[Here’s a bit of interesting presence history from My Modern Met; see the original story for three videos and three more images, and follow the many links for more information and examples. –Matthew] [Image: Circa 1830 French Peepshow Toy of the Tuileries via Etsy; see these and more views at TypePunchMatrix] Paper Peepshows: How People Experienced “Virtual Reality” in the 19th Century By Madyson DeJausserand November 10, 2022 Today, virtual reality technology involves putting on some sort of headset that can transform the world around you, from creating an immersive experience out of the Mona Lisa to seeing wilderness from…

[This short DesignTAXI story describes a new human-sized stuffed Teddy Bear created and marketed to evoke medium-as-social-actor presence. See the Loving Bear Puffy website for more information, many pictures, and testimonials including this one: “The first few days I felt a bit strange until I got used to his presence because he seems like a real person, but now I can’t imagine walking in and him not being home.” –Matthew] [Image: Source: Loving Bear Puffy website] Man-Sized Teddy Bear Is The Hunky Companion That Lets You Cuddle All Day Long By Mikelle Leow November 14, 2022 How often do you…

[As this story from VentureBeat reports, companies like Hour One and Synthesia are creating hundreds of thousands of “authorized deepfake” videos for thousands of businesses, which means encounters and interactions with digital “people” will become increasingly common.  –Matthew] [Image: Source: GRIT Daily] Why authorized deepfakes are becoming big for business By Sharon Goldman November 9, 2022 Natalie Monbiot, head of strategy at synthetic media company Hour One, dislikes the word “deepfakes.” “Deepfake implies unauthorized use of synthetic media and generative artificial intelligence — we are authorized from the get-go,” she told VentureBeat. She described the Tel Aviv- and New York-based…

[Mashable reports on how MSNBC’s real-time graphics team developed technology that let them be the “first to seamlessly transition from real life space into a digital one on live television” during coverage of the recent U.S. midterm elections. Note especially the comments at the end about planned future uses of the technology. See the original story for several other pictures and a 1:56 minute video “sample of the Capitol illusion in action.”  –Matthew] [Image: Screenshot from video in Mashable story] How MSNBC used tech from ‘The Mandalorian’ to bring election night to life Inside the beating, bustling, high-tech heart of…

[The continuing evolution of presence-evoking immersive technologies is enabling valuable use cases that enhance communication and users’ lives, as reported in this story from Futurism. See the original version for a different image, and for more details follow the link to the 14:28 minute video highlighted in the story. For more about Jenny and the Helping Hands community, see March 2022 coverage from Input.  –Matthew] [Image: Source: Input]   Sign Language in Virtual Reality Actually Looks Kinda Awesome Meta’s new finger tracking tech is actually pretty impressive. By Victor Tangermann November 1, 2022 Virtual reality isn’t all about legless avatars and…

[This first-person report from Here is Oregon describes what sounds like a very rich multi-sensory presence experience at the Portland Art Museum; see the original story for four more pictures and for more details and images, see coverage from OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) and the Portland Tribune, and visit the website of the Dutch design collective Polymorf. –Matthew] [Image: Participants take part in “Symbiosis,” an extended reality experience from Dutch design collective Polymorf that is making its international debut at PAM CUT in Portland. Credit: Ian Gillingham/Portland Art Museum] Extended reality experience ‘Symbiosis’ makes international debut in Portland By Jamie Hale…