[As with other presence-evoking technologies, advertising in VR and AR can easily cause breaks in presence; this story from Venture Beat describes how one company is working to minimize the likelihood of this frustrating and counter-productive phenomenon (the CEO uses the phrase “breaking immersion”). –Matthew] Advrty brings native ads to virtual reality Stephanie Chan September 21, 2017 Advrty wants to offer a new avenue of monetization for virtual reality developers, which doesn’t involve full field-of-view pop-up ads. Instead, it’s a platform aimed toward designing and incorporating nonintrusive product placement. It’s in beta. “Initially, think billboards, posters and product placements using…

[Adding more personality to voice assistants could increase medium-as-social-actor presence for users. This story from Digiday, which includes a 1:20 minute video, describes an interesting example created by the B-Reel agency. The experience might be optimized if users could adjust the degree, and even type, of personality expressed. –Matthew] This agency created a voice assistant inspired by a Swedish grandmother September 25, 2017 by Ilyse Liffreing Google Home, Echo and other voice-activated devices have many capabilities, but one agency believes they lack something essential for the future of voice: personality. B-Reel designed a virtual assistant that takes on the persona…

[This story from Smithsonian Magazine is an effective reminder that VR is just the latest popular attempt to use technology to create presence experiences (example quote: “The world in a stereoscope seemed transcendent, hyper-real”). I agree with the concluding suggestion that VR will eventually become just another tool and perhaps fade from use, but I’m confident we’ll continue to be driven to develop (and popularize) technologies that are increasingly effective at evoking presence. The original story contains many more images and a link to a related book. –Matthew] [Image: This Underwood & Underwood stereograph (c. 1901) shows a woman viewing…

[I’m just back from the IBC2017 Conference, where I gave a talk, got a glimpse of new technologies and had a series of valuable and enjoyable conversations about presence; great thanks to long-time presence advocate and producer of the IBC technical sessions Nick Lodge (info; video). The story below from Fast Company describes a VR project that raises a series of intriguing questions about presence without ever using the term; if only Horton and Wohl, who originated the term parasocial interaction, could see “Fall in Love VR.” The original version of the story includes a second image and a 0:29…

[This story from Digital Trends is a realistic, and in the end hopeful, look at what it’ll take to turn browsing the web into a presence-evoking experience; the original version includes a second image and two videos. –Matthew] VR Web Browsing Needs Revolution More Than Evolution By Jon Martindale September 9, 2017 Virtual reality has given us new ways to play games, and has the potential to bring us closer to loved ones around the world, but it’s yet nail down how to let us browse the internet properly. We’re still far from having a VR headset replace an entire…

[Quantifying the health benefits of different activities in virtual environments could be valuable in promoting presence; the original version of this story from the San Francisco Chronicle includes two more images. –Matthew] [Image: Aaron Stanton exercises using a virtual reality headset at San Francisco State University on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. Photo: James Tensuan, Special to the Chronicle.] S.F. State tests benefits of workouts in virtual reality games By Nanette Asimov September 5, 2017 You enter the boxing ring and face your opponent. He glares at you, his bulging pecs glistening under the arena lights. Pow! You nail him with…

[Another effort to use VR and presence to ease medical treatment; this story is from Forbes, where it includes a different image. –Matthew] Virtual Reality Startup Uses The Psychology of Gaming To Do Battle With Cancer Moira Vetter, Contributor September 9, 2017 Virtual reality innovations are often believed to be speculative technologies that haven’t yet found practical applications. People think of gamers and hobbyists wearing a headset or goggles and peering into a synthetic reality. But virtual reality isn’t so virtual anymore. One startup, OnComfort, has fixed its sights on one of the most daunting foes there is to fight—cancer.…

[Especially in light of recent and current natural disasters, this is an encouraging story from the University of Virginia; for more information on the How to change the world engineering podcast competition and to listen to Bethany Gordon’s 7:31 minute winning entry see coverage from the Royal Academy of Engineering. –Matthew] [Image: UVA graduate engineering student Bethany Gordon’s idea to apply virtual reality technology to crisis situations recently won an international podcast contest. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)] Virtual Reality Can Make a Remote Crisis Real – And Spur Effective Responses September 07, 2017 In Gyumri, Armenia, about 4,000…

[This story from Slate’s Future Tense series provides a useful perspective on alternate meanings of the term virtual and their implications for how we perceive and realize the potential of VR and presence. –Matthew] [Image: Perhaps to speak of virtual reality is to anticipate the disappearance of the world we know. Photo illustration by Natalie Matthews-Ramo. Photos by Thinkstock.] Our Virtual Future What philosophers say about the inevitability of VR. By Jacob Brogan September 1, 2017 A few months ago, I pulled on an Oculus Rift headset for the first time and stepped into a virtual reality meeting room. I…

[There is intriguing, and possibly disturbing, potential for enhancing presence experiences in this research by Facebook; the story is from New Scientist. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Mashable] Facebook AI learns human reactions after watching hours of Skype By Matt Reynolds 5 September 2017 There’s something not quite right about humanoid robots. They are cute up to a point, but once they become a bit too realistic, they often start to creep us out – a foible called the uncanny valley. Now Facebook wants robots to climb their way out of it. Researchers at Facebook’s AI lab have developed an expressive bot,…

[Despite the unfortunately-worded quote that begins “The great thing about dementia is it really fits our brand…,” this story from Quartz describes an important application of presence. The original version includes more images. –Matthew] Dementia is difficult to spot early. Researchers think VR can help. By Karen Hao September 03, 2017 In 2014, German mobile carrier Deutsche Telekom initiated a search for something it could do to benefit the world. Employees met with experts in health, education, and cybersecurity, seeking out something that, according to Hans-Christian Schwingen, chief brand officer at Deutsche Telekom, would show “how mobile products and services…

[According to this story from Adweek, VR dating has “started to breach pop culture,” including a new dating program set in virtual reality. You can watch the 1:04 minute trailer on YouTube and the 7:56 minute first episode on Facebook. The reviews (e.g., in The Verge and New York Post) have been negative, but it’s interesting to imagine ways in which both actual VR dating and the program could be made more interesting and useful. –Matthew]   [Image: Source: VRScout] Condé Nast and Facebook Are Debuting a Virtual-Reality Dating Show Will VR blind dates lead to real love?…