[Looker’s product is a “complete data platform that offers data analytics, exploration and insights to every function of a business… The company is powering data-driven cultures at more than 800 industry-leading and innovative companies such as Sony, Amazon, The Economist, Spotify, Sears, Kohler, Etsy, Lyft, Red Bull and Kickstarter.” The blog post below from the company’s website describes the creation of the company’s new data visualization tool that utilizes virtual reality, including some of the interesting challenges and possibilities of the immersive, presence-evoking format (note particularly the discussion starting with “It’s an interesting experiment that raises a lot of questions”).…

[This new VR game raises lots of interesting questions regarding interface design and homuncular flexibility, and the use of presence for social and political advocacy. The story from CNET includes a 0:51 minute video teaser, and more information is available from the Samurai Punk website. –Matthew] The American Dream: A VR game where you have guns for hands Imagine a 1950s world where Mr. and Mrs. Middle America are going about daily life with guns for hands. Forget gun control — this is the American Dream! by Claire Reilly November 5, 2016 The American Dream is built on guns. That’s not…

[The Teomirn HoloLens app looks like an impressive presence-evoking tool for learning to play piano; this story is from UploadVR, where it features two 1:00 minute videos. See also a story (and video) in Next Reality about the related Music Everywhere HoloLens project for teaching piano improvisation. –Matthew] Teomirn Is A HoloLens App That Teaches You To Play The Piano By Jamie Feltham January 30th, 2017 Playing games that also teach you skills is a dream for any lazy person, but it’s still a distant one. Guitar Hero was fun, but it never taught you to play its starring instrument,…

[The evolution of technology to increase media user’s sense of presence continues… The original version of this story from the Daily Mail includes two sidebars, more images, and a related video. The full POV Head Rig press release is available via Newswire. –Matthew] The terrifying mannequin-head camera that could revolutionize VR porn: Device aims to create more ‘intimate emotional attachment’ It has stereoscopic cameras in the eyes and binaural sound microphones Also has multiple cameras across its surface to achieve 4K resolution at 60fps Creators say the POV Head Rig will make virtual reality porn more immersive By Cheyenne Macdonald…

[A recent post here of a story from Haaretz raised provocative questions about the morality of using VR and presence to evoke empathy in users; the story below from The Atlantic describes some important limitations of VR to evoke meaningful empathy beyond situations that involve an immediate physical environment. Read the last three paragraphs for the author’s argument for a technology that’s better for evoking empathy for psychological situations rather than physical ones. –Matthew] [Image: Visitors at MSF’s “Forced From Home” exhibit in DenmarkReuters] It’s Ridiculous to Use Virtual Reality to Empathize With Refugees The technology isn’t the moral game-changer…

[If you’re in or near New York City, you might want to check out this intriguing event that features portrayals of telepresence (we’re studying a wide variety of them in an ongoing research project here by the way). The story below is from Broadway World; see the La MaMa website for more information including images, a video, and descriptions of two more plays in the performance (“Action” and “Simultaneous Transmissions”). And a La MaMa Blogs post features an interview with Jason Trucco, co-director of Hi-Fi / Wi-Fi / Sci-Fi, including his answer to the question “How are you integrating the…

[This story from Digital Trends outlines the challenges the NFL (and other sports leagues) are addressing as they work to bring live, full game coverage in VR to audiences; in a related development, you can watch highlights of this Sunday’s Super Bowl in VR – see coverage in SportTechie for details. –Matthew] You Won’t Watch A Live NFL Game in VR This Year. Here’s Why By Keith Nelson Jr. January 16, 2017 You can experience almost anything in virtual reality. You can be on stage as Paul McCartney performs. You can travel around the globe. You can even watch a…

[This feature from an SMPTE Newswatch email is a long and at times a bit technical but very interesting discussion of the ways mediated images may and may not ever be able to fully reproduce reality for our visual perceptual systems, but may not have to. –Matthew] Hot Button Discussion Human Image Perception By Michael Goldman (bio at end) January 31, 2017 As engineers push ongoing image display technology enhancements, and content creators experiment with how they can utilize those enhancements to tell stories, a few questions naturally come up. How do either engineers or content creators know what average…

[You can observe the new U.S. president in an eerie up-close experience in the Oval Office in the new (free) virtual reality creation Wide Awake; this first person report on the experience is from TechStack247; for more information including images and videos, see the MacInnes Scott website. You can download Wide Awake from Viveport. –Matthew] Trump at 2AM: The new Oval Office in virtual reality By Temidayo — January 21, 2017 Donald Trump stands before me with a grim look on his face, lightly leaning against the Oval Office’s Resolute desk. Moonlight pours in through the office’s rear windows as a phone…

[Real-time collaborative virtual environments like ‘MasterpieceVR’ have exciting potential to evoke presence and enable creativity and other positive outcomes; this story from Upload VR features several more images and two videos; an update includes another image and video and notes that the software is “available for download on Steam — entirely for free for a limited time” and that “the player count will increase to 4 in the next few weeks and grow steadily over the life of the platform.” –Matthew] ‘MasterpieceVR’ Brings Cross-Platform Multiplayer Painting And Sculpting To Rift And Vive By Danny Bittman December 23rd, 2016 Creating art…

[Matt Jones and I have argued that sexuality represents an important context for studying presence experiences and this story from Upload VR (where it includes more images) provides a progress report that illustrates why. For example, one industry figure notes that current technology “brings us one step closer (essentially the closest) to feeling the person on the other end without actually being in the same physical space – a heightened level of intimacy” and another says “The adult industry is undergoing a seismic shift as we transition away from the traditional towards a more immersive experience that is delivering a…

[Simple haptic cues increase presence and a variety of effects sought by advertisers; this story (which I’ve lightly edited for typos) is from MediaPost, where it includes the short video mentioned; for more information see the press release from Immersion Corporation via Business Wire (also excerpted below). –Matthew] [Image: Source: Immersion Corporation] Interpublic Tests Ads That Reach Out And Touch Someone, Finds Lift by Joe Mandese January 25, 2017 Sight, sound and motion have long been the Holy Trinity of Madison Avenue’s sensory perception — and of TV’s and video’s dominance of advertising formats — but new research from Interpublic’s…