[This AP story reports on some of the growing concerns about the impacts of deepfake technologies in the realm of politics in the US, and tentative steps to address the dangers with regulation. See the original version of the story for seven images from the August 10, 2023 FEC meeting. For recent related stories see “We’re not ready for the impact of generative AI on elections” (ZDNet) “This AI company releases deepfakes into the wild. Can it control them?” (Wired) “Hundreds of sexual deepfake ads using Emma Watson’s face ran on Facebook and Instagram in the last two days” (NBC…

[This Wired story reports on a new attempt to add the powerful cues of odors to presence experiences in virtual reality. Learn more at the Scentient website.  –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Robert Daly/Getty Images] Smell Your Way Out of the Uncanny Valley In simulated environments, smell is often the neglected sense. Scentient’s wearable device aims to bring a whiff of authenticity to virtual reality. By Andrew Kersley August 11, 2023 In the summer of 2016, teenagers Anastasia Georgievskaya and Ivan Novikov were walking along London’s South Bank, picking their way past the food stalls lining the Thames, when they caught an…

[In this essay from The Conversation, Ambrose University musicologist Alyssa Michaud describes her research about how audience members respond to holographic concerts like the successful ABBA Voyage. The original essay includes three more images and a video trailer. You can read her article “Locating liveness in holographic performances: Technological anxiety and participatory fandom at Vocaloid concerts,” in the journal Popular Music. For more about Professor Michaud see her Ambrose University and LinkedIn web pages. –Matthew] How ABBA Voyage and other avatar or ‘hologram’ concert performances evoke fans’ real responses By Alyssa Michaud, Assistant Professor of Music, Ambrose University July 13,…

[Researchers at the XR Lab at the University of California, Berkeley are using virtual reality and presence to better understand what design features of hospital facilities make children’s difficult patient experiences less stressful and unpleasant. This story from STAT News provides details; the Lab’s website has more information about this and other projects. The story doesn’t mention them, but a related design feature that takes advantage of presence and is used for some of the same benefits is virtual skylights and windows – see Healthcare Snapshots for some examples. –Matthew] [Image: Researcher Haripriya Sathyanarayanan observing as a pediatric participant explores…

[Descriptive scenarios set in different time periods are an engaging way to illustrate how and how quickly our use of technology – in this case presence-evoking technology – is advancing. This column by Mike Elgan in Computerworld is a good example. –Matthew] [Image: Screenshot from Apple Developer video “Platforms State of the Union” with a woman’s avatar presenting a whiteboard graphic of a Living Office Case Study; a caption of the narrator’s  audio from the video is at the bottom of the screen and says, “and feel more present like they are gathered in the same physical space.”] How spatial…

[Scientific American provides a cogent primer on the past, present and possible future of using technology to alter or replace human actors in film, television and video games. Among other insights, the story makes clear that digital alteration of people’s appearance and even the use of “digital doubles,” is and has long been very common. –Matthew] [Image: An employee stands in a cage in which dozens of cameras simultaneously capture his image during a presentation of a photogrammetry process at the headquarters of French video games developer and publisher Quantic Dream in Paris. The photogrammetry process is used to develop…