[From Wired, where the story includes two videos; for more information, see coverage by CNET] A Crazy Oculus Rift Hack Lets Men and Women Swap Bodies By Kyle VanHemert 02.25.14 The great promise of the Oculus Rift headset the chance to inhabit fantastic new worlds. A group of researchers in Barcelona are already using it for something even more radical: inhabiting new bodies. BeAnotherLab, an interdisciplinary group of students at the University Pompeu Fabra, in Barcelona, has relied on an early version of Oculus Rift as part of an on-going research project called “The Machine To Be Another.…

[From Computerworld, where the story includes a 2:58 minute video about Project Tango] Google’s 3D tech could be boon to Glass, robots and virtual reality Just disclosed Project Tango 3D smartphone effort may be scratching the surface for Google By Sharon Gaudin February 21, 2014 Computerworld – News that Google is working on 3D smartphones has analysts speculating that the company will one day add the tech to a slew of its products, such as Google Maps, Google Glass, Google robots and even virtual reality tools. “Google is much more than what it seems,” said Scott Strawn, an analyst at…

[From Wired’s Autopia blog, where the post includes another picture; see a recent related story here] Supersonic Jet Ditches Windows for Massive Live-Streaming Screens By Alexander George 02.18.14 Spike Aerospace is in the midst of building the first supersonic private jet. And when the $80 million S-512 takes off in December 2018, it won’t have something you’d find on every other passenger aircraft: windows. The Boston-based aerospace firm is taking advantage of recent advances in video recording, live-streaming, and display technology with an interior that replaces the windows with massive, high-def screens. The S-512’s exterior will be lined with tiny…

[From Motherboard, where the story includes more pictures and a video] The Robot That Makes Virtual Sex Feel Real Written by Brian Merchant February 14, 2014 In the future, some people will choose to spend Valentine’s Day alone, having virtual sex with a 3D avatar with the help of a fully responsive robotic assistant. And by the future, I mean maybe next year. Intrepid horndog hackers can do it right now. Tenga is a Japanese manufacturer of disposable male sex toys—they make cylindrical “masturbation aids” that somehow don’t seem as repulsive as the Fleshlight (perhaps mostly because they’re not called…

[From AP via Salon] [Image: In this Jan. 7, 2014 file photo, show attendees play a video game wearing Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets at the Intel booth at the International Consumer Electronics Show(CES), in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)] Q&A: A documentarian working in virtual reality By Derrik J. Lang Feb. 19, 2014 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Forget 3-D glasses. Oscar-nominated documentarian Danfung Dennis believes the next evolution in filmmaking will be to surround viewers with images in 360 degrees — directly on their noggins. Dennis, whose gripping 2012 film “Hell and Back Again” told of a…

[From GCN; follow the links for more information and images] [Image: An interface for helm control of a ship. Note the position of his hands, floating above the controls a la Minority Report rather than touching them directly. From The Verge.] Virtual reality headset helps Navy simulate future workspaces By Kathleen Hickey Feb 18, 2014 The Office of Naval Research’s Project BlueShark is an effort to create a high-tech, futuristic environment to demonstrate what the Navy’s workspaces might look like and what emerging innovative technologies might provide in the next decade. BlueShark was developed by the University of Southern California’s…

[A change of pace – the ultimate form of (tele)presence; this is from The New York Times] [Image: Art by Olimpia Zagnoli] Is the Universe a Simulation? Feb. 14, 2014 By Edward Frenkel In Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita,” the protagonist, a writer, burns a manuscript in a moment of despair, only to find out later from the Devil that “manuscripts don’t burn.” While you might appreciate this romantic sentiment, there is of course no reason to think that it is true. Nikolai Gogol apparently burned the second volume of “Dead Souls,” and it has been lost forever.…

[From NJ.com, with an addendum from NBC News] [Image: AP European History students at the Hun School in Princeton facetime with their teacher.] Hun School teacher holds class via tablet as she sits in Pa. Turnpike gridlock By Alyssa Mease/The Times of Trenton on February 15, 2014 PRINCETON [New Jersey] – After missing multiple school days because of snow this winter, Hun School history teacher Lynn McNulty wasn’t going to let a series of chain-reaction car crashes and a miles-long traffic jam on the Pennsylvania Turnpike yesterday keep her from school another day. “I was probably about two miles back…

[From Motherboard] A Virtual Reality Train Ride Reveals a Link Between Height and Paranoia By Victoria Turk January 29, 2014 As anyone who’s been to a gig and isn’t six feet tall has probably experienced, being surrounded by people taller than you—why does that always happen?—can be annoying at best, and kind of scary at worst. There’s a certain vulnerability that comes with suddenly feeling shorter than those around you. A paper published online today in the journal Psychiatry Research looks at part of this phenomenon, by investigating the relation between height and paranoia. The study, which was led by…

[From Fast Company’s Co.LABS, where the story includes a 1:41 minute video. More information is available via the links within the article.] This Video Game Knows When You’re Scared–And Gets Scarier The director behind the innovative video game Nevermind tells us why biofeedback is the new frontier in gaming. By Joshua Rivera 2014-02-13 In the future, horror games will know when you’re scared. And then they’ll get scarier. Proof: the currently-in-development horror-adventure game Nevermind, which just launched a Kickstarter campaign last week. The game pairs classic first-person exploration with biofeedback data from a heart rate monitor in order to tell…

[There are (at least) three satires of the audio conference call experience making the social media rounds lately – in addition to the one in the article below from Slate, there’s David Grady’s comedy routine “A Conference Call” and the recent Tripp & Tyler video “A Conference Call in Real Life”; they’re all not only at times laugh-out-loud funny but illustrate key presence concepts (and their absence).] [Image: “Win-Win” by Zach Scott; the animated version is here] “Like David Lynch Directed a Remake of Office Space” A site that perfectly captures the existential despair of the conference call.…

[From Wired; a 2:20 minute video is available on YouTube] [Image: Topshop/Inition] Oculus Rift: Your front row Fashion Week ticket 12 February 2014 by Olivia Solon To celebrate London Fashion Week, retailer Topshop is collaborating with 3D agency Inition to allow fans of the brand to experience a virtual front-row seat at a fashion show. This year, the Autumn/Winter 2014 show for Topshop’s Unique range will take place in the Tate Modern’s cavernous Turbine Hall. While seats at the live show are reserved for sartorial VIPs, Topshop fans will be able to experience what it’s like to be on the…