[This is a fascinating and important discussion about the darker potential of presence technology; the first story is from International Business Times and the second piece is a post from Anders Sandberg’s blog Andart II (the image is from the Vertigo story). –Matthew] Virtual reality rape: Transhumanists highlight ethical issues arising from new technology By Anthony Cuthbertson June 8, 2015 The convergence of technologies such as virtual reality, haptic feedback and wireless connectivity raises the prospect of virtual sexual assault, two noted futurologists have warned. These new forms of violation could arise by combining emerging devices, such as suits that…

[Replicating the performances of stand-up comedians in a nightclub setting (reminiscent of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode) sounds much more difficult than replicating musical stage performances, but it’ll happen at the Hologram Comedy Club at the (U.S.) National Comedy Center; this post is from the Washington Post Innovations blog, and an article in New Zealand’s Independent quotes the “programme manager” describing the (presence) experience: “You are immersed in the atmosphere. The reality of it being a hologram quickly fades into the background, because of how realistic it is. Your brain just kind of accepts it as a real…

[Here are two stories about the activist news agency RYOT’s use of VR to provide people the experience of being in the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Nepal and thereby increase their willingness to contribute to relief efforts. The first story, from Mic, provides an overview (and includes more pictures and the interactive video); the second, from RYOT is a poetic analysis of the power of VR and presence in this context and more generally (it also includes the video and more images). For more information, see Re/code’s Q&A with the filmmakers. –Matthew] Using Virtual Reality, You Can Go…

[With costs coming down and quality improving, presence-evoking VR is likely to be used more often for market research, as in this story from CNBC (which includes a 2:27 minute video report). –Matthew] H&R Block dons Oculus to test new office looks Jane Wells Tuesday, 2 Jun 2015 Virtual reality is the new drone. That is, VR is potentially another game-changing technology that companies are trying to figure out how to exploit. Could it even make one of your least favorite tasks better? “We’re reinventing the client’s tax experience,” said Laura Scobie, vice president of insights for H&R Block. The…

[Here are two related stories that demonstrate that presence can be evoked even with abstract stimuli. The first, which may be a glimpse of the future of presence and exercise, is from PSFK, where it includes a 0:12 second video and more pictures; for a 1:03 minute video and more, larger images, see the FIELD website.] Nike Treadmill Experience Takes You Through Sensory-Enriched Workout The sports giant has created an installation to show how technologies may heighten the adventure of running Lara Piras 22 may 2015 When it comes to the future of the sportswear industry the focus right now…

[The partners in QuantVR “think there’s a very good and logical argument that by using and exploring stock market data in virtual reality, it’s going to really allow people to make better decisions”; is (spatial) presence a mediating variable? This is from TechRepublic, where the story includes another picture. –Matthew] QuantVR wants to turn stock market data into immersive virtual reality experiences Imagine a navigable city built from stock market data that you could travel through. QuantVR is building VR apps for visualizations to help you better understand the data. By Erin Carson June 1, 2015 Visualizing data is becoming…

[The 0:52 minute video featured with this story from The New York Times presents a first-person view of the journey through NYC history, and the One World Observatory just opened so you can experience it directly (if you do, let us know what you think). A related Fast Company story describes presence-evoking technology in the Observatory itself. –Matthew] [Image: Lower Manhattan in 1779, as portrayed in the elevator video. Reuben Hernandez for The New York Times] On Time-Lapse Rocket Ride to Trade Center’s Top, Glimpse of Doomed Tower By David W. Dunlap April 19, 2015 An imposingly realistic vision of…

[Another amazing place most of us will never see in person but that we can now ‘visit’ via presence technology. The National Geographic story includes a 1:15 minute video and the high resolution interactive 360 panoramas. –Matthew] Dive Into ‘Infinity’ With Dizzying Views of A Colossal Cave A series of 360° panoramas allows anyone with an internet connection to experience Vietnam’s Son Doong cave, one of the planet’s biggest. By Jane J. Lee Interactive and photographs by Martin Edström Published May 20, 2015 Son Doong is one of the world’s largest caves, with enormous chambers that can comfortably fit a…

[Even without the jump to VR, the ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) phenomenon has links to flow, synesthesia, and presence; this story from Boing Boing includes a 12:13 minute video and the link to the 17:18 minute interactive 360° ASMR video available from Littlestar. If nothing else, read the last sentence of the story below, and for more background, see an earlier piece in Boing Boing and a recent story about the early evidence regarding ASMR in New York Magazine. –Matthew] The whispery world of ASMR enters virtual reality For the first time, ASMR experiences are pioneering beyond simple soft…

[A vision of the future of presence in the context of work; this is from The Wall Street Journal, where the story includes a 2:22 minute video. –Mathew] [Image: Students at The University of Pennsylvania have created DORA, a robot that both mimics the movements of and sends visual information to a virtual reality headset. Their goal is to give users the experience of actually inhabiting the robot’s body, even if it’s halfway around the world. Photo: Drew Evans/The Wall Street Journal] The Future of Remote Work Feels Like Teleportation Virtual-reality headsets, 3-D cameras help make videoconferencing immersive By Christopher…

[If there have to be ads in VR, this may be a promising way to do it, and as the author of this piece in Road to VR notes, the analytics may be useful to (presence) designers. –Matthew] [Image: Here a pre-roll screenshot of another VR game is shown before another VR experience. Floating gaze-based menu options allow users to skip or interact with the ad.] Retinad’s Promising VR Ad and Analytics System is Now Backed with a $500,000 Investment By Ben Lang – May 20, 2015 Retinad, a company working to bring immersive advertising and analytics to virtual reality,…

[The key phrase in this report from BT (which features more pictures and two videos) is that the study’s results “[add] to the argument that 3D movies are more like watching real-life”; more details are in coverage by Forbes. –Matthew] How watching 3D movies could be good for your brain A scientific experiment has shown 3D movies to have a positive impact on brain activity. Last updated: 22 May 2015 If you’ve been to a 3D movie in the last couple of years, you can probably appreciate that it creates a more immersive experience. However, a group of scientists and…