[Without using the terms telepresence or presence, this story from The New York Times provides several important insights about it. The vivid example of Care.Coach central to the story demonstrates that even relatively simple and unrealistic stimuli can create valuable presence experiences. It also makes the larger point that as these mediated experiences are becoming more common, nonmediated ones are becoming more valued and precious, a luxury only available to those who can afford them. A logical question then is what will happen to this new kind of “digital divide” as the technologies that create presence experiences become more sophisticated…

[This story from Apple Must describes a new use of augmented reality to add social presence to receiving parcels. The original version includes a second image and a 0:37 minute video, and for more information including other examples of companies using AR in packaging, see coverage in Mobile Marketer. –Matthew] Hermes shows how AR is the future of home delivery By Jonny Evans February 26, 2019 A lot of people order gifts online. The problem when doing so is that the experience becomes a little less personal, now Hermes has come up with a way to make online shopping a…

[I was thinking of the VHS vs. Betamax videotape format “war” before I got to the quote at the end of this Ars Technica story about a new open standard for VR and AR developers to use to ensure compatibility across the rapidly expanding hardware market for these presence-evoking technologies. See the original story for two more images, and for a short primer on format wars see a story on the BT website.  –Matthew] [Image: OpenXR is like a girl reaching for a moon, or something…] How OpenXR could glue virtual reality’s fragmenting market together This week’s provisional release could…

[This story from MediaPost is a first-person report that illustrates the encouraging potential of presence-evoking technology to create empathy, understanding and maybe even change. An excerpt from the Forbes story mentioned within it follows below (that story includes another picture and a 0:41 minute trailer, also available via YouTube). –Matthew] COMMENTARY A Time Machine Documentary by Steven Rosenbaum, Featured Contributor March 19, 2019 As I headed over to the West Side of Manhattan, I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I’d been promised a time machine. I’d been told to use the password “arcade” at the door. The building was…

[The new free app described in this artnet News story appears to evoke effective presence illusions; see the original story for more pictures and a 2:01 minute video (also available via YouTube), and see coverage in UploadVR for more information and a 4:29 minute video (also available via YouTube). –Matthew] You Can Now Join Doctors as They Dissect a Corpse in Rembrandt’s Most Famous Painting Through Augmented Reality New technology is bringing Old Masters to life. Sarah Cascone March 19, 2019 As institutions in the Netherlands ramp up celebrations to mark the 350th anniversary of the death of Rembrandt van…

[Will Facebook’s “social presence laboratory” create “convincingly human avatars within four years”? The prospects – and both positive and negative possible applications – are discussed in this story from Wired. See the original version for a 1:02 minute video and 4 large animated gifs that demonstrate the technology; CBS News has more coverage that includes a 3:07 minute video report. –Matthew] [Image: Research assistant Autumn Trimble sits inside “Mugsy,” one of the capture facilities Pittsburgh’s Facebook Reality Lab uses to create “codec avatars.” Credit: Lavender Leigh] Facebook Can Make VR Avatars Look—And Move—Exactly Like You Peter Rubin March 13, 2019…

[Here’s a very unusual example of presence. It’s from Grape, where the story includes many more pictures and the mentioned 9:37 minute video (also available via YouTube). –Matthew] Japanese Service Creates Wearable Super Realistic Replicas Of Your Pet’s Head February 27, 2019 Ultra-realistic animal masks seem to strike the surreal sweet spot between “terrifying” and “adorable”, as seen with Japan’s viral gigantic wearable felt cat heads, but the minds at creative planning office Shindo Rinka and modeling workshop 91 (pronounced kyuu-ii) is taking things a step further by making that creepy/cute blend a service. If you’re willing to pay, you…

[The inventors of Q want to let everyone experience the presence evoked by digital voice assistants, as reported in this Wired story; the original version includes a different image and a 1:01 minute video; for more information (and a longer video), see genderlessvoice.com. –Matthew] The Genderless Digital Voice the World Needs Right Now Matt Simon March 11, 2019 Boot up the options for your digital voice assistant of choice and you’re likely to find two options for the gender you prefer interacting with: male or female. The problem is, that binary choice isn’t an accurate representation of the complexities of…

[This is an important first-person report from Medium by an experienced presence-creator about the dangers of moving beyond the “uncanny valley” to the point where we lose the ability to suspend the belief that our experience is real (i.e., not created/mediated by technology). See the original version for a larger version of the figure below, 7 more images and 2 videos. –Matthew] There is a second valley past the Uncanny Valley or How developing an AR horror game put me in the hospital. Bryan Mitchell February 12, 2019 Background: I have been developing mobile games for 10 years. I have…

[The negative reaction to a San Francisco hospital’s use of a telepresence robot to deliver sensitive medical news is receiving international coverage; this story from The New York Times recounts the situation and considers some of the ethical issues. Hopefully the case will prompt both users and designers of the technology to figure out ways to avoid situations like this. An important question we should consider is whether even a future technology that could perfectly transmit all, or at least all visual and aural, social cues would be acceptable.  –Matthew] [Image: A doctor on a video conference explained to Ernest…

[As a railway enthusiast, I particularly like the example of presence in this story from The Telegraph & Argus. The original version includes a 0:46 minute video and 7 more images, and more information including pictures and resident reactions can be found in coverage by Carehome.co.uk and The Mirror. A 1:04 minute BBC video is available too – thanks to colleague Amela Sadagic for posting it in the ISPR Presence Community Facebook group! -Matthew] Gateway Care Home, Sticker Lane, unveils railway room for residents 23 February 2019 By David Jagger A dementia care home has unveiled a brand new room…

[Two recent stories highlight efforts to create more effective presence illusions based on the human voice; the first is from GeekWire, where the original version includes three 3 more videos that compare the WellSaid technology to reading by voice actors. The second, a Digital Trends story about Modulate’s “voice skins,” follows below and also includes a demonstration video. –Matthew] [Image: A screenshot illustrates how WellSaid’s voice synthesis platform could be used. Credit: WellSaid Illustration] AI2 gives birth to WellSaid, a startup that synthesizes amazingly realistic voices By Alan Boyle March 7, 2019 We’ve got Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa…