[Microsoft has created a fully mobile version of its holoportation technology, vastly reducing the bandwidth necessary to create the social and spatial presence illusion. The original version of this story from NextReality includes videos about Mobile Holoportation and the original incarnation of the technology as well as a 26:50 minute video of a presentation about the project from October’s User Interface and Software Technology (JIST) Symposium; more information and images are also available from Microsoft Research. –Matthew]   Microsoft Research Shows Off Mobile Holoportation Jason Odom November 28, 2016 In recent years, wave after wave of technological advancement has led…

[Aside from the important role of (spatial) presence in this story from USA Today (which includes a 3:04 minute video news report), note the solicitor general’s comment that jury members develop their knowledge and expectations about real-life law and order from their mediated entertainment experiences. –Matthew] Virtual reality could take jurors inside crimes Rebecca Lindstrom, WXIA-TV, Atlanta December 29, 2016 ATLANTA — A Georgia company wants to use body cameras to help jurors experience a crime scene for themselves. Utility Associates, of Decatur, Ga., is a software company that helps public safety, utilities and transit enterprises stay connected. Simon Araya,…

[If you’re away from loved ones this holiday weekend, there’s always the Kissenger (!). This story is from IEEE Spectrum, where it features a second image. By the way, don’t confuse this Kissenger with the closely related Lovatics robot Kissenger. Here’s wishing all of us a healthy, safe, productive, and most of all, happy 2017. –Matthew] [Image: With the Kissenger, video chats could be sealed with a kiss. Photo: Emma Yann Zhang.] Robotic Kiss Transmitter Lets You Smooch a Loved One From Afar By Eliza Strickland Posted 23 Dec 2016 If you can’t be with your loved ones this holiday season, perhaps…

[Dimitri Williams argues that social presence is more important than spatial presence in this opinion column from the Los Angeles Times. –Matthew] [Image: Mark Zuckerberg on a Facebook Messenger phone call with his wife Priscilla Chan while in VR. From the October 2016 story “Facebook Shows Us The Future of Social VR” in 3D VR Central.] Op-Ed Community is the ‘killer app’ missing from virtual reality By Dmitri Williams (Associate Professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism specializing in games, communities and data) December 27, 2016 I have played with several virtual reality systems over the last…

[This story from WPTV is about a variation on the increasingly well-regarded idea of using distraction via presence to ease the experience of pain (e.g., see Kenney and Milling’s recent meta-analysis). The original story features two videos including the 2:35 minute news report, which is also available on YouTube. –Matthew] Boca Raton pediatrician’s office offers ‘flinch free vaccine experience’ Stephanie Susskind Dec 27, 2016 BOCA RATON, Fla. – Imagine being transported off the ground or even out of this world, all while sitting in your doctor’s office. That’s what one Palm Beach County pediatrician is doing for his patients to…

[As much potential as they have for good, the diffusion of VR and other presence-evoking technologies in society raises critically important ethical issues; this story is from The Intercept and includes a quote from our colleague Andrea Stevenson Won; the original version features a series of eerie animations. –Matthew] [Image: From an animation by Scott Gelber for The Intercept] THE DARK SIDE OF VR Virtual Reality Allows the Most Detailed, Intimate Digital Surveillance Yet December 23 2016 Joshua Kopstein (additional research: Jeremiah Johnson) “WHY DO I look like Justin Timberlake?” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was on stage wearing a virtual reality…

[This story from The Atlantic explores a fascinating after-effect of VR and presence (or possibly of an incomplete presence illusion) akin to Timmins and Lombard’s concept of inverse presence; following Frederick Aardema’s 2006 finding that “VR increases dissociative experiences and lessens people’s sense of presence in actual reality,” it’s described as “post VR sadness” and “derealization.” Have you ever had anything like the experiences described here? Let us know in the online comments or let me know directly (at lombard@temple.edu). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Eugene Hoshiko / AP] Virtual Reality Can Leave You With an Existential Hangover After exploring a virtual…

[Although this story from ZDNet doesn’t mention it, much of the press coverage of the new use of VR (and presence) to ease the loneliness of patients in Australia hospitals notes that it should be especially valuable during the holiday season, so it seems like a good story for our last post before Christmas. A 1:27 minute video about the project is available on YouTube and a press release is available from MediaBank. –Matthew]   [Image: Source: Liminal] Medibank launches VR for Australian hospitals on Google Daydream View Virtual reality developer Liminal’s ‘Joy’ experience will alleviate loneliness and isolation for…

[This piece from The Conversation (reprinted this month in Quartz) provides an overview of just some of the fascinating practical and ethical issues related to medium-as-social-actor presence; the original versions include two videos. –Matthew] [Image: Mommy? Toyota’s Kirobo Mini robot (Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon)] Robot babies from Japan raise all sorts of questions about how parents bond with AI October 17, 2016 Mark Robert Anderson, Professor in Computing and Information Systems, Edge Hill University Driven by a declining population, a trend for developing robotic babies has emerged in Japan as a means of encouraging couples to become “parents”. The approaches taken vary…

[This development is another sign of the growing importance of presence-evoking technologies; the story is from Fortune. –Matthew] [Image: A journalist uses Google’s Daydream VR headset during an event to introduce Google hardware products on October 4, 2016 in San Francisco, California. Credit: Ramin Talaie – Getty Images] New York Is Planning to Juice Its VR Industry With a Splashy New Lab To spur job growth in virtual reality and augmented reality startups By Lisa Eadicicco December 14, 2016 Companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have spent years proclaiming that technologies like virtual and augmented reality represent the future of…

[I’ve removed the more familiar review of VR’s past and present from this long story from Digital Trends (which features videos and more images) to focus on the part that forecasts the far and near future of VR and presence. –Matthew] We have virtual reality. What’s next is straight out of ‘The Matrix’ By Nick Mokey — December 19, 2016 [snip] A kid born in 1999 is just now old enough to rent the R-rated Matrix — or more likely, stream it. Yet in those intervening 17 years, entering the Matrix has gone from a dystopian sci-fi dream to a…

[The introduction of Oculus Rooms and Parties described in this story from Engadget (which features more images) could be a big step toward social presence in VR; the Oculus blog post about the features says “The first wave of VR was all about the magic of presence, the immersive sense of actually being inside a virtual space. The next step is to let you feel that same sense of presence with other people in VR.” –Matthew] Gear VR gets social with Oculus Rooms and Parties Rift users will get these features in 2017. Nicole Lee December 16, 2016 A few…