[I’m always looking for interesting new applications of presence to share here, and this one definitely qualifies (plus it involves my undergraduate alma mater). The story is from the University of California, Riverside’s Inside UCR and is followed by more details from the website of Groove Jones, the creator of the Virtual TasteTrek Citrus experience. The Givaudan website includes even more information and features a 2:31 minute promotional video and a 3:47 minute 360 degree interactive video (also available via YouTube here and here). –Matthew] Givaudan brings its Virtual Taste Trek to Riverside Virtual reality goggles and scent tubes recreate…

[The story below from The New York Times explores how some of today’s technologies provide a strong sense of social connection for people in quarantine due to the Coronovirus; see the original version for more images and a sidebar about the virus. For more on the value of presence-evoking technologies as the virus spreads, see these stories: Chinese property firms bank on virtual reality as virus fears hit market (Reuters) How to protect hospital assistants from coronavirus? Use robots (ThePrint) The Coronavirus Has Bigger Implications Than [now-cancelled Mobile World Congress] (Forbes) 4 Pragmatic Ways Immersive Healthcare Can Help Alleviate The…

[This short piece from TimeOut Tokyo provides information about a touring exhibition that uses floor-to-ceiling projections and corresponding sounds to immerse visitors in the paintings of Claude Monet and other Impressionists. See the original version for four different images. For more information see the website for the Florence version of the exhibition and the 3:15 minute Monet Experience Official Trailer via YouTube, and the website for the current version of the exhibition in Brussels and a 4:15 minute video visit. A 2018 post in ISPR Presence News describes an immersive VR exploration of Monet’s ‘Water Lilies.’ –Matthew] [Image: Screenshot graphic…

[Raising questions about the nature (and potentially the ethics) of children’s presence experiences, a new product for young children utilizes Alexa in the ‘pretend’ play, as reported in this story from CNET. See the original version for a second image, a 0:40 minute promotional video and a 6:03 minute first-look video from the New York Toy Fair. –Matthew] [Image: KidKraft makes the Alexa 2-in-1 Kitchen and Market, a $300 play set that interacts with the Amazon Alexa voice assistant (Echo not included). Credit: KidKraft.] The first Alexa toy is a $300 kitchen for kids, packed with dad jokes We check…

[mHealthIntelligence reports on a new effort to expand the use of virtual reality and presence to medical treatment at home. For more information see coverage in VRWorldTech Magazine: Issue 2, XRHealth videos on YouTube, and a related second mHealthIntelligence story. –Matthew] [Image: Graphic screenshot from XRHealth – Smarter Tools for Smarter Recoveries video via YouTube.] New Clinics Use Telehealth to Bring VR Treatments to the Patient’s Home This March, payers and care providers in eight states and the District of Columbia will be able to prescribe VR therapy through a telehealth clinic, giving patients the chance to receive treatment at…

[Wired reports on Projekt Melody, a new multi-platform interactive cartoon character designed to evoke social presence and at least partially succeeding (with echoes of the film Her in the second-to-last paragraph). For other features regarding presence and sexuality, see a different Wired story about Henry, a new AI-enabled male sex doll from RealBotix; a 23:37 minute Think About This podcast discussion titled “Is Sex With A Robot Cheating?”; a 7:28 minute discussion about sex robots from WSAU Wisconsin Morning News; and a humorous but thought-provoking 6:14 minute video segment about “Robosexuals” from HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher via YouTube.…