[A new production of Hamlet offered the producers and actors new challenges and provides viewers with new presence experiences, as reported in this story from The New York Times. See the original for four more images. –Matthew] [Image: From left, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Brooke Adams and Jay O. Sanders in “Hamlet 360: Thy Father’s Spirit,” a virtual reality film produced by Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Google, Graham Sack and Quentin Little. Credi: Sensorium] ‘Hamlet’ in Virtual Reality Casts the Viewer in the Play By Elizabeth A. Harris; Michael Paulson contributed reporting. January. 25, 2019 Hamlet is in a bathtub with water up…

[The new Little Sophia robot extends the potential positive effects of medium-as-social-actor (MASA) presence, as described in this story from VentureBeat. For more information see the press release via GlobeNewswire, the robot’s Kickstarter page (the funding goal has already been met), a 6:30 minute video segment from NBC’s Today via YouTube, and for a broader review of “carebots, home robots and robo-pets” from CES 2019, coverage in TechRadar. –Matthew] Hanson Robotics debuts Little Sophia, a robot companion that teaches kids to code Kyle Wiggers January 30, 2019 Hanson Robotics is the Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based company behind Sophia, the…

[This story from Mother Nature Network describes a new VR-generated presence experience that lets users experience the life, and death, of a tree (compare it to the recent installation We Live in an Ocean of Air from another ISPR Presence News post); the story, which includes a second image, a 1:46 minute video, and a link to an extended interview in Vive, ends with information about how you can visit actress Judi Dench’s private forest in Surrey, England via virtual reality. –Matthew] [Image: Scene from the virtual reality experience ‘Tree’ from the MIT Media Lab. Credit: Screenshot from Vimeo/MIT Media Lab.]…

[Anyone who questions the ability of film to evoke an intense and multi-faceted sense of presence should read this IndieWire review of (and go see) a new NASA documentary called “Apollo 11.” If nothing else read the fifth paragraph (“Honestly, …”) below. I missed seeing “First Man” in an IMAX theater but a group of us here at Temple University saw an extended preview scene that made us viscerally feel like we were there in the capsule during the countdown and take-off. “Apollo 11” uses newly discovered and restored high resolution footage and audio recordings of the event along with…

[This short story from the Orlando Weekly describes (and links to) a new patent application for a combination of form (a tether system) and content (virtual obstructions like gates and fog) to manage the paths of multiple VR and AR users at theme parks. See the original for more images. –Matthew] Universal files patent to put guests on a virtual reality leash By Seth Kubersky January 28, 2019 Virtual reality has taken the location-based gaming industry by storm in recent years, with stand-alone VR attractions popping up all over Orlando. But one fundamental problem has kept the technology out of…

[The images of the Instagram CGI character Imma (roughly, “now”) in this story from Inverse are compellingly realistic and raise intriguing questions about the impacts of the “virtual influencer” trend. For more examples see ITP Live, and for information about a potentially important factor in the impacts see the 2014 story in Motherboard titled “Lonely People Are More Likely to Think Inanimate Objects Are Alive.” –Matthew] The Weirdest Trend on Instagram: Virtual Influencers Who Make Real Content By Danny Paez January 19, 2019 The sun may already be setting on the age of the ambiguously famous social media influencer. After…

[The RealityVirtually Hackathon at MIT sounds like a fascinating, fun and valuable event where people gather to bring creative ideas for presence applications to life. This story from The Boston Globe (where it features a different image) describes many of the projects at this year’s event; for much more information about them see the Winners page on the RealityVirtually website. –Matthew] These developers are trying to make virtual reality more useful By Scott Kirsner, Globe Correspondent January 24, 2019 If you’ve seen a set of virtual reality goggles — in person or otherwise — you may have jumped to a few…

[PoliceOne reports on a new application of VR and presence to help teens learn how to avoid conflicts with gang members in New York City. For more information see NY1’s coverage that includes a 2:07 minute video report and the official press release via PR Newswire. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Officer.com] NYPD virtual-reality program to aid children with tough situations Police are putting teens through computer simulations to help them de-escalate gang confrontations January 23, 2019 Anthony M. Destefano, Newsday NEW YORK — The NYPD is using virtual reality to help teenagers deal with real life on the street.…

[“Paradoxically, our tendency to dehumanize robots comes from the instinct to anthropomorphize them” – this interesting story from The New York Times explores the reasons for human attacks on robots and other technologies; medium-as-social-actor (MASA) presence is both a cause and apparent solution to the problem. For more about this see a June 2018 story in The Boston Globe. –Matthew] Why Do We Hurt Robots? They are like us, but unlike us, and both fearsome and easy to bully. By Jonah Engel Bromwich Jan. 19, 2019 A hitchhiking robot was beheaded in Philadelphia. A security robot was punched to the…

[While telepresence rooms, virtual and augmented reality, IMAX theaters and simulation rides, and computers, virtual assistants and robots, are more often the focus of presence scholarship, television has for decades been arguably the most common and personal presence-evoking technology. And it’s evolving to be even more effective, as illustrated in this short story from Digital Trends about Samsung’s latest models. See the original story for a 2:56 on-site video report, and coverage in Techradar for the second image below and more information including the fact that the smaller (!) 75-inch model is called “The Window.” –Matthew] Samsung’s blistering 219-inch Micro…

[This story from YES! considers the potential and the limitations of virtual reality and presence to create empathy and sympathy and thereby lead to individual and social change. See the original version for two more images; for more on “An Empathy Bridge for Autism” and the “1000 Cut Journey” experience designed to give users a better understanding of racism, see a 2018 post and a 2017 post in ISPR Presence News. –Matthew] [The materials used for “An Empathy Bridge for Autism” VR experience are mostly low-cost and utilize tranquil hues. Photo by Paul Plews.] Using Virtual Reality to Teach Empathy Walking…

[Valeo’s Voyage XR lets users “tele-transport” into a remotely located car, enabling a variety of presence experiences. See the original version of this story from the Daily Mail for a 1:38 minute video and several more images (and a sidebar and video about a self-driving car demo); the brief Valeo announcement and the Voyage XR video are on the company’s website. –Matthew] The virtual back seat driver that could be every teen driver’s worst nightmare: ‘Teleportation’ system lets parents sit in the car with their kids via a VR headset By Annie Palmer for Dailymail.Com In Las Vegas 14 January…