[This story from the Naperville Sun describes a current effort by University of Illinois students to use virtual reality and presence for good. The GoFundMe page for the project includes a 2:35 minute video, Chicago’s WCAI-TV has a short news story on the project, and more information is available on the website of the students’ YouMatter Studios. –Matthew] [Image: Jewel Ifeguni, of Naperville, top left, hopes to raise enough money to make a virtual reality film with fellow University of Illinois students, Mia Ruggiero, bottom left, Katie Mimnaugh, top right, and Apurva Chakravorty, bottom right. (Credit: Jewel Ifeguni)] U. of…

[A new virtual reality installation and a display of items from the evolution of immersive media will be on display in Bradford in the UK through May. This story is from The Telegraph & Argus and more information is available from the Thresholds page on the Museum’s website. I want to go! –Matthew] [Image: Inside the virtual reality environment of Thresholds, a replica of William Henry Fox Talbot’s 1839 photography exhibition] Time-travelling through virtual reality Emma Clayton, Leisure and Lifestyle Editor 23rd February In 1839 the world’s first major public exhibition of photographs took place at King Edward’s School in…

[Amazon’s Alexa Prize challenges AI experts to create a more natural (presence-evoking) social bot; the original, unabridged version of this long story from Wired describes the background, the competition process and results, and notes that Amazon has another Alexa Prize contest in 2018. –Matthew] INSIDE THE ALEXA PRIZE Amazon is in a pitched battle with its rivals to bring truly conversational AI into our homes. So the company is staging a contest—a mad dash toward an outlandish goal: Cook up a bot capable of small talk. James Vlahos February 27, 2018 The first interactor—a muscular man in his fifties with…

[As this story from The Next Web notes, Facebook’s new DensePose technology represents a new capability for altering the reality presented in video material. As always, the deception could logically have both positive and negative implications. See the original story for a second image and a 3:49 minute demo video. –Matthew] Facebook’s body-swapping AI has Hollywood written all over it By Tristan Greene February 7, 2018 If you thought DeepFakes, the AI that swaps celebrity faces into any video (like porn), was scary wait until you see what Facebook’s DensePose can do. Facebook’s AI research (FAIR) division last week revealed…

[This in depth discussion of the need for robots to act based on a system of ethical guidelines, how those guidelines should be constructed, whether robots can not only act but ‘be’ ethical, and how humans should ethically behave toward robots, is from the Desert News. See the original story for 21 more pictures and a 7-item survey about robot ethics. –Matthew] Personal robots are coming into your home. Will they share your family values? By Jennifer Graham February 14, 2018 HARTFORD, Conn. — When a Czech playwright coined the word “robot” in 1921, he described mechanical creatures that have…

[I believe presence is a powerful tool and that presence scholars and creators have a particular responsibility to consider, warn against, and work to prevent its use for unethical ends. Reminiscent of a Black Mirror story, this cautionary opinion column explores the potential of presence-evoking technology to subvert the mechanisms that prevent the most extreme forms of societal inequality. It was published in Bloomberg View. –Matthew] [Image: Enjoy. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg] Are You Poor? Here’s Your Virtual Hamster Cage Technology could erase the limits of inequality. By Cathy O’Neil February 21, 2018 What are the limits of inequality? In…

[First Airlines isn’t an airline at all but a clever use of presence-evoking technologies to simulate a flight and visit to vacation destinations. This story from tnooz includes a 4:33 minute video (in Japanese); Reuters has more details and another video (in English), and the Independent’s coverage highlights the founders’ insights about VR. –Matthew] For ‘First Airlines’ passengers, the journey is the VR destination Marisa Garcia February 16, 2018 This one’s a trip. Japanese airline-themed restaurant First Airlines, offers visitors a First class flying experience that includes a virtual reality immersive tour of Hawaii, New York, Paris or Rome.…

[Artist Rosalie Yu uses a variety of technologies to create presence experiences and her latest project involves different forms of virtual sweets. See the original version of this story from The Verge for many more images including an interactive 3D model, as well as a 2:52 minute 360 video (‘you’ enter a lemon tart at 2:00). Coverage in ALL3DP includes a version of the video that can be switched to full-screen, and you can see over 200 of the 3D models on the artist’s Sketchfab page. –Matthew] Rosalie Yu Turns her Sweet Tooth into a Virtual Reality Art Form In…

[The line between ‘real’ and virtual continues to blur, this time in the fashion industry; this story is from Fashionista, where it includes more images. –Matthew] [Image: @shudu.gram/Instagram] Are Computer-Generated Influencers About to Take Over the Beauty Industry? Cool or creepy? Stephanie Saltzman Feb 10, 2018 The concept of the Instagram model is so pervasive today that just hearing the phrase evokes a hyper-specific look. Instagram models have an immediately striking appearance: mesmerizing eyes, killer cheekbones, sometimes an ambiguous ethnic makeup and, of course, perfectly plump lips. In short, they represent the perfect storm of great genetics, fillers and filters.…

[This story from VentureBeat is an overview of current and future uses of virtual reality and presence (mentioned explicitly) to help people recover from and cope with physical and psychological limitations. See the original story for several more pictures and two videos. –Matthew] [Image: The Parkinson’s virtual support group members have been meeting in the virtual world, Second Life, for seven years] VR can already help people heal — and it’s just the beginning Lisa Peyton, an immersive media strategist and media psychologist focusing on the business applications of new technologies. February 10, 2018 Fran gracefully glides around the grand…

[A clever invention called the Canetroller developed at Microsoft uses haptic and audio feedback like those provided by a real cane to create presence experiences for the visually impaired. This short story from MSPoweruser includes a 4:45 minute video; follow the link to the full paper at the end for much more information. For other technology developments for the visually impaired see Perkins eLearning. –Matthew] Microsoft creates novel cane controller which lets visually impaired navigate in VR by Surur @mspoweruser Jan 23, 2018 While virtual reality would seem an opportunity to create a brand new interface for the visually impaired…

[This story from People doesn’t use the term presence but it’s all about using technology to transport audiences into another person’s environment and experience. The original story includes a video featuring Laird Hamilton, and see YouTube for an interactive 360 video of “Take Every Wave” and the LifeVR website for more information about this and related presence projects. –Matthew] Ride a 100-Foot Wave with Laird Hamilton in the Surf Legend’s New Virtual Reality Experience Reagan Alexander February 13, 2018 You are not Laird Hamilton. You don’t ride 100 foot waves on a whim. You don’t travel around the world to…