[From Vox; follow the link at the end for a full-size infographic. Many videos that illustrate the evolution are available on YouTube, including the 1:45 minute ‘moving line-up’ one here and the 16:45 minute one with gameplay and sound here] How Lara Croft’s changing face illustrates Moore’s law By Timothy B. Lee on February 1, 2015 Lara Croft is one of the most recognizable female characters in video gaming, having starred in a dozen editions of Tomb Raider since the series debuted in 1996. And that makes her a perfect window into the rapid pace of progress in 3D graphics…

[From the University of Southampton; a 0:33 minute video is available on YouTube] European project launches the world’s first real-time ‘mixed reality’ ski race February 2, 2015 A professional skier will battle against two online gamers in the world’s first interactive ‘mixed reality’ downhill ski race using technology pioneered by European researchers. Hitting speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour, the top-class skier will hurtle down the world cup ski course in Schladming, Austria, in a bid to reach the finish line before his two competitors – virtual reality gamers based in Thessaloniki, in Greece, and Munich, in Germany.…

[From NPR, where you can listen to the 3:56 minute audio version of the story] [Image: Mikael Henriksson works at an air traffic control center in the town of Sundsvall, Sweden. But the screens show the airport in the tiny town of Ornskoldsvik, more than 100 miles away. It’s the world’s first facility to use new technology to help passenger planes land far away at an unmanned airport.] In Sweden, Remote-Control Airport Is A Reality Ari Shapiro February 01, 2015 As our plane touches down in Sundsvall, Sweden, the horizon is all snow and ice. A small air traffic control…

[From Fast Company, where the story includes more pictures and a 0:19 minute video] Sending A Handwritten Letter Is Now As Easy As Using Gmail But does a note in your handwriting done by a bot look like it’s sent from uncanny valley? We test out letter-writing company Bond to see. By Rebecca Greenfield January 23, 2015 Sitting on my desk is a lovely note, written on thick, customized stationery with my name scrawled across the top. It’s in my handwriting, but I didn’t write it. A robot did. Looking closely, I can spot some slight differences between the bot-generated…

[From Gizmodo Australia, where the story includes more images and a 0:41 minute video; coverage in the International Business Times notes that Samsung is also discussing partnerships with other airlines and with train operators] Qantas To Use Samsung’s Gear VR For First-Class In-Flight Entertainment Campbell Simpson January 29, 2015 If you’re lucky enough to fly in first class, your pointy end long-haul flight is about to get even fancier. Qantas is going to be using the Samsung Gear VR, and the accompanying Galaxy Note 4, for in-flight entertainment for its first-class customers. Starting out as a pilot program on Qantas’…

[From Engadget, where the story includes more pictures] The first live VR broadcast brought the beach to my backyard By Richard Lawler | January 26th 2015 On Saturday morning in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it was about 30 degrees outside, but I was in my backyard enjoying a 75-degree day at the beach. That’s only possible because I was testing out the first attempt at streaming virtual reality from one place to another — in this case from Laguna Beach, California, to a Samsung Gear VR headset strapped to my head. Thanks to technology from the folks at Next VR, I…

[From International Business Times, where the story includes more images and a 0:55 minute video] [Image: Brand Killer blocks ads in real time from the wearer’s point of view using a DIY augmented reality headset] Brand Killer: Augmented reality goggles create real-world AdBlock By Anthony Cuthbertson January 23, 2015 A new use for augmented reality headsets has been developed by students in the US using software that blocks brand’s logos in the real world. Brand Killer was designed and built by undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania and uses similar technology to other virtual reality and augmented reality headsets, such…

[From The New York Times, where the story includes an additional image] [Image: A scene from the Millions March protest. Credit VICE] Vice Uses Virtual Reality to Immerse Viewers in News By Emily Steel January 23, 2015 A young woman stands in the middle of a crowd of protesters marching up a New York City street, shouting that she is fed up with police brutality, fed up with people saying that black lives don’t matter, fed up with people telling her not to be angry. “My people don’t deserve this,” she yells, inches away from your face. “We have right…

[From PSFK, where the story includes more images] Virtual Reality May Enable Us to Eat Anything Without Regret Project Nourished aims to reduce obesity and food related illnesses with substitute foods and virtual tricks of the mind By Kiran Umapathy on January 22, 2015 In a creative new use of technology, Los Angeles-based Kokiri Lab is in the development stages of what it calls a gastronomical virtual reality experience. The idea, called Project Nourished, would replicate foods high in calories with substitutes, while the eater experiences a virtual reality where they consume the originally desired food items. Interestingly, the idea…

[Coverage of Microsoft’s demonstration of its new Hololens technology is all over the web today; this detailed description is from The Verge, where the story includes more pictures, a 3:56 minute video report, and Microsoft’s 2:12 minute concept video] Up close with the HoloLens, Microsoft’s most intriguing product in years Welcome to the age of holographs By Dieter Bohn and Tom Warren on January 21, 2015 We just finished a heavily scripted, carefully managed, and completely amazing demonstration of Microsoft’s HoloLens technology. Four demos, actually, each designed to show off a different use case for a headset that projects holograms…

[From Southern Methodist University] Teen girls report less sexual victimization after virtual reality assertiveness training Study participants in the “My Voice, My Choice” program practiced saying “no” to unwanted sexual advances in an immersive virtual environment Posted on January 20, 2015 By Margaret Allen Teen girls were less likely to report being sexually victimized after learning to assertively resist unwanted sexual overtures and practicing resistance in a realistic virtual environment, finds a new study. The effects persisted over a three-month period following the training, said clinical psychologist Lorelei Simpson Rowe, lead author on the pilot study from Southern Methodist University,…

[From VentureBeat, where the story includes an additional image; for more coverage see the San Francisco Business Times] Oculus Rift gets more virtual reality porn with Red Light Center January 15, 2015 Dean Takahashi Adult entertainment and technology have gone hand in hand throughout history. That’s why Utherverse Digital is announcing today that its 3D animated virtual world, RedLightCenter.com, will soon run on the Oculus Rift virtual reality platform. RedLightCenter.com is an X-rated world where players can engage in virtual sex and all sorts of other adult fun. It has been around for more than a decade, but with version 2.0,…