[Peter Jackson’s new WWI documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old” illustrates the power of film to evoke several types of presence. The film’s website and trailer feature these three quotes from reviewers: “Heart-breaking immediacy,” “A deeply human experience,” and “A haunting and moving lesson in how to bring the past vividly alive.” The trailer text concludes with “Travel back in time to experience history with those who were actually there.” The story below from The New York Times describes how the film was created and includes more references to presence as well as five brief “before and after” clips. More information…

[The new product described in this story from UploadVR suggests a coming evolution of presence-evoking technology that will more powerfully and seamlessly measure and manipulate the user’s experience, with both potentially amazing positive and frightening negative consequences. For more information see the VRgineers website. –Matthew] XTAL Ultra High-End VR Headset Adds Neurable’s Emotion Analysis By Ian Hamilton December 10th, 2018 A new partnership between Neurable and VRgineers adds the former’s “brain sensors” to the ultra high-end XTAL VR headset. We tried out Neurable last year, a system which places EEG (Electroencephalography) sensors along the interior of a VR headset’s strap…

[There are clear benefits to using presence-evoking technologies for the training described in this story from Federal News Network. Tthe original story includes a 2:43 minute video (also available via YouTube) and for more details see the Navy’s press release. –Matthew] Using virtual reality to train for one of the Navy’s most dangerous jobs By Scott Maucione December 13, 2018 Flight deck operations on an aircraft carrier have been described as a ballet of chaos. It’s an apt description for one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The flight deck crew is responsible for assisting the takeoff and…

[The art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast has a new immersive installation in London, as described in this story from The National (see the original for more pictures and two videos). The creators provide some insights about how to design effective and impactful presence experiences as the available technology improves. The new installation We Live in an Ocean of Air extends the environmental themes of earlier MLF works covered in ISPR Presence News, Treehugger: Wawona and In the Eyes of the Animal. –Matthew] The virtual-reality art show that seeks to repair our ‘broken connection with nature’ We Live in an Ocean…

[We focus so much on sights and sounds in creating presence it’s easy to forget the importance of smells; this story from the Orlando Sentinel briefly describes the work of one company that creates this part of the illusion – see the original version for a 2:11 minute video featuring the company’s president. –Matthew] [Image: Global Technology Integrators works with chemicals to make 2,000 scents in all. This bottle contains “Custom 5009” – 90% Raw Seafood B, 5% Fire Damage, and 5% Cordite. Credit: Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda / Orlando Sentinel] From stinky to cookies: Orlando firm creates scents for virtual reality…

[A company in France is launching a streaming TV service for virtual reality; this story from TechCrunch describes what it’s like to use it to create a social presence viewing experience. See the original version for two more images. –Matthew] Molotov creates a VR coffee shop to watch TV together Romain Dillet December 11, 2018 French startup Molotov is slowly becoming the leading platform to stream TV in France. With a single account, you can watch TV on your phone, tablet, computer and set-top box. The company is about to release a VR app that lets you watch TV using…

[Many factors interfere with effective presence illusions in virtual reality but image resolution is one of, if not the, most important. This story from UploadVR describes industry efforts to address the problem. The original story includes four more pictures, and read the comments section for some interesting insights. –Matthew] Facebook Wins Patent For Human-Eye ‘Retinal’ Resolution VR Headset By David Heaney December 4th, 2018 Facebook has been awarded a patent for a head mounted display (HMD) which combines a large low resolution display and small high resolution display projected to where the user’s eye is pointed to achieve ‘retinal’ resolution.…

[Here’s a great example of how telepresence can make it possible for people to participate in activities they’d otherwise be excluded from. See the original story from Digital Trends for two videos. –Matthew] [Image: Source: The Spoon]  The robot waiters in this Japanese cafe are controlled by people with paralysis Luke Dormehl December 4, 2018 Whether it’s autonomous delivery bots dropping off pizza, robo-bartenders, or automated waiters, it’s clear that robots have a growing place in the food industry. But a new Japanese pop-up cafe located in Tokyo offers a far more uncommon — and potentially transformative — spin on this…

[This story from The Daily Dot describes MassVR’s new presence-based gaming environment, designed to offer more settings and social interaction than competing models. See the original story for more pictures. –Matthew] The future of VR gaming is in arenas Nick Moutvic December 3, 2018 “Go ahead,” a voice probes me. “Take the leap.” I look down. I’m 20, maybe 30 feet up, defending my fortress from invaders. Looking across the courtyard, then down at the precipitous drop below me, I know that if I step off the edge, I won’t really fall. But the digital world I’m inhabiting looks real…

[This story from CleanTechnica describes the use of virtual reality and the presence it evokes to teach people about the threats of climate change to ocean life. The original version includes the 2:57 minute video (also available via YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Credit: Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab] Virtual Reality Helps Students Understand The Reality Of Ocean Acidification December 4th, 2018 By Steve Hanley Virtual reality can be so much more than another device that lets young males carve each other up in interesting new ways in combat-themed video games. Researchers at Stanford and the University of Oregon have created…

[Stories about holiday displays realistic enough to “fool” people, i.e., create a presence illusion, are most common around Halloween, but this one is related to Christmas – actually a Christmas-themed film. See the original version of the story in USA Today, which includes three videos, and CNN’s coverage, which features the two images here. By the way, this has happened before: See a KDVR story from Boulder, Colorado from last year. –Matthew] Texas family freaks out passerby with dangling Clark Griswold Christmas display Kris Betts, KVUE-TV/TEGNA December 3, 2018 AUSTIN – All a Northwest Austin homeowner wanted was to win their…

[Aside from the extremely positive characterizations, this review of a new VR attraction is notable for its description of presence experiences (without using the term; see the paragraph that begins “Which brings up a major point…”) and predictions about the future of interactive, presence-evoking storytelling (see the second-to-last paragraph). The original version on the Forbes website includes the 1:17 minute trailer and for more on the attraction see The VOID website. For even more information see other (positive) reviews in The Verge and io9 and a roundtable discussion with the creators in Laughing Place. –Matthew] [Image: Promotional image for “Ralph Breaks…