[This story from VRScout reminded me of the “infinite regression” or “simulations within simulations” scenario (see Jones, Lombard, and Jasak, 2011), portrayed in the 1999 film The Thirteenth Floor. To demonstrate how VR can be (and in the future will more easily and commonly be) used to create immersive experiences, developer Quentin Valembois spent 24 hours in virtual reality creating a virtual reality game. See the original story for two more images and watch the 9:31 minute video via YouTube. On a related topic, see the New World Notes blog post, “Why Are We Not Having Conferences About The Metaverse…

[Geography students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) can learn about earthquakes by experiencing vivid simulations from a variety of perspectives thanks to a combination of virtual reality and vibrating platforms. See the original version of this story for two additional images. For more on this topic see the ISPR Presence News posts “Big Shaker mobile earthquake simulator used to increase awareness and safety” (October 2019) and “An earthquake simulator to treat PTSD in New Zealand” (June 2012). –Matthew] [Image: The VR tech adds a touch of realism to the learning experience, allowing students to immerse themselves in various…

[A new, important and all-too-timely benefit of the presence evoked by passive viewing of virtual exercise from the first-person perspective has been found in a study from Tohoku University. For more details see the published study. –Matthew] [Image: Figure 2 from the new study: Participants and the virtual bodies in the virtual scenario: (A,D) male and female participants sitting, wearing the visor and looking in the direction that was coherent with their group assignment in order to see the avatar (the male is looking down, towards himself; the female is looking to her left side), respectively; (B) (static phase) and (C)…

[A new technology demonstrated by University College London researchers offers the possibility of “fully immersive real-world simulations without the need for clunky headsets or goggles.” The details and links to more information are in this UCL news release and watch a 2:42 video about the new tech on YouTube. –Matthew] Levitating objects with sound could revolutionise virtual reality and 3D printing 21 June 2022 Using sound to levitate something when there are other objects in the way has been shown for the first time by UCL researchers and could lead to advances in the manufacturing and entertainment sectors. The findings…

[The headline of this Washington Post story is premature since Amazon is still developing the feature, but the ability to have Alexa speak in the voice of someone who has died based on only a minute’s worth of voice recordings represents another example of ways technology can be used to evoke presence after death. The excerpt from coverage in The Verge that follows below notes that Amazon’s senior VP and head scientist of Alexa artificial intelligence “said the feature could enable customers to have ‘lasting personal relationships’ with the deceased.” Of course as the Washington Post sub-headline notes, this raises…

[In this post from No Jitter, a long-time “independent communications technology consultant” reports on his experience at a recent virtual conference event and provides observations and predictions about the prospects for this application of presence-evoking technology; follow the link to his 5:30 minute video (on YouTube) and see his About page for links to other presence-related posts and videos. –Matthew] Virtual Events in VR: The Reality An industry analyst shares his thoughts on the VR option for NICE’s recent Interactions event. By Tom Brannen June 21, 2022 As someone who is super interested in virtual reality (VR), I jumped at the…