[This story from Wired reviews the evolution of NextVR’s coverage of football and basketball and includes implicit and explicit references to presence, discussion of the potential for memory confusions between 3-D VR and in-person game experiences, and the obstacles to widespread adoption of live experiences of sports via VR. See the original story for several more images.—Matthew]

The NFL’s New VR Highlights Take Football to a Whole New Level

Tim Moynihan
12.11.16

Deep in the second quarter of the New York Giants’ win over the Chicago Bears on November 20, Giants quarterback Eli Manning slung a short pass to running back Rashard Jennings, who was forced out of bounds at the 28 after a five-yard gain. Nothing about the play, which lasted all of six seconds, stood out as particularly noteworthy. Except for one thing: Safety Deon Bush and linebacker Danny Trevathan shoved Jennings out of bounds right in front of NextVR’s bug-eyed sideline camera.… read more. “NextVR is taking 3-D VR experiences of football and basketball to a whole new level”

[According to economist Richard Baldwin, presence is playing a crucial role in the latest phase of a 200,000 years long trend of globalization. This story is from Quartz, where the original includes more images (including the global income chart mentioned). –Matthew]

Brace yourself: the most disruptive phase of globalization is just beginning

Eshe Nelson
December 07, 2016

To properly understand globalization, you need to start 200,000 years ago.

Richard Baldwin skillfully takes on this daunting task in a new book, starting all the way back with the hunter-gatherers. For too long, he says, traditional analysis of trade has been too narrow, he argues.

The economist, who is a professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva and president of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London, has been researching globalization and trade for 30 years. As anti-globalization forces now sweep across the world, The Great Convergence: Information Technology and the New Globalization (Harvard University Press) is well timed.… read more. “Economist: Telepresence and telerobotics are driving latest phase of globalization”

[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 real world.” The original review includes other pictures; I’ve added light editing for typos. Another, more skeptical but also very positive, review is available from Socialmedia.biz. –Matthew]

Review: The Fourth Transformation

The Fourth Transformation:
How Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence Will Change Everything
by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel.… read more. “The Fourth Transformation: How Augmented Reality & Artificial Intelligence will change everything (review)”

[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 of birds overhead when something shook her view. The voice of Ralph Anderson, her gynecologist, broke through the sound of the waterfall next to her.

“We’re ready to push!” he said, gently taking Martucci’s virtual reality headset off and bringing her back to a hospital room at Orange Regional Medical Center in Middletown, New York.… read more. “Can virtual reality (and presence) help women cope with childbirth?”

[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 — new technologies since the invention of the printing press. Mainstream tech like VCRs and DVDs, streaming video, encryption, even credit card verification all owe at least some of their success to porn. Could virtual reality be next?… read more. “VR, AR and sexuality: A more realistic and psychologically intimate illusion?”