[This story from CleanTechnica describes the use of virtual reality and the presence it evokes to teach people about the threats of climate change to ocean life. The original version includes the 2:57 minute video (also available via YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Credit: Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab] Virtual Reality Helps Students Understand The Reality Of Ocean Acidification December 4th, 2018 By Steve Hanley Virtual reality can be so much more than another device that lets young males carve each other up in interesting new ways in combat-themed video games. Researchers at Stanford and the University of Oregon have created…

[Stories about holiday displays realistic enough to “fool” people, i.e., create a presence illusion, are most common around Halloween, but this one is related to Christmas – actually a Christmas-themed film. See the original version of the story in USA Today, which includes three videos, and CNN’s coverage, which features the two images here. By the way, this has happened before: See a KDVR story from Boulder, Colorado from last year. –Matthew] Texas family freaks out passerby with dangling Clark Griswold Christmas display Kris Betts, KVUE-TV/TEGNA December 3, 2018 AUSTIN – All a Northwest Austin homeowner wanted was to win their…

[Aside from the extremely positive characterizations, this review of a new VR attraction is notable for its description of presence experiences (without using the term; see the paragraph that begins “Which brings up a major point…”) and predictions about the future of interactive, presence-evoking storytelling (see the second-to-last paragraph). The original version on the Forbes website includes the 1:17 minute trailer and for more on the attraction see The VOID website. For even more information see other (positive) reviews in The Verge and io9 and a roundtable discussion with the creators in Laughing Place. –Matthew] [Image: Promotional image for “Ralph Breaks…

[The new production Chained is an intriguing model for personalized, vivid, narrative-based presence experiences. This story about it is from CNET – see the original version for several other pictures and a 3:23 minute video. –Matthew] This VR-live actor mashup is like your best absinthe-fueled nightmare Chained, an immersive reimagining of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, weds virtual reality with a motion-capture live actor. Could it be the gateway that makes VR a hit? By Joan E. Solsman November 29, 2018 As a chain-laden ghost, I lumber through slices of moonlight in a dark, fire-lit room. I morph into a demonic specter,…

[High-end restaurants are utilizing presence-evoking technologies to enhance the dining experience in interesting ways – here’s a first-person report from Food & Wine; see the original story for more pictures. –Matthew] I Ate at a Virtual Reality Restaurant and … It’s the Future? Tokyo’s Tree by Naked is one of the most unique dining experience in the world. Maria Yagoda November 28, 2018 Aside from using and abusing the failed portable gaming console Virtual Boy in 1995, I’ve never been excited by virtual reality and its many promises. My reality is vivid, and grotesque, enough—why would I seek out extra…

[Too few stories about presence acknowledge and discuss the importance and dynamics of audio in presence experiences, and too few use the specific term presence; this story from VentureBeat does both. See the original version for two more images, including one of the “Cone of Experience.” –Matthew] Spatial audio design is key to creating ‘presence’ in VR and AR Amir Bozorgzadeh November 18, 2018 George Lucas once received a hearty round of applause back in 2011 when he declared that “sound is half of the experience of a motion picture.” If that’s true, what happens to the equation in the…