[A press release from Cisco via Zawya] Bridging Peace: Cisco Empowers Al Fakhoora Students in Gaza to Share their Experiences and Engage in Global Dialogue Cisco TelePresence Technology is at the Heart of Al Fakhoora’s Virtual Majlis Program Facilitating Cross-Cultural Communication Between Students in Gaza, Qatar and the United States DOHA, Qatar – March 6th, 2012: Cisco announced today that Al Fakhoora, an international campaign committed to raising awareness of the plight of students in Gaza, has officially launched its Virtual Majlis initiative based on Cisco TelePresence technology to connect university students from Doha, Gaza and the US to create…

[From The Daily Mail, where the story includes several more pictures] [Image: The world as seen through the LifeClipper helmet – it mixes the ‘real’ as seen through cameras with hallucinations created by computers] ‘A living dream’: The ‘augmented reality’ helmet that turns walk in the park into an encounter with alien creatures under a psychedelic sky By Damien Gayle Last updated on 5th March 2012 Most ‘virtual reality’ helmets plunge users into an unreal video-game world – but a new version mixes the unreal into the real world in a ‘living dream’. The helmet only works in St Johann’s…

[From AP via 3News; more information and a video of Eric Schmidt’s keynote are available at VentureBeat] Google: Technology is making science fiction real Wed, 29 Feb 2012 By Alan Clendenning Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has predicted that rapid advances in technology will soon transform science fiction into reality – meaning people will have driverless cars, small robots at their command and the ability to experience being in another place without leaving home. Schmidt said the introduction of books available online, internet translation of languages and voice recognition for computers all happened much faster than anyone envisioned and that…

[From PhysOrg, where the story includes three videos] Microsoft demos three new whiz-bang technologies it’s working on (w/ video) February 29, 2012 by Bob Yirka (PhysOrg.com) — Microsoft isn’t really known for giving the world at large much of a clue regarding what it’s working on regarding future products (other than Windows) thus it came as rather a surprise when the head of its research and strategy group, Craig Mundie, gave a presentation at TechForum recently, showing off three new technology products the company has in the works.…

[From Princeton Patch] [Image: Sandy Bay, Bahamas, from WavesDVD] Virtual Vacations Robin Birkel Posted on February 27, 2012 Traveling is a hobby of mine. Before kids, my husband and I traveled the world at any time. Now we have to wait for school vacations to take off on a new journey, which limits our winter getaways. That’s when I implemented virtual vacations. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” ~ St. Augustine I’ve always felt the need to fill the gap between vacations. Since my family loves foods from around the globe,…

[From CNET, where the story includes a 1:47 minute video] Brainwave-controlled skateboard is totally mental Chaotic Moon Labs’ Kinect-controlled skateboard was pretty awesome, but the company has managed to blow our minds with its Board of Imagination. Crave talks with one of the creators to find out how it works. by Bonnie Cha February 23, 2012 Remember the Board of Awesomeness, the Kinect-controlled motorized skateboard from CES? Well, it just got more awesome. The creator of this high-tech board, Chaotic Moon Labs, has come up with a new version called the Board of Imagination that works by reading your brain…