[The start-up Black Box VR, which was named a CES 2018 Innovation Awards Honoree, seems to more thoroughly integrate virtual reality, artificial intelligence and exercise equipment to produce a motivating sense of spatial and social presence than previous efforts. The story below is from BBC News and includes a first person report (for others see coverage in Business Insider and Tom’s Guide); for more information including videos see the company’s website and a press release via PRWeb. –Matthew] CES 2018: Black Box VR wants to make gamers fit January 7, 2018 Start-up Black Box VR has developed a full-body workout…

[This story from Engadget describes how Netflix used an exhibition booth at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to evoke presence in visitors to promote a new TV series about presence after death (the topic of the most recent new episode of The X-Files (season 11, episode 2; spoiler-filled summary available from Vulture). The Engadget story includes 11 more photos and for more information see the Netflix page for the new series and coverage in DesignTAXI that includes photos, videos and tweets from CES. –Matthew] Netflix hid a fake biotech booth in the middle of CES Oblivious…

[The last sentence in this short story from SportTechie makes clear that the goal of the expanded VR coverage of the upcoming Winter Olympics is to create presence experiences. The original story includes a 2:24 minute video and for more information see the press release at Around the Rings. –Matthew] Intel Pledges Winter Olympics Will Be ‘Largest-Scale VR Event’ January 9, 2018 Joe Lemire Intel’s ambitious plans for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang include producing the largest-scale virtual reality event with official broadcast rights partners such as NBC. The tech giant has pledged more than 50 hours of live…

[The technologies are or soon will be available to let us create multi-platform (embodied and disembodied) artificially intelligent versions of ourselves to interact with other people and companies and their virtual representatives. This story from Computerworld thoughtfully considers some of the possible presence-implicated scenarios (interacting with your own virtual assistant suggests an intriguing form of self presence!). For more information including a 0:24 minute video see coverage in BGR.  –Matthew] [Image: ObEN co-founder and CEO Nikhil Jain and his virtual self] Why you’ll fire Siri and do the job yourself In the world of A.I., the best virtual assistant might…

[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…