[This story from Wired reviews the evolution of NextVR’s coverage of football and basketball and includes implicit and explicit references to presence, discussion of the potential for memory confusions between 3-D VR and in-person game experiences, and the obstacles to widespread adoption of live experiences of sports via VR. See the original story for several more images.—Matthew] The NFL’s New VR Highlights Take Football to a Whole New Level Tim Moynihan 12.11.16 Deep in the second quarter of the New York Giants’ win over the Chicago Bears on November 20, Giants quarterback Eli Manning slung a short pass to running…

[According to economist Richard Baldwin, presence is playing a crucial role in the latest phase of a 200,000 years long trend of globalization. This story is from Quartz, where the original includes more images (including the global income chart mentioned). –Matthew] Brace yourself: the most disruptive phase of globalization is just beginning Eshe Nelson December 07, 2016 To properly understand globalization, you need to start 200,000 years ago. Richard Baldwin skillfully takes on this daunting task in a new book, starting all the way back with the hunter-gatherers. For too long, he says, traditional analysis of trade has been too…

[This book review from Medium, and apparently the book The Fourth Transformation, is a nice introduction to the rapid development of presence-evoking technologies since the 1940s and into the future. A sample quote: “The key to the fourth transformation is an emerging suite of technologies that will dissolve the boundary between what we see on our screens and the world around us. Rather than seeing them confined to the frame of a computer screen or a mobile device, we will be able to generate a convincing illusion that our digital creations have jumped into what we used to call the…

[This story from The Guardian is about another promising application of presence; the discussion toward the end about the best types of virtual environment for this context is particularly interesting. The original article includes more pictures. –Matthew] [Image: Erin Martucci and her daughter. Photograph: Mary Bratton] Can virtual reality help women cope with childbirth? Erin Martucci is believed to be the first to use a virtual reality headset to manage her pain during labor, and doctors hope more women will follow Tina Amirtha Friday 9 December 2016 Erin Martucci had been enjoying the beach vista and gazing at a flock…

[In addition to the quote in the first section about how sexuality is the best context for illustrating the promise of VR, I think the section in this story from GeekWire titled “The girlfriend experience” is particularly interesting – it argues that VR and AR have the potential to offer a new level of psychologically intimate sexual experience. The original story includes more images. –Matthew] Virtual reality porn is just foreplay: Why augmented reality is the future of adult entertainment By Monica Nickelsburg on November 16, 2016 The adult industry has been propelling — and in some cases initiating —…

[This story from The Register is an interesting first-person account of the experience of using a Beam telepresence robot (‘unit’) to attend an IT conference. –Matthew] I was a robot and this is what I learned The internet of me 7 Dec 2016, Trevor Pott Sysadmin blog For one brief instant, Microsoft was the good guy. Deep within the often customer-hostile behemoth, left after the arrogance and straight on past the victim blaming is the office of Brian First, with the Microsoft Experience Design Group. Alongside a company called Event Presence, Brian made me feel like a real person, actual…

[The new Global Virtual Reality Association (GVRA) seems likely to play an important role in the development of a key presence-related industry; this story is from Engadget, where it includes a different image; the official press release is available from PR Newswire. –Matthew] Biggest names in VR band together to create industry standards GVRA isn’t exactly the catchiest name Cherlynn Low December 7, 2016 The world’s most popular virtual reality headset makers have assembled. Google, Oculus, Sony, HTC, Samsung and Acer have come together to create a non-profit organization called the Global Virtual Reality Association (or the far snappier GVRA,…

[Journalism continues to explore how best to use presence-evoking technologies to engage and inform; this is from Reveal’s website, where you can access various versions of the Disfellowshipped production. –Matthew] Disfellowshipped: A virtual reality experience By Trey Bundy / November 29, 2016   Our first virtual reality production, Disfellowshipped, is an attempt to help push forward the possibilities of immersive storytelling in journalism – to tell a narrative, character-rich, investigative story in VR. Media outlets around the world are getting their feet wet in the VR world, and some astonishing work has been done. But so far, VR largely has…

[I think one of the most interesting uses of presence is the recreation of historical places and events, which comes with an obligation to do it accurately and sensitively; this story is from The Washington Post and more information is available from the Newseum’s website. –Matthew] [Image: Maria Bryk/Newseum] How virtual reality is about to take you to Pearl Harbor and the Berlin Wall By Brian Fung December 1, 2016 If you’re like most Americans, you probably learned about Pearl Harbor from a textbook or by watching a film about the surprise attack in 1941 against U.S. naval forces. But…

[To virtual and augmented reality we have to add substitutional reality, and as in this story from The Japan Times, consider its far-reaching implications. –Matthew] [Image: Riken researcher Naotaka Fujii (right) tests a ‘substitutional reality’ system that lets people experience how a prerecorded 360-degree video can be mixed into real-life surroundings. | Courtesy of RIKEN] Riken mind bender stays one step ahead of virtual reality By Ayako Mie, Staff Writer December 4, 2016 Imagine you are standing on the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped bridge suspended 1,200 meters above the Colorado River. You are likely to get dizzy and freeze…

[The illusions provided by presence can apparently be the basis of effective treatment for phantom limb pain; this story is from Medical Xpress, where the original includes an additional image and a 2:16 minute video; a press release from The Lancet is available via EurekAlert! –Matthew] [Image: In the augmented reality environment, the patients can see themselves on a screen with a superimposed virtual arm, which is controlled by muscle signals from their arm stump. Credit: Ortiz-Catalan et al., The Lancet, 2016.] Phantom movements in augmented reality helps patients with intractable phantom limb pain December 1, 2016 Dr Max Ortiz…

[As this story from ChessBase says, playing chess against an online opponent on a 2D screen just isn’t the same as using a physical (“real”) chess set, and the creators of Square Off have developed an innovative presence-evoking alternative. The original story includes lots of pictures as well as the 3:06 minute Kickstarter video. –Matthew] World’s smartest chess board is here! by Sagar Shah October 13, 2016 How about sitting in the comfort of your living room and challenging a player anywhere in the world to play a game with you, on a “real chess set”? Sound’s impossible right! With the world’s…