[Although disturbing, this story from Futurism is about an interesting application of presence. –Matthew] Meet the Doctor Who’s Livestreaming Human Autopsies This doctor had an oddball idea: Start broadcasting human autopsies on facebook live. By Dan Robitzski September 25 2019 A bloody online video shows a doctor slicing into a human cadaver’s scalp, peeling back the skin, cutting open the skull with a brutally whining saw, and removing its brain. He holds the brain up for the camera to see, all the while explaining the process to a live online audience. The cadaver’s face was covered by a towel, so…

[This story illustrates potential roles of presence experiences in contesting not only the appearance but the personal and social meaning of places and events that occurred in them, and more generally the use of presence as a tool of protest. See the original story in the San Francisco Chronicle, where it features 5 more images and related links. –Matthew] [Image: An augmented reality app includes a quote from the victim of a notorious 2015 sexual assault on the Stanford campus. Credit: Photos by Cody Glenn / Special to The Chronicle] Augmented reality brings to life words of Stanford sex assault…

[A new study indicates that we don’t have to physically move through virtual spaces to learn where things are in them. This story is from the UA News, where it includes 3 more images and a 1:55 minute video. –Matthew] [Image: Derek Huffman navigates a virtual environment in 360 degrees on an omnidirectional treadmill. Credit: Roy Wageman/UAHS BioCommunications] Brain May Not Need Body Movements to Learn Virtual Spaces A new study conducted by the University of Arizona and the University of California, Davis enhances our understanding of how the brain learns in virtual reality. Alexis Blue, University Communications September 18,…

[At the Oculus Connect 6 developer conference in San Jose, California this week, Facebook made a series of announcements related to presence. Among them is a new social world called Horizon, described in this story from TechCrunch (see the original for four more images and a 1:32 video). For much more information, including a specific reference to presence, see extensive coverage in CNET; for even more, see the Oculus Connect 6 website. –Matthew] Facebook announces Horizon, a VR massive-multiplayer world Josh Constine September 25, 2019 Facebook today announced it’s building its own Ready Player One Oasis. Facebook Horizon is a…

[This short story from Fast Company describes Facebook’s latest progress toward using HMD sensors and AI to create immersive telepresence. The reconstructed images of users’ faces aren’t perfect of course, but the author notes that “with AI, the limitations are so convincing that we don’t even know they’re there. And it’s important that we don’t lose ourselves somewhere inside AI’s white lies.” See the original story for more pictures and a 5:55 minute video. –Matthew] Facebook is getting very, very good at faking your face Bu just how “real” is it? September 4, 2019 By Mark Wilson Five years ago,…

[In this PC Magazine UK interview, the co-founder and CEO of Scape Technologies explains how and why the company is creating a platform to generate augmented reality experiences that much more accurately link the nonmediated and virtual worlds. See the original story for 4 more images and 2 videos. For more information see coverage in AR Post and VentureBeat. –Matthew] This Augmented Reality Platform Is Smarter Than Pokemon Go Scape Technologies compares data from your phone’s camera with a cloud-based, machine-readable 3D map for augmented reality overlays that put existing setups to shame. By S.C. Stuart 30 August 2019 Pokemon…

[Here’s a short piece from Forbes about the potential roles of VR and presence in the future of dating and love. See the original for more images. –Matthew] Move Over Online Dating! Virtual Reality Is The Future Of Finding Love Sol Rogers, Contributor, CEO and Founder of REWIND, an Emmy nominated immersive content studio that fuses bleeding-edge technology with award-winning creative storytelling. September 20, 2019 Modern dating is a far cry from the courtship our grandparents experienced. In the past, people met their partners at work, on a night out, or at church. Then came the internet and cellular technology—suddenly,…

[This post from the excellent Kottke.org blog highlights insights from a Real Life magazine story about how Apple’s AirPod wireless earphones represent a type of augmented reality, expressing “a more complete embrace of our simultaneous existence in physical and digital space,” with concerning implications for the public sphere. Extended excerpts of the Real Life story follow below. –Matthew] [Image: Potsdamer Plaz (2017) by Diane Meyer. Hand sewn archival ink jet print. Courtesy the artist. Source: Real Life.] AirPods, an Augmented-Reality Wearable Computer Posted by Jason Kottke September 19, 2019 For Real Life magazine, Drew Austin writes about wireless headphones and…

[This story from Bloomberg describes a new, apparently compelling combination of fine dining with virtual reality and the potential of such presence experiences to be popular beyond the artistic and culinary elite. See the original version for several more pictures. For more information and a 7:10 minute video, see Mattia Casalegno’s website and to make reservations visit jamesbeard.org. –Matthew] [Image: The Aerobanquets RMX experience, previewed at the James Beard House in New York. Credit: Amy Lombard for Bloomberg Businessweek] Virtual Reality Is the Latest Dinner Party Trick The James Beard House joins one of the country’s most lauded chefs to…

[In an inspiring cross-disciplinary effort, a game lab and a trauma center are collaborating on VR applications to help patients with spinal cord injuries, as reported in this story from Technical.ly Baltimore; for more coverage see MICA’s website. –Matthew] [Image: MICA student Marco Cortes tests what it would be like to play a VR game with a spinal cord injury. Credit: Photo courtesy of MICA] MICA Game Lab and Shock Trauma are developing VR games for spinal injury patients With the collaboration, the Baltimore institutions are developing virtual reality games that use a quadstick, which can be controlled by the…

[An interesting example of presence experiences created to bring history and cultural heritage to the public is described in this story from Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. For more details see Branding in Asia and a 1:49 minute video report from KBS via YouTube; for a 3:51 minute report in Korean, see a video from the Korea Cultural Heritage Administration. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Branding in Asia] Joseon Dynasty era gate virtually restored with digital technology August 20, 2019 By Kim Soo-yeon SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) — Donuimun, one of the four main old gates that were part of the wall that…

[The Verge reports on the latest viral deepfake app Zao and the privacy concerns it raises. In closely related coverage, Beebom has a list of eight “best deepfake apps and websites you can try for fun,” NBC has a story about a viral deepfake video of Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader morphing into Arnold Schwarzenegger and efforts to counter nefarious uses of the technology; Shelly Palmer focuses on the implications in the context of online dating, a piece in The Conversation (reprinted by Snopes) focuses on legal recourses, and a Facebook blog post describes a new consortium’s $10 million…