[This story from The Verge summarizes and provides links to other coverage of a new application of presence-evoking technology: to simulate and prepare teachers for a school shooting. Some of the important ethical issues are highlighted at the end; the AP story includes a 2:19 minute video report; and the Gizmodo story notes that “It’s a dark irony that after 1999’s Columbine High School shooting, parents, teachers, and lawmakers tried to blame video games. Now, in 2018, VR simulations are attempting to prepare parents and teachers to save lives during similar shootings.” –Matthew] The Army and DHS are making a…

[A new generation of smart glasses will offer voice-activated interaction with our AI-powered virtual assistant, bone-conduction audio, an augmented reality display, and prescription lenses in light and stylish frames, which together will evoke multiple forms of spatial and social presence. The story below about the less expensive audio-only LET Glass is from Digital Trends, where the original includes different images and a 2:26 minute video; for much more information follow the link to the Indiegogo page. For coverage of Vuzik’s new AR-capable glasses see a story from Bloomberg, which notes that “everyone” (Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc.) will likely be launching their…

[As Sony launches a new more sophisticated version of its robotic dog AIBO, this story from TechRadar considers the future of robotic pets and whether we should encourage medium-as-social-actor presence responses in their young users. For more on the old and new AIBO/aibo, see coverage in The Daily Beast. –Matthew] What will tomorrow’s children make of robot pets? From Aibo to Cozmo, what does the future hold for bot pets? By Rich Wordsworth December 16, 2017 My robot is bored. I’ve done everything I can. Anki’s ‘Cozmo’ – Wall-E-meets-EVE in the cab of a forklift – costs around £200 /…

[In addition to the ethics of creating a disembodied or embodied version of a person to maintain a sense of their presence after they die, this story from The Daily Beast considers the possibility of transferring your consciousness into technology so that you experience your continued existence after your body dies (in addition to the episode of Black Mirror mentioned, the many interesting implications of such a prospect are explored in the British series Humans). –Matthew] [Image: photo illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast] When You Die, You’ll Live on as a Robot Memories die with those who keep them,…

[In this story from The Conversation amusement academic Malcolm Burt reviews the increasing use of VR and presence in amusement and theme park rides, its benefits and drawbacks, riders’ desire for narrative, and the possible futures of the rides and parks. The original story includes three more images and six videos; see Burt’s YouTube channel for even more. –Matthew] [Image: The author on a VR waterslide in Germany. Because why not? Malcolm Burt, Author provided] Virtual reality has added a new dimension to theme park rides — so what’s next for thrill-seekers? Malcolm Burt, Amusement academic, Queensland University of Technology…

[It won’t surprise presence scholars, but this blog post from On Biology summarizes a new study that systematically demonstrates the value of presence experiences for studying “real” human behavior. The original post includes more images and a 5:59 minute video with three views of a person as they participate in the experiment. –Matthew] Virtual Reality brings human behavior to the laboratory Studying human behavior in a laboratory is challenging, and rodents often must suffice as a model in experimental tests. New research in BMC Biology presents an experimental set-up using virtual reality to better understand real human behavior. In this…

[This uplifting story from the Kokomo Perspective (in Indiana) is a nice way to start the new year. –Matthew] [Image: Kyle Miller (right) smiles on camera after the birth of his son, Wyatt [to wife Shelby]. Miller was able to be a part of the delivery from Cuba, where he’s stationed.] Community Howard teleconferences birth for deployed father Seeing success, hospital given the go-ahead to offer the technology to other military families going forward Alyx Arnett December 29, 2017 From 1,200 miles away, one deployed father watched the birth of his second child at Community Howard Regional Health last month.…

[The last two of the four predictions for the coming year in this story from Fortune directly involve presence. More predictions are available from Gartner via Forbes and from designboom. Best wishes to all of us for a safe, healthy, productive and happy 2018! Hope to see you in Prague in May! –Matthew] [Image: Source: Forbes] 4 Technology Trends That Will Transform Our World in 2018 By Jay Samit, independent vice chairman of Deloitte’s Digital Reality practice and author of the bestselling book “Disrupt You!” December 26, 2017 Predicting the future requires hubris, and it should therefore be met with more…

[It’s sometimes hard to remember how quickly the technologies behind machines that we speak to and that speak to us have developed, and how many of us are interacting with machines this way (e.g., see a recent Pew Research report). The short story below from Quartz and the audio samples it includes and links to demonstrate how good the technologies are becoming at evoking presence. –Matthew] [Image: A spectrogram for “whoa.” Credit: Lorenzo Tlacaelel] Google’s voice-generating AI is now indistinguishable from humans By Dave Gershgorn December 26, 2017 Humans have officially given their voice to machines. A research paper published…

[This story from TechCrunch by a professional chef highlights three categories of ways presence experiences will shape the food industry, with lots of links to interesting examples. –Matthew] [Image: London’s City Social “Sea Marshall“ augmented reality cocktail. Credit: Addie Chinn. Source: The Telegraph] How augmented and virtual reality will reshape the food industry December 26, 2017 Jenny Dorsey Augmented reality content can be found on everything from wine bottles to IKEA’s catalog and virtual reality experiences are much more detailed, with rich layers of interactivity from hand controllers to gaze triggers, and a VR film has even won an Oscar.…

[This story from Sport Techie is an update on what NFL Films is learning as its team works to create presence experiences of (American) football games (the fact that the new season of NFL Immersed features the Philadelphia Eagles, my hometown team, is purely coincidence!). –Matthew] Virtual Reality Production Enhanced For Docuseries ‘NFL Immersed’ December 20, 2017 Mitch Reames Since its inception in 1964, NFL Films has won more than 100 Emmys for its work documenting the NFL’s stories and gameplay. NFL Films has also extended its work into virtual reality with the show “NFL Immersed.” The first three episodes…

[Here’s another clever application of technology that provides social presence; note the comment from a potential renter that getting a tour of the property “was like having somebody there, just in a different shape.” The story is from CNBC, where it includes a 0:39 minute video report. For more information and a 1:39 minute promotional video see coverage in Curbed SF. A story in Inman has even more information, reporting that “[i]n 2015, the industry reacted somewhat negatively to a company developing similar technology called Zip Tours. Zenplace replaces the handheld video call used by Zip Tours with a taller,…