[As a fan of Star Trek since childhood, I’m particularly interested in this post from the Neurologica Blog about how the original television series almost exactly six decades ago (and I’d argue the many subsequent series and films) portrayed voice interactions with computers in the distant future. The author points out what many of us have observed, that the portrayal reflect little of the extremely convincing and presence-evoking simulations of human voices becoming common today, and he argues that whether purposely or not, the portrayal may represent a better approach. –Matthew] Perhaps Star Trek’s Computer Voice Makes Sense By Steven…

[Neurofeedback (a type of biofeedback) provides real time visual or auditory cues about a person’s brain activity to help them alter that activity – to ‘train their brain.’ Although it doesn’t directly consider the role of presence, a new meta analysis described in this PsyPost story tentatively indicates that the technique is more effective when the visual and auditory cues are not simple graphs and tones, but vivid and meaningful changes in an immersive virtual or mixed reality experience. Follow the link to the new publication for more details.  –Matthew] [Image: Figure 1 from the research review: The two different…

[Here are two short stories, from Japan’s The Mainichi and the UK’s Travelling for Business, about what sounds like a clever use of telepresence robots at airports in Japan. –Matthew] [Image: An All Nippon Airways Co. staff member (on screen) at Kansai International Airport provides assistance with check-in and other procedures remotely via a Newme robot at Hiroshima Airport in Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Aug. 21, 2026. Credit: Kyodo News via The Mainichi] ANA launches inter-airport remote passenger support via telepresence robots September 6, 2026 OKYO (Kyodo) — All Nippon Airways Co. has begun rolling out telepresence robots enabling skilled…

[This abridged version of a comprehensive essay in Vanity Fair describes how then-new breakthroughs in media technologies and the horrific events of September 11, 2001 “ushered in the age of global simultaneity” and brought billions of people closer to those events, their aftermath, and each other. The author cites two theorists to note potential positive implications of the new technologies – the recognition of our common humanity in an interconnected global community – and negative ones that seem all too prevalent in 2026: the rise of cultures consumed by media spectacle, and uncertainty about, and polarized misperceptions of, reality. See…

[The story below is about how marine biologist Erika Woolsey is using presence-evoking technologies to educate and build empathy that “make the ocean more accessible to the masses so that they might strive to protect it.” It’s part of TIME magazine’s “TIME Trailblazers: Designing and Making the Future” series; the original version includes a short video. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Xander Peterson] Why Erika Woolsey Sees Virtual Reality Tech as an Ocean Conservation Tool By Alison Van HoutenSeptember 2, 2026 Marine biologist Dr. Erika Woolsey once led a 450-person dive on the kaleidoscopic coral reefs of Palau, a tropical archipelago nation…

[This story from the news section of the Golden Globes website describes the technological, creative, industry-related and philosophical evolution of presence-evoking experiences presented during the first ten years of the Venice Immersive section of the Venice International Film Festival. Note the summary statement at the end: “the old boundary between watching a story and entering one is slowly disappearing.” I added the links to sites with additional information. –Matthew] [Image: Screenshot from Nevatars. Credit: Venice Immersive, Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia] Venice Immersive Event Puts the Viewer in the Middle of the Action By Federica PolidoroSeptember 1, 2026 For a…

[In this essay from DEVELOP3D, an industry expert alludes to presence in arguing that “The future is not the headset. It is spatial computing – the ability to experience and interact with digital information in three dimensions in a more human way, much like we experience the physical world.” He believes spatial computing can only be successful when people in businesses identify use cases and workflows that demonstrate its value and lead to incremental changes in habits and behaviors that lead to mass adoption. –Matthew] Beyond headsets: Spatial computing’s future Spatial computing is about much more than VR headsets. As…

[A high school student in North Carolina learned to create virtual environments and then developed a proposal to use immersive digital environments to “allow learners to design virtual spaces using Unity, experience those spaces through VR and share their creations with other students.” The proposal has been approved and the learning experience will be available for students across the state. The story below from India Today is the most complete I’ve found; more information is available from Spectrum News, where it includes a 1:47 minute video report, and from a news release by Lexington Senior High School. Note: I believe…

[Three decades ago, asking people how they feel about a computer filling deeply personal roles like religious leader was only hypothetical – today it’s a reality. In the essay below from Religion News Service (RNS) a professor of religion comments on recent stories about pastors using AI – in one case creating a digital twin of himself to interact with his congregation (that California pastor describes his PastorGPT service in a 2:57 minute video on YouTube). See also “The Malnourished Ministry of Relational AI” in Christianity Today, where the author frames his analysis with the 1909 E. M. Forster short…

[This story from the United States Air Force News Service highlights the monetary and other benefits of using “realistic” and “immersive” presence-evoking virtual reality to train people for the challenging and high stakes work of maintaining aircraft. See the original version of the story for a second image. –Matthew] [Image: U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Austin Malanowski, 913th Airlift Group Virtual Reality Training Center program coordinator, (right), guides Tech. Sgt. Tisha Martin, 913th AG paralegal, through a virtual training environment during the May Unit Training Assembly at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, May 3, 2026. Malanowski spearheaded the transformation…

[Those interested in presence-evoking technologies and their impacts should know about Tess McKinney and the work she does to “[help] hospitals, colleges, and universities adopt virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and other immersive technologies.” This news release about her is from the Nebraska Business Development Center; for more information visit the website of her company XRenegades. –Matthew] Building the Future Through Virtual Reality XRenegades Helps Healthcare and Education Embrace Immersive Technology August 28, 2026Contact: NBDC Communications – [email protected] Tess McKinney was sitting in a national conference session on virtual reality in 2019 when she heard something that didn’t sit…

[An AI expert at a venture capital firm recently created a series of videos in which a fictional college student competed with her peers to join different sororities at the University of Alabama. The fact that the student and the videos were all AI creations was only revealed in the last video. This interview from Inc. with the creator of what became a viral experiment reveals some interesting assessments and predictions about how people respond to attempts to create presence misperceptions about the use of this fast-evolving technology (see in particular the last two paragraphs).  –Matthew] A Fake Sorority Hopeful…