[From MIT’s Technology Review] Street View Steps Inside Google will let users check out a restaurant’s décor without leaving their computer Monday, May 9, 2011 By Tom Simonite Since 2007, Google’s Street View service has provided interactive panoramic photos that make it possible to virtually stroll down streets all over the globe. Within the next two days, Street View users will be able to click on the doorways of some restaurants and other businesses to take the experience indoors. At the Social Loco conference in San Francisco last week, Google vice president Marissa Mayer, who leads the company’s location-based technologies,…

[A press release from Yoostar via Business Wire] You May Now Kiss the Bride (or Groom): Fairy Tales Can Come True….It Can Happen to Yoo as Yoostar Releases Free Download of the Royal Kiss Scene for Kinect for Xbox 360 By Business Wire May 12, 2011 It was the moment the world cheered – with over two billion people watching across the globe, the image of Prince William and Kate Middleton enjoying their first public kiss is sure to become one of the most iconic images of 2011. Now Kinect for Xbox 360 owners can make their own Royal Wedding…

[From the Reporter blog of Imperial College London] A Model Patient Sam Wong, Communications and Development 13 May 2011 In the Paterson Wing at St Mary’s Campus, a surgeon tries to stem the flow of blood from a patient who’s been stabbed in the abdomen. As a heart monitor bleeps urgently and fluid continues to emerge, the pressure of the situation is inescapable. Yet the man lying on the operating table is not a man at all, but a very convincing dummy. Simulated operations are increasingly becoming a major part of a surgeon’s training. Virtual reality is commonly used to…

[From the web site of New York’s Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) , which features more information and many images] [Image: Alan Wolfson’s Canal St. Cross-Section, 2009-2010] Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities June 7 – September 18, 2011 Virtual reality has been a powerful factor in shaping our social and artistic environment since the 1970s. Today, innovations in digital technology have completely transformed film, video, and television: extraordinary special effects and three-dimensional imaging created using computer-based software are commonplace. However, while the digital world continues to expand into more and more areas of our lives, a profound human…

[From The National Science Foundation (NSF) , where the story features additional material including a 2:33 minute video] [Image: This is an example of the interactive visualization of proteins from the Protein Data Bank (PDB), using PDB browser software on the C-Wall (virtual reality wall) at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at the University of California, San Diego. The work was performed by Jürgen P. Schulze, project scientist, in collaboration with Jeff Milton, Philip Weber and Professor Philip Bourne of the University of California, San Diego. The software supports collaborative viewing of proteins at multiple sites on…

[From The U.S. Department of Defense American Forces Press Service] [Image: Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, then commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, now the Army’s chief of staff, discusses the capabilities of remote training with Keith Johnston at the February 2011 Winter Association of the U.S. Army Exposition in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Angelica Golindano] Army Warfighters Go Digital to Hone Skills By Cheryl Pellerin American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, May 10, 2011 – With more than 1 million service members on active duty in the United States, the military services,…