[This example of “Slow TV” has particular appeal to me as a railroad enthusiast, though I think the commercial breaks will likely break viewers’ sense of presence. Three stories on the topic are below, the first from the Las Vegas Review Journal. –Matthew] Want to watch a 5-hour train ride? Because you can with slow TV By Christopher Lawrence Las Vegas Review-Journal November 10, 2015 Much like prime-time game shows and singing contests, U.S. television is copying yet another curious European phenomenon: slow TV. Spurred by the success that Norwegian public broadcasting has had airing everything from 12 hours of…

[This seems like an important step in VR’s history; the story is from The Boston Globe, and a related take on the New York Times’ rollout is available from Fortune. For more details and instructions see the Times. –Matthew] [Image: Forbes] A dazzling virtual reality rollout from New York Times By Amanda Katz Globe Staff November 10, 2015 On Saturday morning I did something unusual for someone who subscribes to The New York Times online: I texted a couple of print subscribers and begged them to check the bag on their doorstep. I was looking for a print-subscriber freebie, a…

[This new camera and production system offers the promise of what Lytro calls “true live-action presence in VR” (in Mashable); the story below is from Wired, where it includes more images. A 3:43 minute video introducing Lytro’s Immerge is available on Vimeo; and see a story about Uncorporeal’s related technology in ISPR Presence News. –Matthew] Lytro Immerge: Groundbreaking Camera Will Let You Move Around in VR Video Tim Moynihan 11.05.15 Ever since Lytro burst onto the scene with its first light-field camera three years ago, it’s done things very differently. The company’s imaging technology has always been groundbreaking: They make…

[The overall message from this new consumer study is that there’s great interest in trying and purchasing presence-evoking VR technology for a variety of activities (though apparently not communication/social VR); there are also some concerns (see the last paragraph). The story is from Fast Company, where it features more (full-size) infographics. –Matthew] What Americans Really Think About Virtual Reality A new consumer study finds that minorities are more interested in VR, and Oculus is not No. 1. By Daniel Terdiman November 6, 2015 Minorities are more likely than whites to be passionate about virtual reality. And despite the attention paid…

[This is a first person report and thoughtful consideration of the value and likely future of telepresence and telerobotics; it’s from TechCrunch, where the post includes additional images. –Matthew] How Telerobotics Can Reshape Our Workspace Posted Oct 8, 2015 by Peter Hirst, Executive Director of Executive Education at MIT Sloan School of Management At a conference last October, I encountered a fascinating “creature” named AVA that I mentioned in a blog post shortly afterwards. Though extraordinarily helpful in keeping a conversation going with another conference attendee, AVA was not a person. She (or perhaps I should say “it”) was a…

[Envelop VR has an intriguing new approach to working in VR, and the founder talks about it and related issues in the 14:37 podcast episode in this story from Road to VR; among other things, he talks (starting at 10:37) about the distinctions among VR, AR, MR, etc.: “I call them immersive technologies – anything that helps you achieve presence.” –Matthew] Work All Day in Virtual Reality with Envelop VR Voices of VR Podcast – Episode #236 By Kent Bye – Nov 3, 2015 Envelop VR is a productivity tool that provides a virtual shell to allow users to use…

[Facebook is revealing more about its plan to refine “you are there” virtual experiences; the story is from Business Insider. –Matthew] [Image: Crave] How Facebook plans to more or less build a teleporter Jillian D’Onfro Nov. 3, 2015 Facebook’s chief technical officer, Mike Schroepfer, says that when the company thinks about where it wants to be by 2025, it aims to “effectively build a teleporter.” “Facebook wants to build a device that allows you to be anywhere you want, with anyone, regardless of geographic boundaries,” Schroepfer added at a press event on Tuesday morning before his appearance at the Dublin…

[Coinciding with the announcement that a new Star Trek television series is going into production, this Daily Mail story describes an ambitious project to create a complete, navigable virtual version of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The story includes more images and a video about an effort to build a real Enterprise (!). The 12:10 minute demo video for the Enterprise 3D Construction Project is available on YouTube and see the project’s website for much more information. –Matthew] Take a tour of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise: Video lets you walk through the ship’s maze of corridors…

[The advertising and marketing industries will have to make some important decisions about how to use, or abuse, VR and presence. This is from Advertising Age; the image is from an earlier related article in Forbes. –Matthew] [Image: Forbes] How to Avoid the Potential Horrors of Virtual Reality Marketing Don’t Let Virtual Reality Ads Become Virtual Prisons for Consumers By Nicholas Manluccia October 30, 2015 If the free-flowing venture capital and multi-billion dollar industry valuation are any indication, the advent of virtual reality is upon us. VR is poised to change the way consumers interface with media, entertainment, even politics.…

[Our increasing ability to produce compelling presence experiences raises important ethical issues; this story from Gothamist includes different images and the two videos mentioned. –Matthew] [Image: Fusion] Videos: There’s An Oculus Rift 9/11 Simulator For Everyone Who Wants To Relive September 11th by Ben Yakas on Oct 29, 2015 There have been a lot—and we do mean A LOT—of cringeworthy, ill-considered tributes to September 11th that have made us stop in our tracks. From the 8-bit videos to the UES boutique sales (and those were just this year), it’s generally a bad idea to try to tie in your product…

[As this story from Road to VR notes, the makers of the new four-part “Sense of Presence” video series take an optimistic view on VR and presence so it’s not the complete picture, but the short segments (only the final one is over 5 minutes) feature interesting “commentary from the leadership of Oculus, NVIDIA, Weta Digital, Oculus Story Studio, Three One Zero, Magnopus and MatterVR, to name a few”; watch all four parts on Epic’s Unreal Engine blog. -Matthew] 4th Part of Epic’s ‘Sense of Presence’ VR Doc Focuses on the ‘Future of VR’ By Paul James – Oct 28,…

[As Matt Jones and I have argued, the topic of presence and sexuality raises complex but important issues; this story is from TechRepublic. –Matthew] Academic conference on ‘Love and Sex with Robots’ abruptly cancelled after being declared illegal Malaysian authorities deemed the second annual Love and Sex with Robots Conference, slated for November, illegal. TechRepublic talked to co-founder, Adrian David Cheok, for the story. By Hope Reese | October 21, 2015 TechRepublic has written a lot about the introduction of robots and artificial intelligence in the workplace. But while many of these issues revolve around whether or not robots will…