[An interesting interdisciplinary project at Virginia Tech is using presence evoked by virtual reality to help students design more sustainable buildings while learning about the architecture, history and culture of the Middle East. See the original story from the university for a 1:44 minute video. –Matthew] [Image: Mohamed Ali, a graduate student in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design at Virginia Tech, uses a VR headset in the Interior Design VR Lab. Credit: Luke Hayes] Virtual reality transports designers into the past for sustainable solutions to heat By Lindsey Byars December 14, 2023 The United States experienced record high…

[Stories about a grieving parent or partner working to create a digital simulation of a loved one who has died are not new. But according to this story from AFP via France 24, creating presence after death is become particularly common, and a “booming” industry, in China. And the phenomenon isn’t limited to separation due to death or to specific technologies: The simulated humans “range from those who have died to living parents unable to spend time with their children and – controversially – a heartbroken woman’s ex-boyfriend. Clients can even hold video calls with a staff member whose face…

[A new study by researchers at the University of Bath and published in the 2023 CHI Conference proceedings explored the separate and combined contributions to presence of visual realism, field of view, emotions (fear and happiness) and apparent agency in virtual reality games. Details and the interesting findings are in the press release from the University below; see the original version for a 1:13 minute video (also available on Vimeo), and follow the link to the study for more details and supplementary materials. –Matthew] VR users need an emotional connection to virtual worlds, not better graphics – study finds Being…

[This essay from CleanTechnica recaps the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on the use of remote work and the “idiotic battle over remote vs. in-person work.” The author points out some of the many benefits of remote work and suggests (tele)presence-enhancing solutions to address some of the negative effects. See the original version for a second image and the Lex Fridman-Mark Zuckerberg interview (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] VR Telepresence Takes More Anti-Remote Excuses Away By Jennifer Sensiba November 29, 2023 Over the last couple of years, I’ve been chronicling the idiotic battle over remote vs in-person work. The pandemic and…

[With its latest software update, Apple has enabled anyone with an iPhone 15 Pro to record in a new three-dimensional video format it calls Spatial Video and play the video in 3D on Apple’s soon-to-be-released Vision Pro mixed reality headset (or in 2D anywhere). While the author of this story from CNET doesn’t use the term, he provides a first-person report on the new format in which he describes a vivid presence experience. And while the equipment is still prohibitively expensive for most people, the advancements mean more people will be able to easily create vivid, presence-evoking recordings of their…

[This TechCrunch story provides a vivid example of the rapid evolution of presence-evoking technologies: the use of AI to create full-motion deepfake (or ‘dancefake’) video from a single image. See the original story for a 2:26 minute demonstration video (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Source: Know Your Meme] ‘Animate Anyone’ heralds the approach of full-motion deepfakes By Devin Coldewey December 4, 2023 As if still-image deepfakes aren’t bad enough, we may soon have to contend with generated videos of anyone who dares to put a photo of themselves online: with Animate Anyone, bad actors can puppeteer people better than…