[Here’s an update and first person report on the evolution of how fans experience sports, in this case basketball via VR. See the original version of the Fast Company story for three different images and a 1:01 minute video; see coverage in USA Today for an interview with Jay Jenyagram of Intel Sports; and see the Intel True VR (“Be There From Anywhere”) website for more information.–Matthew] I watched the NBA Playoffs in VR, and it’s going to change how you watch sports Intel’s push into VR sports has shifted from a tech-first approach to now being driven by making…

[This VentureBeat story describes how Volvo is using Varjo’s high-resolution HMDs to let car designers test drive real cars with virtual features: “With this kind of technology it will eventually be difficult for you to tell if you are sitting in a faux car in an office or in a real car in a parking lot or really driving a mountain road in the woods.” See the original version for more pictures. –Matthew] [Image: For safety, a passenger in the back seat can warn a driver in the front seat during Varjo’s testing. Credit: Varjo.] Varjo teams up with Volvo…

[This long but very interesting story from The Atlantic doesn’t use the term presence but the concept and phenomenon is at its center – note some of the interesting ways people in long-distance relationships are said to use communication technologies to feel both physically together and psychologically connected over distance. See the last two sentences for a nicely put summary of some key points, and see the original version of the story for additional material not included here. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Alessandra De Cristofaro] The New Long-Distance Relationship The same technological and economic developments that are pulling couples apart are…

[The role of evolution in how we perceive and respond to subtle social cues, and the implications for the design of technologies that evoke medium-as-social-actor presence, are explored in this story from Engadget. See the original for four different images. –Matthew] [Image: Source: MyRecordJournal] Why putting googly eyes on robots makes them inherently less threatening We can exploit our social nature to be nicer to AIs. Andrew Tarantola May 22, 2019 At the start of 2019, supermarket chain Giant Food Stores announced it would begin operating customer-assisting robots — collectively dubbed Marty — in 172 East Coast locations.…

[The creation of presence experiences can help people understand and hopefully prevent some of the war and suffering in our world. This story is from artnet News, where it includes five of Julia Leeb’s works; for more information see interviews in Deutschland.de and She’s Mercedes as well as julialeeb.com. –Matthew] [Image: The photographer, VR filmmaker, and artist Julia Leeb. Photo courtesy of the artist.] How War Photographer Julia Leeb Is Using Virtual Reality and Art to Let Comfortable People Experience the Terror of Conflict Zones Can VR instill empathy for those suffering thousands of miles away? Sophie Neuendorf May 27,…

[A new UNESCO report describes how gender biases in our culture are being reinforced by the virtual assistants we create. The story below is from The New York Times and for more on how technology developers are addressing these and related ethical problems, see a recent story in Fast Company. –Matthew] [Image: From left: the Apple Homepod, Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Their voice-activated assistants reinforce problematic gender stereotypes, Unesco says in a new report. Credit: Jason Henry for The New York Times.] Siri and Alexa Reinforce Gender Bias, U.N. Finds By Megan Specia May 22, 2019 Why do most…