[This story from The Salt Lake Tribune illustrates one of the most important applications of presence, helping people who need to be understood and those who need to understand others. See also a (very positive) review in The Utah Review and for more on “Hi, my name is Savannah” see coverage in Medium. –Matthew] [Image: Savannah, a 15-year-old LGBTQ activist, delivers the coming-out testimony she wasn’t allowed to give at her church meeting in Eagle Mountain in 2017, in the VR short film “Savannah,” which is being shown at the Damn These Heels LGBTQ Film Festival in Salt Lake City,…

[Here’s a clever way to evoke social presence with a houseplant; the short story is from Curbed, where it includes three different images. The Mu Design press kit notes that “Lua also includes a motion sensor that allows its eyes to follow the movements in front of them: it’s like Lua’s looking at you! Give a spark of life to your plants and evolve them into full-fledged pets with Lua!” See the Indiegogo page for more information including pictures and a 1:00 minute video (also available via Vimeo). See the Mu-Design website for information on the company’s first product: “Ulo…

[Discover reports on a new advance in haptic VR gloves that should enhance presence; coverage in Science includes an 8 second video and follow the link to the paper in Scientific Reports for much more information. For coverage of a related project, see an October 2018 post in ISPR Presence News. –Matthew] This New Virtual Reality Glove Lets You Grab Digital Objects By Bill Andrews July 18, 2019 Our squishy human brains are notoriously easy to fool. Whether it’s optical illusions or more advanced trickery, it doesn’t take much to exploit our mind’s weaknesses. But, that’s also what enables virtual…

[From privacy to mental health, a new (free) report examines the dangers of “extended reality” technologies. There’s a link at the end of this story from Forbes to a summary of the report and the full downloadable pdf version. The original story includes a 5:48 minute video, and the report summary includes several graphics, a different video and a 13-slide presentation. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Adobe Stock] The Important Risks And Dangers Of Virtual And Augmented Reality July 17, 2019 Bernard Marr, Contributor A recent report by Accenture highlighted the growing number of companies taking advantage of “extended reality” (XR) technology,…

[The U.S. military is considering how to use presence-evoking technologies to help prepare for difficult to imagine challenges, as reported in this story from Popular Mechanics; see coverage in Nextgov for additional details. –Matthew] The Pentagon Wants VR To Train for Nuclear War The tech would allow troops to train to counter nuclear and radiological weapons, including dirty bombs. By Kyle Mizokami July 9, 2019 The U.S. Department of Defense is considering using virtual reality technology to train military personnel who might someday come up against dirty bombs and other radioactive weapons. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which typically concerns…

[If you’ll be in London in August consider booking a ticket for the presence experience described in this story from Forbes (see the original version for two more images). For information about how British Air is using virtual reality for customers at check-in desks, see a story in World Airline News. –Matthew] [Image: How we travel, aircraft design and our relationship with air travel are the focus of a new exhibition at Saatchi’s Gallery. Credit: BA] What Is The Future Of Aviation? Bright, Young Minds Explore The Next 100 Years July 4, 2019 Nargess Banks, Contributor Our desire to explore…

[Fiction can often inspire and/or serve as a warning about the future; this story from Fast Company notes how quickly a short concept film about augmented reality had both effects, and describes a planned sequel. See the original story for three more images, the original film “Sight” and a behind-the-scenes video about the sequel, and see the project’s Kickstarter page for much more information. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Robot Genius] This dystopian film was supposed to critique today’s tech. Instead, Silicon Valley loved it ‘Sight’ rocked the internet in 2012. Now its creators are back for a sequel. July 10, 2019…

[Several organizations have used different technologies to reproduce aspects of the July 1969 Apollo moon shot; the short story below from Space.com describes the Smithsonian’s “Apollo’s Moon Shot AR” app; more information about it, including a 2:00 minute video, is available from the Smithsonian website. Engadget has a story about Google’s celebrations, including an “AR in Search” feature that lets you “explore a 3D recreation of the [Apollo 11] command module… If you like, you can bring the module into your living room in AR too.” USA Today is offering “an eight-day live AR broadcast focusing on six historical events…

[In addition to describing the novel “cyberphysical sculptural installation” Cypher, this story from Interesting Engineering includes some intriguing observations about different forms of presence. See the original story for six more images and a 1:58 minute video that vividly presents the Cypher experience. –Matthew] [Image: Güvenç Özel and Cypher at Turkey Innovation Week in Istanbul. Credit: Tolga Uslu] Güvenç Özel Creates a Robotic Installation Controlled by Virtual Reality Architect Güvenç Özel creates a link between human and robot through a robotic installation controlled by Virtual Reality. By Susan Fourtané July 05th, 2019 Architect, technologist and researcher Güvenç Özel uses Artificial…

[Although it uses different terminology to frame it, this piece from The Conversation advocates needed scholarship on presence and sexuality (see Lombard & Jones); the original version includes a second image and the trailer for the film Her. –Matthew] Beyond sex robots: Erobotics explores erotic human-machine interactions July 9, 2019 Simon Dubé PhD student, Concordia University Dave Anctil Chercheur affilié à l’Observatoire international sur les impacts sociétaux de l’intelligence artificielle et du numérique (OIISAN), Université Laval Science fiction films such as Blade Runner (1982), Lars and the Real Girl (2007) and Her (2013) explore the advent of human-machine relationships. And…

[This first person report from Healthline, which includes links to supporting research, makes clear that even some typical limitations of presence-evoking technology can be advantages in the context of meditation. See the original version for links to more readings. –Matthew] How Virtual Reality Meditation Helps Me Control My Anxiety Health and wellness touch each of us differently. This is one person’s story. Written by Sarah Garone Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PhD, CRNP on July 2, 2019 If you had told me a year ago that my favorite relaxing activity would involve strapping a computer to my head to…

[This story from The New York Times about a new opera experienced through virtual reality contains some useful insights about how to effectively evoke presence. See the original story for a second image and two videos. –Matthew] [Image: A still from “Eight,” a so-called mixed reality work by the Dutch composer Michel van der Aa. Credit: doubleA Foundation] ‘Eight’ Is a Breakthrough for Virtual Reality in Classical Music In his latest work, the composer Michel van der Aa has fully integrated emerging technology with musical and theatrical ideas. By Joshua Barone July 5, 2019 AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France — The world of…