[The Huffington Post story below is all about the possible evolution of theme parks as they incorporate the latest presence-evoking VR and AR technologies. For more on what Landmark is planning, see coverage in the Washington Post Innovations blog, and for a related story see this ISPR Presence News post from last month. –Matthew] Will the Next Great Theme Park Be On Your Face? Posted: 06/08/2015 By Noah J. Nelson As we’ve been watching the Virtual Reality market spin up over the past few years the spotlight has almost entirely been on hardware. When you consider that the first heavy-duty…

[Impressive how much can be accomplished, and how users adapt, when remote telepresence offers audio and visual channels and the ability to move but no haptics or teleoperation. This press release is from Indiana State University. –Matthew] [Image: Scott Kelemen (on iPad screen) participates in a nursing research presentation April 17, 2015 via a telepresence robot. (ISU/Rachel Keyes)] Robots give Jersey student, Oregon prof virtual presence at Indiana State June 3, 2015 Scott Kelemen had a busy few months during his final semester as an Indiana State University nursing student. He attended a research seminar, trained with human patient simulators…

[This AR art event in Long Beach, California is just an example of new ways we’ll be able to experience art via presence-evoking technology; the story is from the Long Beach Post and includes more images. –Matthew ] Smartphone Users Can Access Virtual, Open-Air Art Gallery in DTLB This Weekend By Asia Morris June 15 2015 Bryan Amburgey’s goal is to make Long Beach the first augmented city of the future using a technology called Augmented Reality (AR), where a smartphone’s camera can be used to see interactive digital images superimposed on top of the real world. “We are now…

[Here’s another of a seemingly increasing number of projects that purposefully use presence experiences to motivate and persuade media users; the story from Collectively includes more images. –Matthew] Now Anyone Can Swim Through Australia’s Coral Reefs With DIY Virtual Reality Goggles Scott Pierce June 12th, 2015 This week, the World Wildlife Fund launched Virtual Reality Reef Goggles, an unbelievable way to explore the Great Barrier Reef, one of Australia’s most diverse, sensitive ecosystems. All you need is a smartphone with a cardboard viewer, which you can easily learn to make here, and visit It’s Your Reef. Don’t have a smartphone…

[This story from Mashable provides a good description of how technology creators are refining presence-evoking technology in a popular and challenging context; as the note at the beginning says, the original story contains more images (it also includes a 1:11 minute video). –Matthew] Virtual reality sex is coming — and the toys are already here By Mandy Stadtmiller May 29, 2015 Note: The following post contains sexually graphic images and descriptions. You’re lying back on a bed. You look around. A porn star walks in. She mounts you. And as she does, you can feel the thrill of her tight…

[The widespread use of VR headsets raises lots of practical issues, and the need for new social conventions; this is from The New York Times, where the story includes another image (btw, I think many would question the claim that HTC’s Vive, and not Oculus, is the “best known of a new league of virtual reality headsets”). –Matthew] [Image: Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, center, demonstrating the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and the Oculus Touch hand controllers at an event in San Francisco last week. Credit Ramin Talaie for The New York Times] Virtual Reality Headsets Raise Very…

[It continues to be an exciting time to be studying presence! This story from USA Today includes more pictures and a 2:12 minute video about ILM’s presence-evoking special effects. –Matthew] [Image: ILMxLAB’s creative director John Gaeta tests a prototype immersive experience. The experience combines live performance capture with sound and interactive real-time 3D rendering, immersing the viewer in the scene. (Photo: Greg Grusby)] Industrial Light & Magic wants to bring virtual reality to the movies Marco della Cava, USA TODAY June 12, 2015 SAN FRANCISCO — Industrial Light & Magic is taking the notion of DVD-extras to a whole other…

[This sounds like an impressive presence-enhancing tool; the story is from Tech Times and includes a 0:36 minute video, and much more information (including images and videos and links to a developer site) is available from Kickstarter. –Matthew] [Image: Smart gloves dubbed Gloveone will enable users to feel sensations when interacting with virtual objects. The brainchild of Spain-based NeuroDigital Technologies, Gloveone aims to give VR users a more immersive experience and will enable them to “feel” what they see. (Photo : NeuroDigital Technologies | Kickstarter)] Gloveone Smart Gloves Will Let You Feel Virtual Reality By Anu Passary, Tech Times |…

[This item from PSFK may be of interest: Follow one of the links to download the new PSFK Virtual Reality Report (some but not all parts are free). –Matthew] PSFK Launches The Virtual Reality Report The PSFK Labs team explores the potential virtual reality holds as a medium for better storytelling and story-making PSFK Labs 8 june 2015 For decades we have been on the edge of our seats, patiently awaiting the arrival of the holy grail of entertainment and storytelling: virtual reality. We have been teased by VR in movies, serving as inspiration for a plethora of science fiction…

[Aside from the use of presence to teach people about, and hopefully help prevent, environmental damage to rivers, this story in the Chattanooga Times Free Press contains links and detailed timelines and illustrations related to the evolution of VR. –Matthew] [Image: Andree Herbert tries out the Oculus Rift virtual reality device on March 20, 2015, in a classroom at the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX Theatre in Chattanooga. The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality device, and the aquarium is using a development kit version to build VR programming which teaches students about stream ecology conservation. Photo by Doug Strickland/Times Free Press.]…

[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…