[While technology-based presence experiences are usually designed to simulate ‘normal’ non-mediated human experiences of the world, they can become even more intuitive and direct, as with brain control interfaces. This story from Engadget explains the potential in reviewing a new developer kit for the NextMind BCI. For a similarly positive assessment see coverage in TechCrunch, which includes this:] “NextMind’s system is elegantly simple in conception, which is probably why it feels so powerful and rich in use. After the calibration process, I immediately jumped into the demos and was performing a range of actions effectively with my brain. First was…

[In this engaging first person story from Newsweek, the CEO of the Utherverse 3D virtual reality social network provides insights into the platform’s origins, evolution, and design philosophy and the experiences of users that mimic those in the physical world. See the original story for three more images and a 15 minute video. –Matthew] ‘I Run a Virtual Reality Dating Network Where You Can Have Sex and Marry’ Brian Shuster, CEO of Utherverse December 13, 2020 Before I was creating avatar real world representations, I was a key innovator for the very early internet in the 90s. Around that time,…

[The prospect of extremely realistic, presence-evoking masks that can make one person appear to be another is entertaining in the Mission: Impossible franchise (see a Variety story and CinemaBlend video compilation), but it raises all kinds of practical and ethical issues. The story below from Vice features an interview with the head of a Japanese company “buying faces” of members of the public to reproduce them in mask form in what it calls the “That Face” project. The original story features seven different pictures and a 28 second video also available via YouTube (for some reason the story introduction overlooks…

[The company Zylia has developed a new set of immersive audio technologies that expand the potential for evoking spatial presence. The original version of this VRScout story, which was “created in partnership” with Zylia, includes four different images and a third video (“Navigable 360 music streaming experience with the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra”; also available via YouTube). An August 2020 story from Audio Media International adds this detail: “’Applications of 6DoF audio and our technology are wide. Cinematic trailers for VR projects, naturally sounded audio for games, live performances recording, artistic audio content for domes with multi-loudspeakers installations, or virtual presentation…

[A new study explores the connections between two types of presence-related experience. Apparently opportunities or reasons to question the reality status of our experience, including those in VR, helps us initiate lucid dreaming in which we can control what happens. This story from Inverse describes the study and its interesting implications; see also “Scientists engineer dreams to understand the sleeping brain. Technologies such as noninvasive brain stimulation and virtual reality gaming offer insights into how dreams arise and what functions they might serve” in The Scientist. –Matthew] HOW VIRTUAL REALITY CAN UNLOCK AN ELUSIVE DREAM STATE Am I dreaming? By…

[As reported by Finnair’s Blue Wings magazine, the airline’s virtual flights to visit Santa are not only an entertaining holiday experience for children and families during a pandemic but suggest future widespread applications of the presence-evoking technology. See the original story for a second image; a 15 second trailer is available on YouTube, as is a 2:30 minute promotional video from Visit Rovaniemi titled “Santa Claus presents: Welcome to Rovaniemi, my official hometown in Lapland, Finland”; for more on the Finnish VR studio Zoan, see the company’s website. –Matthew] FINNAIR’S PIONEERING VR HOLIDAY FLIGHTS POINT TO THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL…