroes communicate, they don‘t use landlines or cell phones. The caller simply appears in virtual form in the middle of the room; full sized and three dimensional. For…