[From the Washington Post’s The Switch blog; for more on this topic see “State of Virtual Reality Based Disaster Preparedness and Response Training” in PLOS Currents] [Image: CDC staff undergo a pilot phase of virtual reality training in 2009. The agency is increasingly turning to virtual reality to help train emergency responders.] The CDC just spent $626,000 on virtual reality. Here’s why. By Brian Fung, Published: August 2, 2013 You push past the flap of the command hut and instinctively shield your eyes from the brightness of the sun outside. As they adjust to the light, your eyes start to…

[From The Conversation] [Image: The courtroom in the County Court of Victoria as used for the study’s experiment. Credit: Emma Rowden] Higher quality court videolinks will improve justice outcomes: study Jul 03, 2013 Alexia Attwood Editor, The Conversation Poor lighting, bad camera angles and technical glitches in videolink testimonies can affect justice outcomes in court, a new study has found, with researchers urging courts to adopt standardised videoconferencing guidelines.

[From TechCrunch; for more information and a 1:58 minute video visit the Globacore project page] Old Enough To Remember Paperboy For NES? Now You Can Live It With Oculus Rift July 31, 2013 Old school gamers will remember Paperboy, an arcade game — later ported to home systems like the NES and Atari ST — that let you savour the pleasure of virtually breaking your neighbours’ windows by tossing a rolled up newspaper through their front room as you powered past on your bike. Because that’s what passed for entertainment in 1984. Well, time and technology has moved on but…

[From the Telegraph, where the story includes additional images; for more information including images and two videos, see the project’s Kickstarter page] Virtual insanity: the rise and rise of the digital pet Could Looksi Pups become the Tamagotchi for the iPhone generation? Rhiannon Williams investigates By Rhiannon Williams 29 Jul 2013 Digital pets have long been big business for video game developers and toy manufacturers – they’ve been cashing in on the hopes and dreams of children worldwide for over 20 years.

[From the Daily Mail, where the story includes many more images] Vorsprung durch tech drink! Carl the robot bartender serves customers at German bar The humanoid robot measures out spirits at the Robots Bar and Lounge Nine customers can take a seat at the bar in Ilmenau, eastern Germany 27 July 2013 He’s handy with a shot glass and customers travel from far and wide to admire him at work. The only strange thing about Carl the bartender is that he’s not quite human. The humanoid robot mixes drinks for guests at the Robots Bar and Lounge in Ilmenau, eastern…

[From MobiHealthNews] Orlando Health explores telemonitoring as an alternative to hospital admissions By: Neil Versel | Jul 23, 2013 While other hospitals are trying to comply with a new Medicare policy by assuring recently discharged patients don’t have to be readmitted, Orlando Health is trying to prevent inpatient admissions in the first place by sending some patients home from the emergency department with telemonitoring equipment. The Central Florida health system is a month into a planned four-month pilot of home-based videoconferencing units tied to simple vitals monitors and a visiting nurse program, in hopes of lowering costs and boosting patient…