[From Businessweek; for more information see the coverage in Medical Xpress and the study in the journal Psychological Sciences] The Lonely Can’t Tell Other People From Dolls By Drake Bennett September 11, 2014 In the movie Cast Away, Tom Hanks, playing a man stranded alone on the proverbial desert island, turns a volleyball into his closest friend. A new study suggests that, even under less extreme circumstances, loneliness primes us to lower the bar on who, or what, we’ll befriend. The study, in Psychological Science, attempted to determine “how differences in our need to connect with other people could affect…

[From TechCrunch, where the story includes more images and a 12:27 minute video] FOVE Uses Eye Tracking To Make Virtual Reality More Immersive September 9, 2014 by Catherine Shu FOVE wants to ramp up by the virtual reality experience by creating the world’s first consumer-oriented headmount display to use eye tracking. The Tokyo-based startup was founded by CEO Yuka Kojima and CTO Lochlainn Wilson and is launching today on the Disrupt SF stage. Fove’s name comes from the words “field of view” and “fovea,” or the part of the eye that is responsible for sharp central vision. The headmount combines…

[From Phys.org, where the story includes two more pictures; for more information see the Miraisens press release, which uses the term presence extensively] [Image: A journalist tries to use “3D-Haptics Technology”, at a press preview in Tsukuba, suburban Tokyo on September 1, 2014] Japan firm showcases ‘touchable’ 3D technology Sep 01, 2014 Technology that generates touchable 3D imagery was unveiled in Japan Monday, with its developers saying users could pull and push objects that are not really there. Know-how that could improve a gaming experience, or allow someone to physically shape objects that exist only on a computer, will soon…

[From Yahoo! Tech, where the story includes several more pictures and a 2:32 minute video] [Image: A UC Berkeley student tests PETA’s “I, Chicken” virtual reality experience. (Alyssa Bereznak/Yahoo Tech)] I Tried a Virtual Reality Game Made by PETA That Simulates Being Slaughtered as a Chicken Alyssa Bereznak, Tech Columnist Sep 5, 2014 I hear the sound of the wind and the clucking of birds behind me. The sky above me is bright and blue, filled with fluffy clouds and framed by a beautiful mountain landscape. Sapphire-hued creeks surround me. I look around and then I see myself, reflected in a…

[From Wired] [Image: Sergey Galyonkin/Flickr] The War for Our Digital Future: Virtual Reality vs. Integral Reality By Dan Ostrower, CEO of the innovation and design consultancy Altitude 08.29.14 Like most people I spend much of the day digitally connected, gazing at screens that make my life and work more interesting and productive. Yet for all the positives that connectivity provides us there’s also a downside lurking in those glowing pixels. They’re just not real. So as we extend our Internet time, we risk getting sucked into an isolated virtual reality that lacks the richness, emotional relevance and real experiences engendered…

[From Fast Company’s Co.Design, where the story includes a 2:50 minute video; much more information is available on the VR Coaster web site] Wheeee! What It’s Like To Wear A Virtual Reality Headset On A Roller Coaster Why would you wear an Oculus Rift on a roller coaster? Why WOULDN’T you?!? Mark Wilson August 29, 2014 You know how you go get froyo, and at first it seems like enough to just top it with a few pieces of fresh fruit. “This is perfection,” you think, “the simple pleasures.” And then you’re beckoned to the sprinkles, Oreo crumbles, the radioactively…

[From Wired, where the story includes a photo gallery; see DesignBoom for more images and two videos] [Image: Sending a kiss. Credit: Jonathan Levinson] Using the Internet of Things to Create Cute Long-Distance Interactions By Joseph Flaherty 08.28.14 A child resting their head on a parent’s shoulder. A squeeze of the thigh during a scary movie. These silent gestures are a critical part of the language of love, but no words, or even emoji, can properly capture them. Israeli design student Daniel Sher has recently tried to bring these ephemeral feelings onto the Internet of Things with a collection of…

[From Motherboard; see PLOS One for more information] [Image: An overview of the brain-to-brain interface. Image: PLOS One] Scientists Found a Way to Email Brain Waves Written by Jordan Pearson August 20, 2014 Researchers have successfully communicated words from one brain to another over the internet. Brain wave-sensing technology, which utilizes electroencephalography-powered headsets, has already been demonstrated to do all kinds of impressive things, such as piloting an aircraft or controlling a robot. Now, researchers are investigating how to telepathically communicate with the tech. An international team of researchers was able to use electroencephalography (EEG) to convert the words “hola”…

[From The Register, where the story includes many more images] Dolby Atmos is coming home and it sounds amazing Don’t bin your multichannel home cinema system just yet By Steve May, 13 Aug 2014 Can Dolby Atmos save the beleaguered home cinema business? With sales of AV receivers tanking, makers of multichannel home theatre receivers are banking on the latest in surround sound technology to rekindle interest. Dolby Atmos has been called 3D for your ears. It’s a cute label to describe a tangible leap forward for movie audio. Unlike traditional surround sound, Atmos is object rather than channel based,…

[From The Guardian] Experiencing is believing: what virtual reality could mean for ads and brands If Facebook can pull off mass adoption of Oculus Rift, how will it change media and marketing? Mike McGee dares to dream Posted by Mike McGee 28 August 2014 Facebook is hoping to create 1bn users for its virtual reality (VR) acquisition, Oculus. Sounds overly ambitious doesn’t it? But not impossible. After all, Google managed this level of adoption for Android. So let’s assume for a moment that it’s feasible and ask ourselves how mass uptake of VR will affect media and marketing? VR is…

[From RocketNews24, where the story includes the 2:19 minute video (via Vimeo), along with many images from it] Amazing real-time projection mapping technology blurs line between fantasy and reality [Video] Kay August 24, 2014 Projection mapping is a technology we seem to be hearing about quite often these days, and you may have seen it being used at various events or amusement park shows. But the video that we’re sharing with you today makes use of a highly unexpected and unusual surface to create a series of projection mapped images quite unlike anything we’ve seen before. In fact, the technology…

[From GamesIndustry.biz;  Gizmodo’s coverage is headlined “Could Virtual Reality Seem Real Enough To Kill You?”] [Image: From the 14:50 minute YouTube video “Oculus FACEBOOK Rift: The Best and Funniest OR Reactions Ever Compilation”] “We’re very close to having the first death in VR” Cloudhead Games’ Denny Unger warns devs of the responsibility that comes with VR’s immersive power By Matthew Handrahan Fri 22 Aug 2014 The emergence of virtual reality is one of the most exciting trends in contemporary game development. The unparalleled sense of immersion it affords points toward a whole new era of interactive entertainment, but that potential…