[The popular and widely-covered IKEA campaign described in this story from Decider is another example of our desire to feel connected to the characters of the mediated world, even when we only experience them through parasocial interaction and relationships. See the IKEA website for more information and an Adweek story for an interview with the advertising agency’s chief creative officer Eduardo Marques. –Matthew] IKEA Wants To Help You Recreate The ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘Simpsons’ & ‘Friends’ Sets In Your Own Home By Michael Haskoor June 2, 2019 If you’re a die hard fan of a TV show, how far would you…

[A NASA-led team is exploring deep ocean environments via telepresence to prepare for exploring deep space the same way, as reported in this story from URI Today. Follow the link below for more information and to watch the project’s 24/7 live stream. –Matthew] [Image: The remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Hercules is launched from E/V Nautilus. Credit: Erin Ranney/Ocean Exploration Trust)] Ocean and space exploration blend at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography Posted on May 29, 2019 KINGSTON, R.I., — May 29, 2019 — Scientists with a NASA-led expedition are operating from the Inner Space Center at the University of Rhode…

[Here’s an update and first person report on the evolution of how fans experience sports, in this case basketball via VR. See the original version of the Fast Company story for three different images and a 1:01 minute video; see coverage in USA Today for an interview with Jay Jenyagram of Intel Sports; and see the Intel True VR (“Be There From Anywhere”) website for more information.–Matthew] I watched the NBA Playoffs in VR, and it’s going to change how you watch sports Intel’s push into VR sports has shifted from a tech-first approach to now being driven by making…

[This VentureBeat story describes how Volvo is using Varjo’s high-resolution HMDs to let car designers test drive real cars with virtual features: “With this kind of technology it will eventually be difficult for you to tell if you are sitting in a faux car in an office or in a real car in a parking lot or really driving a mountain road in the woods.” See the original version for more pictures. –Matthew] [Image: For safety, a passenger in the back seat can warn a driver in the front seat during Varjo’s testing. Credit: Varjo.] Varjo teams up with Volvo…

[This long but very interesting story from The Atlantic doesn’t use the term presence but the concept and phenomenon is at its center – note some of the interesting ways people in long-distance relationships are said to use communication technologies to feel both physically together and psychologically connected over distance. See the last two sentences for a nicely put summary of some key points, and see the original version of the story for additional material not included here. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Alessandra De Cristofaro] The New Long-Distance Relationship The same technological and economic developments that are pulling couples apart are…

[The role of evolution in how we perceive and respond to subtle social cues, and the implications for the design of technologies that evoke medium-as-social-actor presence, are explored in this story from Engadget. See the original for four different images. –Matthew] [Image: Source: MyRecordJournal] Why putting googly eyes on robots makes them inherently less threatening We can exploit our social nature to be nicer to AIs. Andrew Tarantola May 22, 2019 At the start of 2019, supermarket chain Giant Food Stores announced it would begin operating customer-assisting robots — collectively dubbed Marty — in 172 East Coast locations.…