[Arizona State University is using virtual reality to teach biology lab courses, and considering expanding the use of the presence-evoking technology to other fields and eventually incorporating AI for individualized teaching. This story from azcentral has the details and highlights some of the advantages; more information is available in ASU Now and the Google AR & VR blog. –Matthew]

[Image: Biological sciences student Victoria Quintana tries out a headset for a virtual-reality biology lab class during a trial run with Labster on the Tempe campus in June. Credit: Photo by Charlie Leight; Source:  ASU Now.]

ASU online biology course allows students to dissect animals — with no cutting involved

Rachel Leingang, Arizona Republic
August. 23, 2018

School supplies for some students in online biology classes at Arizona State University now include virtual reality goggles, a move toward further online science-lab instruction that many academics considered off-limits in the recent past.… read more. “ASU partners with Google, Labster to use VR for biology lab classes, now planning expansion”

[Presence field trip alert! The story from The Verge below provides a detailed description of Two Bit Circus, a new “micro-amusement park” opening in Los Angeles that uses a variety of technologies to evoke presence in “a tech-infused entertainment utopia wrapped in a circus-meets-Ready Player One aesthetic.” See the original story for lots of pictures and videos. –Matthew]

HOW TWO BIT CIRCUS IS TURNING ITS 21ST CENTURY CARNIVAL INTO ONE GIANT GAME

The ‘micro-amusement park’ combines VR, escape rooms, and carnival games to create a grand, playable adventure

By Bryan Bishop
August 22, 2018
Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales

Throw out the term “amusement park,” and it conjures up visions of roller coasters and rides and costumed characters in massive, franchise-themed lands. But inside a warehouse in the downtown arts district of Los Angeles, a company called Two Bit Circus is building its own idiosyncratic riff on the idea, focused on the power of games.… read more. “Two Bit Circus “micro-amusement park” will create entertaining, social presence in L.A.”

[Much of the coverage (and many of the company and product names) include terrible puns, but the expiration of “the teledildonics patent” has serious implications for the phenomena, design and study of presence experiences related to sexuality. This story is from Motherboard, where the original includes additional images. Gizmodo has more information about the effects of the patent expiring on innovation, Wired covers security and privacy concerns (including “attackers manipulating partner match ups, [so that] people might be controlling devices that they don’t have the consent to control”), and Engadget has a first-person report on the experience of using teledildonic devices. PS.: For more on the origin of the term, including Howard Rheingold’s contribution, see Future of Sex. –Matthew]

The 20-Year Patent on Teledildonics Has Expired

The 1998 patent on “interactive virtual control of sexual aids” has expired, but that doesn’t mean we should have a sex toy free-for-all.… read more. “How expiration of 20-year teledildonics patent will lead to presence innovation and worries”

[I wish Cliff Nass could weigh in on the latest tests of the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm; this story from The Washington Post summarizes and provides links for intriguing recent work that explores how children and adults respond to robots. More information about the replication of the Asch conformity studies is available in the University of Plymouth press release and in coverage from The Verge and Gizmodo (which both specifically discuss CASA) and a critique is presented in The Next Web. –Matthew]

Children can be swayed by robot peer pressure, study says

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Reporter
August 15, 2018

When the robot revolution arrives, we all know the plot: Smarter machines will supersede human intelligence and outwit us, enslave us and destroy us. But what if it’s not artificial intelligence we have to fear, but artificial stupidity?… read more. “Children can be swayed by robot peer pressure, study says”

[This short story from Adweek describes a clever new use of augmented reality to evoke presence; see the original for the 1:04 minute video, and coverage in designboom for more information, the video and several more images. –Matthew]

W+K Amsterdam’s AR App Can Turn a Vinyl Record Into a Mind-Bending Lava Lamp

Agency launches LAVA platform with 11-track album

By David Griner
August 2, 2018

One of the most fascinating tech demos I saw at this year’s Cannes Lions was unfortunately also one I wasn’t allowed to talk about—until today. Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam has launched an augmented-reality platform that blends art and music, creating 3-D animations that hover over a vinyl record and correspond with the specific track that’s playing.

To roll out the platform, the agency partnered with Amsterdam musician Necessary Explosion on his 11-track debut album, SOS. Listeners who download the Necessary Explosion iOS app can watch what W+K describes as “psychedelic AR sculptures that accompany the soulful, ’70s vibe of each song.”… read more. “AR app platform LAVA turns vinyl records into 3D ‘music you can see’”