[From Wired’s GeekDad blog] Real-Life Holodecks? Microsoft Kinect Augmented Reality Room Is the Closest Thing Yet By Chuck Lawton November 5, 2011 I first saw technology like this at the Microsoft Imagine Cup where student teams hacked the XBox 360 accessory Kinect to do some pretty amazing things. Microsoft’s previously released SDK was showcased at the event with workshops for students to learn how to leverage the platform and every competitor received a free Kinect to further the platform. And while what’s showcased in this [6:00 minute] video is far from a group of students hacking away at a consumer device,…

[From The Vancouver Sun] [Image: A giant steel dome in central Montreal shelters the world’s first ‘immersion theatre’. A 360-degree screen, eight projectors and 157 loudspeakers plunge the spectators completely inside a virtual reality created by modern digital filmmakers. Photograph by: Geraldine Woessner, AFP, Getty Images, Agence France-Presse] Experiencing 3-D without the glasses Satosphere provides 360-degree view of art projections and puts audiences into the action Agence France-Presse November 4, 2011 The audience finds itself inside a giant uterus. Or it flies around cathedral ruins. Or it is transported to a dark, lonely forest. Such are the experiences offered by…

[From BikePortland.org, where the post includes additional images] A look inside Oregon State’s bicycling and driving simulator laboratory Posted by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on October 19th, 2011 A research laboratory at Oregon State University in Corvallis is the first in the nation to integrate an advanced driving simulator with a bicycling simulator. When the two are connected, researchers can collect real-time data on how vehicle operators react in an extremely realistic, three-dimensional roadway environment. Think about that for a minute. Imagine the possibilities of researchers being able to do everything from testing how road users react to each other, how…

[From Scientific American’s Assignment: Impossible blog, where the post includes additional images and a video] A Modest Proposal: Virtual Keyboards via Kinect Eyeglasses By Charles Q. Choi | October 28, 2011 In the series “A Modest Proposal,” my colleagues and I will propose inventions and projects that I think are eminently doable and would love made real. I love my iPad. I scan vast amounts of information daily for work and play, and tablet computers are ideal for displaying it. But tablets and mobile devices in general have a key weakness — as much as they help people consume information,…

[From MIT’s Technology Review] Biomedicine The Virtual Nurse Will See You Now In the hectic world of a hospital, a computer-simulated nurse can be surprisingly comforting. Tuesday, November 1, 2011 By Emily Singer Researchers at Northeastern University have developed a virtual nurse and exercise coach that are surprisingly likable and effective—even if they’re not quite as affable as the medical hologram on Star Trek. In fact, patients who interacted with a virtual nurse named Elizabeth said they preferred the computer simulation to an actual doctor or nurse because they didn’t feel rushed or talked down to. A recent clinical trial…

[From Technabob; a 0:50 minute video is available here along with additional details] Last-Minute Costume Idea: Cut a Hole in Your Torso with Two iPad 2s October 30th, 2011 by: Technabob If you still don’t have a Halloween costume, you’re probably left to the dregs of the random ill-fitting Scooby Doo and Teletubbies costumes at your local Wal-Mart. But if you and a buddy can spare your iPad 2s for the night, you could end up being the life of the party. By taking a pair of iPad 2s and strapping them to his chest and back using duct tape, Technabob…