[This short story from Forbes describes Microsoft’s efforts to create audio and audio-visual chatbots based on specific people, including people who have died. Other coverage notes the idea’s similarity to the plot of the Black Mirror episode “Be Right Back” and/or refers to the bots as ‘ghostbots.’ For more on this topic see a new 22:46 minute WSJ documentary “How Tech Can Bring Our Loved Ones to Life After They Die,” which is also available via YouTube and is described in a short profile in The Verge. –Matthew] Microsoft Could Bring You Back From The Dead… As A Chat Bot…

[The ambitious project Odeuropa will use AI to analyze descriptions of smells from Europe’s past and then recreate them for use in immersive cultural heritage attractions. This story from Blooloop provides details. The original story includes a second image and for a press release and 2:59 minute video visit the Odeuropa website (which also features a series of interesting blog posts). Coverage in the Minnesota Star Tribune has more details about the challenges of measuring and reproducing smells, and a New York Times item focuses on the idea of a personal smell museum and links to an interactive example: “The…

[In this short piece from Wired, the CEO and co-founder of online gaming platform Roblox predicts the pandemic-accelerated increase in 2021 and beyond of social and spatial presence experiences in 3D virtual worlds, which will “become a human co-experience utility.” –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Leonie Bos] The Metaverse is coming A 3D virtual world where millions meet online will become our key social hub By David Baszucki, an inventor and the CEO and Founder of Roblox January 2, 2021 We will see a shift in the way people play, work, learn or simply hang out in 2021. Some of this connection…

[The pandemic has accelerated the development of innovative ways to link and merge virtual/mixed reality and designed physical spaces to create compelling entertainment experiences, as reported in this story from the Los Angeles Times (where the original includes two more pictures). –Matthew] [Image: “Star Wars: Tales From the Galaxy’s Edge” VR screenshot: View from inside a ship. Credit: ILMxLab / Disney / Oculus] How the new virtual reality ‘Star Wars’ experience gets us closer to a theme park ‘metaverse’ By Todd Martens, Game Critic December 28, 2020 After a fulfilling and action-focused ending to the second season of “The Mandalorian,”…

[Reading this new story in PsyPost about a study demonstrating interesting effects of the illusion of having an opposite-sex body led me to the lead author’s earlier study of the effects of seeming to switch bodies with a friend. That study is nicely presented in a link-filled Vice story from August 2020 that reviews embodied cognition research based on these kinds of presence illusions. –Matthew]   Experiencing the illusion of having an opposite-sex body in virtual reality can shift aspects of gender identity By Beth Ellwood December 23, 2020 A new study published in Scientific Reports offers insight into how the…

[After ten months in which actual travel is risky or impossible, virtual travel options look more appealing, especially the personalized one offered by Cooee and described in this short story from Fast Company (the original includes three more pictures). On behalf of myself and ISPR I wish you, and us all, a much brighter year ahead. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Paul Szewczyk/Unsplash] Missing vacation? Take a custom Zoom tour of Cambodia or Peru Cooee is finding ways to keep tour guides in business during the pandemic—and let people get a view of somewhere besides their own house. December 23, 2020 By…