[As this story from Vox explains, the new game No Man’s Sky not only adds evidence to the debate about the possibility that our entire world is a convincing simulation, it raises deep questions about the nature and purpose of our lives. Here’s a quote from the second-to-last paragraph: “[B]y refusing to provide you with a purpose, it forces you to reconcile with the essential emptiness of its universe, with the pointlessness of a game whose only reward is the opportunity to continue playing the game. It is cold and lonely and empty and unsatisfying — and that may be…

[There are certainly lots of challenges, but this new patent from Google is an interesting approach to creating effective and useful telepresence experiences. The story is from TechRepublic, where it includes different images; the patent is available from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Quartz; credit: AP Photo/John Locher] Google may soon take conference calls to the sky with video conferencing drones On Tuesday, Google was awarded a patent for a quadcopter with cameras and screens. But could it replace traditional video conference calls? By Alison DeNisco August 10, 2016 Conference calls may soon take flight, literally:…

[This fascinating interview with photographer June Korea explores the current and possible future roles of life-sized dolls and the medium-as-social-actor presence responses they evoke. The original story in Highsnobiety includes many images. –Matthew] Meet the New York-Based Artist Living With a Sex Doll By Maddie Holden July 27, 2016 We get a lot of strange emails here at Highsnobiety: newly formed brands and aspiring artists often reach out in the hopes of being featured, and plenty of these emails are attention-grabbing and unusual. However, South Korean-born and NYC-based artist June Korea stood out more than most. His new work, Still…

[Presence can evoked by simple, low-bandwidth cues too; this story is from Yahoo! Tech (where it includes two other images). See also coverage of the related Pillow Talk product in ISPR Presence News. –Matthew] The love of your life can hear your heartbeat in real time with smart wedding band Kyle Wiggers August 4, 2016 There’s something irrefutably intangible about a phone conversation — especially with a loved one. Sure, voice and video chat is good in a pinch, but there’s no replacement for more palpable signs of affection like, say, a warm embrace. Transmitting that sort of physicality over…

[This post from the blog of Grammy nominated DJ/producer Morgan Page (also available via OSSIC) provides an insider’s view of the current status and potential future of VR and presence in nearly all aspects of music: consumption, performance, collaboration and sharing, and learning and teaching; it features 11 videos that illustrate the author’s points. Btw, DAW is an acronym for Digital Audio Workstation. –Matthew] Beyond the DAW – How VR Will Change Everything July 27, 2016 After spending two weeks with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, it’s clear that virtual reality will completely reshape the human experience.…

[The Dark Ride Project is using modern presence-evoking technologies to preserve presence experiences evoked in the haunted house amusement rides of the past. This story is from TechnoBuffalo, where it includes more images and two videos; a press release is available from Hypergrid Business; and more details and 360 videos are available on the Project’s Indigogo page. –Matthew] Interview: Using VR to preserve the last remaining haunted house amusement rides By Jacob Kleinman August 21, 2016 Joel Zika is on a mission to preserve the last remaining haunted house amusement park rides before they disappear and he’s using virtual reality…