[Social distancing requirements are leading producers of sports coverage – and many others – to get creative in simulating missing audience members. This story from Variety describes how Major League Baseball is addressing the issue with digital fans (see the original version for a 19 second video). SB Nation’s coverage (“The uncanny valley is full of Fox Sports’ virtual baseball fans”) characterizes it this way:

“In order to make the return of baseball feel more ‘alive’ on TV, Fox is adding full stadiums of virtual baseball fans that cheer and boo along with the action. It’s a means to make everything feel more normal, even during the wholly surreal pandemic era. Fox are by no means the first organization to try this, Cardboard cutouts have been used in Korea since baseball resumed, one soccer team used sex dolls and got fined for it.… read more. “Adding virtual baseball (and other) audience members during a pandemic”

[New Atlas reports on an innovative wearable design with several presence applications; the original story includes a 3:18 minute video (also available via YouTube) and more information is also available from Cornell University. The new paper includes this:

“Another interest[ing] application of FingerTrak in the future is to replace the glove or controller in [a] Virtual Reality setting, to free the hands in VR interaction. Moreover, FingerTrak can be used to control a robotic hand remotely and thus provide a novel means of human robot interaction where precise human hand manipulation is needed.” (p. 71:21)

–Matthew]

[Image: A digital model overlaid on a real hand, showing just how well the FingerTrak system can predict the positions of a wearer’s fingers. At the bottom right, a robot hand copies the wearer. Credit: Cheng Zhang]

Thermal camera bracelet reads your wrist to track your fingers

By Michael Irving
July 22, 2020

Capturing the complexities of the human hand is a difficult task – just ask any artist or animator.… read more. “Thermal camera bracelet reads your wrist to track your fingers”

[If you’re in the ISPR Presence Community Facebook group you saw this clever example of inverse presence a few days ago (along with several others lately); the story about it below is from Daily Star Trek News. CNET’s coverage adds this detail:

“A close-up of the fan-made holodeck interface screen says, ‘Early C21 Outdoor, Los Angeles City Park, Survival Mode, VELDT, Variation 7.’ According to [designer Arthur] Chadwick, VELDT is a nod to the short story called The Veldt by science fiction author and famous Los Angeles resident Ray Bradbury.”

Both stories include tweeted reactions and several more are in a story at commicbook.com. I find it interesting that some of the reactions, and the tone of the CNET story, express disappointment that 2020 isn’t a holodeck program – while it definitely has seemed dystopian, the revelation that we are living in a simulation would raise new, potentially more disturbing concerns (!).… read more. “Inverse presence: Discovery reveals 2020 is a Holodeck program”

[This New Atlas story about Eight360’s impressive virtual reality platform includes lots of references to compelling presence experiences (without using the term); see the original version for more pictures and the video mentioned at the end, and see the company’s website for more coverage and videos. –Matthew]

Eight360 Nova: A crazy, untethered, fully rollable VR motion platform

By Loz Blain
April 23, 2020

By far the most extreme gaming and simulation platform we’ve seen, the Nova places you in a fully untethered ball that’s free to spin in any direction, creating all sorts of wild gravity effects for total immersion in a range of different vehicle types.

It’s the work of New Zealand startup Eight360, which has risen from true garage status to produce what Founder/CEO Terry Miller calls, “the crazy spinning ball of death.” Terry spoke to us from a birthing center in Wellington just one day after the birth of his first child.… read more. “Eight360 Nova: A crazy, untethered, fully rollable VR motion platform”

[A clever campaign to promote travel to Iceland lets people release their pandemic-related (or other) stress by having their recorded screams broadcast into the empty and beautiful Icelandic countryside, creating presence as transportation until they can “come let it out for real.” This story from CBS News includes a 1:01 video (also available via YouTube) and a 6:54 minute news report about adapting to isolation. –Matthew]

Iceland is broadcasting the world’s screams to relieve coronavirus stress

By Sophie Lewis
July 16, 2020

People around the world are finding different ways to relieve stress during the coronavirus pandemic. Some have tried running, gardening, doing puzzles, cooking — but what about screaming?

Promote Iceland, which encourages tourism to the country, is encouraging people to scream to relieve pent up frustration. And even if you can’t travel to Iceland to do it, you can scream into your device and your voice will be broadcast throughout the empty Icelandic countryside.… read more. “Let It Out: Record your scream for broadcast into the empty Icelandic countryside”