[This Panasonic prototype seems to evoke presence in multiple ways (the headline in The Verge is “Panasonic’s transparent display is hard for your eyes to believe”); the story below is from Digital Journal, where it features a different image and the 2:05 minute video from YouTube. For a nice summary of this and a wide variety of other presence-related tech at CES 2016 see coverage in CNN Money. ––Matthew] [Image: Source: CNN Money] Panasonic’s transparent TV disappears when you wave at it By James Walker Jan 12, 2016 As part of its demonstrations during CES 2016 last week, Panasonic unveiled…

[Without using the term, this story from Engadget covers key current challenges and future prospects for designing effective presence illusions; for more details see coverage in The Verge. –Matthew] [Image: Source: The Verge] Fox pushes virtual reality to the limit with 30 minutes on Mars Being Matt Damon has never been easier. Joseph Volpe January 08, 2016 I wasn’t prepared for The Martian VR Experience. All I’d known before sitting down in a padded seat in a near-pitch-black booth, tucked away in the Library bar at Vegas’ Marquee nightclub, was that I’d be enveloped in virtual reality for up to…

[We usually study individual, brief presence experiences, but the ‘performance’ in this story looks ahead to when VR and presence is a way of life. It’s from The Creators Project, where you’ll find four more images and two videos. –Matthew] This Guy Just Spent 48 Hours in Virtual Reality By DJ Pangburn — Jan 14 2016 After decades of broken dreams, virtual reality appears to be fulfilling its promise. It’s not just that the hardware and software are finally arriving with Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear headsets (motion sickness not excluded); it’s that artists, game designers, filmmakers, and other creatives…

[No need to imagine what the game player will see – these clever people “injected an actor into a scene using VR” and then captured their performance; the story is from Ars Technica, where it includes the 3:50 minute explanatory video. See the studio’s blog for more information and images. –Matthew] Is this the world’s first full virtual-reality motion/voice capture session? Actors combine mo-cap suit, HTC Vive to become characters, see virtual teleprompters. by Sam Machkovech – Jan 13, 2016 Forget latex suits and white ping-pong balls. Motion-capture sessions for video games and films have only gotten more intense over…

[Research question: Are puppies cuter when you experience them in VR? This story from Popular Mechanics (where it features a different image) mentions a few interesting possible sporting event applications of VR as the technology evolves. For information on the different ways to see the Puppy Bowl players in VR see the Discovery website and for full details on the event, see the press release. –Matthew] [Image: Source: PCProactive] The Most Exciting (Dog-Related) Sporting Event Will Show Practices in VR Why would you watch the Super Bowl when you can strap on some Goggles and go hog wild at the…

[This news release from Nanyang Technological University highlights developments in robotics and artificial intelligence that help independently acting social robots and user-inhabited telepresence robots evoke presence. Pretty amazing, and progress is sure to continue… –Matthew] [Image: Prof Nadia Thalmann (left) posing beside Nadine. NTU-built EDGAR telepresence robot (right).] NTU scientists unveil social and telepresence robots Published on: 29-Dec-2015 Say hello to Nadine, a “receptionist” at Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore). She is friendly, and will greet you back. Next time you meet her, she will remember your name and your previous conversation with her. She looks almost like a human…