[This short story from The Guardian provides a first-person report on a new application of presence-evoking virtual reality to teach users breathing techniques that control anxiety. See the original version for two more images and a 46 second video (also available via YouTube). For more on The Insight Project, the larger collaboration between the University of Cambridge and Ninja Theory, “an ambitious combination of technology, game design and clinical neuroscience brought together with the aim of treating mental suffering and encouraging mental wellbeing,” see a 6:41 minute video on the Ninja Theory or the Project’s website or via YouTube, and…

[This Time magazine story describes and assesses two virtual recreations of Martin Luther King delivering his 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech. Without using the terminology, it notes elements that enhance and detract from (or ‘break’) presence. The original version of the story includes a second image and a 27:41 minute video. See also a new 2:11 minute news report from NBC 4 in New York about how Long Island students experienced the speech in virtual reality for this year’s Martin Luther King holiday. For more context see the 2020 story “How TIME Re-created the 1963 March on Washington in…

[Rapidly evolving artificial intelligence tools are making it increasingly difficult for consumer to determine the extent and nature of the role of technology in the creation of images, text, voices, videos and now, as described in this story from Fast Company, presentation slides. See the original story for a one-minute video, a PR Newswire press release for more details and a 30-second video, and Tanya Smith’s getnoticedwithvideo TikTok account for a 2:30 minute demo video. –Matthew] New generative AI tool instantly builds PowerPoints and presentation decks Beautiful.ai launches a generative tool to help PowerPoint users overcome writer’s block and the…

[This story from MIT Technology Review describes a particularly powerful application of social presence, and illustrates how maximizing the level of perceptual realism should not always be the goal. Here are four key quotes from the story; see the original version for pictures of Claire and Ted Matte and Tom Nicel and his avatar: “’The lightbulb went off in my head—people feel like they’re really together in VR,’ [EvolVR founder] Jeremy [Nickel] says. That feeling of true presence, as if avatars were really sharing a room together, convinced him that a spiritual community could form among people wearing headsets.” “The…

[This CNET story provides an interesting first-person tour of the current (and likely future) options for providing haptic sensations that enhance presence experiences. See the original story for five more images and three videos.  –Matthew] [Image: Trying out HaptX haptic gloves in Las Vegas: These are considered the best, but they’re absolutely huge. Credit: Scott Stein/CNET] The Revelation I Got From Experiencing HaptX Is Wild I tested gloves and buzzing things in Las Vegas to see where the future points. By Scott Stein January 9, 2023 I put my hands out flat and loaded them into a pair of gloves…

[For more technical details about how it works, see coverage in Ars Technica, but this story from New Atlas captures some of the implications of the dizzying pace of progress in AI-generated images, videos and here voices, during these “interesting times.” See the original story for an embedded Tweet on the topic and visit Microsoft’s Vall-E website for many more details and to listen to examples. –Matthew] [Image: “A robot stealing a human’s voice, in the style of Picasso.” Generated by DALL-E] Microsoft’s new VALL-E AI can capture your voice in 3 seconds By Loz Blain January 10, 2023 Microsoft…