[This story from TechCrunch by a professional chef highlights three categories of ways presence experiences will shape the food industry, with lots of links to interesting examples. –Matthew] [Image: London’s City Social “Sea Marshall“ augmented reality cocktail. Credit: Addie Chinn. Source: The Telegraph] How augmented and virtual reality will reshape the food industry December 26, 2017 Jenny Dorsey Augmented reality content can be found on everything from wine bottles to IKEA’s catalog and virtual reality experiences are much more detailed, with rich layers of interactivity from hand controllers to gaze triggers, and a VR film has even won an Oscar.…

[This story from Sport Techie is an update on what NFL Films is learning as its team works to create presence experiences of (American) football games (the fact that the new season of NFL Immersed features the Philadelphia Eagles, my hometown team, is purely coincidence!). –Matthew] Virtual Reality Production Enhanced For Docuseries ‘NFL Immersed’ December 20, 2017 Mitch Reames Since its inception in 1964, NFL Films has won more than 100 Emmys for its work documenting the NFL’s stories and gameplay. NFL Films has also extended its work into virtual reality with the show “NFL Immersed.” The first three episodes…

[Here’s another clever application of technology that provides social presence; note the comment from a potential renter that getting a tour of the property “was like having somebody there, just in a different shape.” The story is from CNBC, where it includes a 0:39 minute video report. For more information and a 1:39 minute promotional video see coverage in Curbed SF. A story in Inman has even more information, reporting that “[i]n 2015, the industry reacted somewhat negatively to a company developing similar technology called Zip Tours. Zenplace replaces the handheld video call used by Zip Tours with a taller,…

[Lots of press coverage in the last 24 hours cites the first-person report in Rolling Stone on Magic Leap’s reveal of the company’s first consumer mixed reality product. The abbreviated version of the original story below focuses on the author’s experience using the new technology – note the many indirect mentions of presence factors; see the original story for much more information, several images and a very short video. –Matthew] Magic Leap: Founder of Secretive Start-Up Unveils Mixed-Reality Goggles Rony Abovitz talks with Glixel about the tech and ambitions behind new MR Goggles By Brian Crecente December 20, 2017 Magic…

[Even if I wasn’t one of the many Americans horrified by the nation’s current president, I’d agree with the negative assessments of Disney’s new animatronic version. This story from Quartz (which includes tweets, more images and two videos) reviews the long history of the Hall of Presidents attraction and other failed attempts to produce satisfying, realistic replications of the 45 famous men despite the evolution of technology. –Matthew] Donald Trump and the Hall of Presidents would like to welcome you to your nightmares By Molly Rubin December 19, 2017 Yea, though we walk through the shadow of the uncanny valley,…

[The feature described in this widely-cited story from Gizmodo should make Siri seem more human and thus evoke more medium-as-social-actor presence. The original story includes the patent document, also available from the US Patent Office. Developers can already make Amazon’s Alexa whisper and use other speech skills that make “her” seem more human, as reported earlier this year by TechCrunch (The Verge has a 0:42 minute sample). –Matthew] Apple Wants to Patent a Voice Assistant That Knows When to Whisper Back By Harrison Weber December 14, 2017 Sometimes it feels like we’re inching closer to a future like the movie…