[This book review from Medium, and apparently the book The Fourth Transformation, is a nice introduction to the rapid development of presence-evoking technologies since the 1940s and into the future. A sample quote: “The key to the fourth transformation is an emerging suite of technologies that will dissolve the boundary between what we see on our screens and the world around us. Rather than seeing them confined to the frame of a computer screen or a mobile device, we will be able to generate a convincing illusion that our digital creations have jumped into what we used to call the…

[This story from The Guardian is about another promising application of presence; the discussion toward the end about the best types of virtual environment for this context is particularly interesting. The original article includes more pictures. –Matthew] [Image: Erin Martucci and her daughter. Photograph: Mary Bratton] Can virtual reality help women cope with childbirth? Erin Martucci is believed to be the first to use a virtual reality headset to manage her pain during labor, and doctors hope more women will follow Tina Amirtha Friday 9 December 2016 Erin Martucci had been enjoying the beach vista and gazing at a flock…

[In addition to the quote in the first section about how sexuality is the best context for illustrating the promise of VR, I think the section in this story from GeekWire titled “The girlfriend experience” is particularly interesting – it argues that VR and AR have the potential to offer a new level of psychologically intimate sexual experience. The original story includes more images. –Matthew] Virtual reality porn is just foreplay: Why augmented reality is the future of adult entertainment By Monica Nickelsburg on November 16, 2016 The adult industry has been propelling — and in some cases initiating —…

[This story from The Register is an interesting first-person account of the experience of using a Beam telepresence robot (‘unit’) to attend an IT conference. –Matthew] I was a robot and this is what I learned The internet of me 7 Dec 2016, Trevor Pott Sysadmin blog For one brief instant, Microsoft was the good guy. Deep within the often customer-hostile behemoth, left after the arrogance and straight on past the victim blaming is the office of Brian First, with the Microsoft Experience Design Group. Alongside a company called Event Presence, Brian made me feel like a real person, actual…

[The new Global Virtual Reality Association (GVRA) seems likely to play an important role in the development of a key presence-related industry; this story is from Engadget, where it includes a different image; the official press release is available from PR Newswire. –Matthew] Biggest names in VR band together to create industry standards GVRA isn’t exactly the catchiest name Cherlynn Low December 7, 2016 The world’s most popular virtual reality headset makers have assembled. Google, Oculus, Sony, HTC, Samsung and Acer have come together to create a non-profit organization called the Global Virtual Reality Association (or the far snappier GVRA,…

[Journalism continues to explore how best to use presence-evoking technologies to engage and inform; this is from Reveal’s website, where you can access various versions of the Disfellowshipped production. –Matthew] Disfellowshipped: A virtual reality experience By Trey Bundy / November 29, 2016   Our first virtual reality production, Disfellowshipped, is an attempt to help push forward the possibilities of immersive storytelling in journalism – to tell a narrative, character-rich, investigative story in VR. Media outlets around the world are getting their feet wet in the VR world, and some astonishing work has been done. But so far, VR largely has…