[From Mashable, where the story includes more images and two videos] Jibo Wants to Be the World’s First Family Robot Lance Ulanoff July 15, 2014 Social robots. That’s pretty much all Dr. Cynthia Breazeal has thought about for the past 20 years. Not so much how to build a better robot, but how to build one that could work and live alongside humans. It sounds like a simple concept, but it’s not; perhaps that is why it has taken her all these years to finally deliver a consumer product: Jibo, the world’s first family robot. Jibo is a desktop robot…

[From Polygon, where the story includes the 5:58 minute demonstration video mentioned at the end along with a 3:45 minute video review of the “South Park: The Stick of Truth” game] Oculus Rift experiment lets you become a citizen of South Park By Jenna Pitcher on Jul 03, 2014 Oculus Rift users can now walk around as a citizen in a recreation of animation series South Park thanks to a virtual reality project developed by production company Tool. “We started with three goals in mind for the experiment,” Tool’s explanation reads. “One, from a tech point of view, to sharpen…

[From The Sydney Morning Herald, where the story includes more images and a 1:18 minute video] [Image: Pressing on in Hawaii, via Scenic Cycle’s Sydney spinning studio. Photo: Brendan Esposito] Scenic Cycle: Ride the world in virtual reality July 9, 2014 Stephen Lacey with Steve Colquhoun I’m huffing and puffing up one of the most iconic climbs in cycling folklore: the Alpe D’Huez in the French Alps. The mountain is a mainstay of the Tour de France and it’s definitely one that separates the sprinters from the climbers. Who can ever forget Marco Pantani’s battle with Jan Ullrich in 1997?…

[From the Los Angeles Times; more information is available from This Place and an article in BBC News, which includes a short video interview] London firm creates mind-controlled commands for Google Glass Salvador Rodriguez July 11, 2014 Forget voice commands and touch gestures: A London firm has developed a way for Google Glass users to control their devices just by thinking. This Place, an agency that specializes in creating user interfaces and experiences for programs used in the medical industry, developed a software called MindRDR that allows Google Glass to connect with the Neurosky MindWave Mobile EEG biosensor, a head-mounted…

[From Forbes] [Image: Raghuram Sukumar experiences the YouVisit Oculus Rift virtual college tour; a description and 1 minute video are available at Happy Schools] Virtual Reality And The Brave New World Of College Recruiting Chase Peterson-Withorn 7/07/2014 As colleges and universities face an increasingly tech-savvy applicant pool, many recruiters are seeking out novel ways to speak the new generation’s language. The launch of the Common Application in 1975 – and later online version in 1998 – was one of the most expansive attempts schools made toward revolutionizing the college admissions process. Originally 15 schools participated and last year it processed more…

[From Wired, where the story includes two more images] The Oculus Rift Game That’s So Real It Nearly Destroyed Me By Chris Kohler 07.10.14 I can hear the alien breathing. I’ve played lots of videogames, lots of run-and-gun shooters in which I happily charge down a corridor into certain death. Not this time. I’ve got my back pressed against the wall of an abandoned spaceship, and I’m inching down a hallway, my head darting left and right, looking for danger everywhere. And I wonder, is this the one? Is this the Oculus Rift demo where I rip the headset off…

[From Fast Company’s Co.Design, where the story includes another image. The much-missed Cliff Nass would have appreciated this.] The Psychology Of Anthropomorphic Robots Subtle anthropomorphic cues, such as faces or voices, increase robot humanity. Google’s self-driving car is onto something. Eric Jaffe June 16, 2014 By now we’ve all seen the prototype for Google’s self-driving car: a teeny little road bopper shaped like a gumdrop. What’s immediately striking is that the car seems to have a smiley face designed into the front. Headlights for eyes, a forward sensor for a nose, a bumper line for a mouth tilted slightly upward…

[From Newcastle University’s Institute of Neuroscience] [Image: Dr. Jeremy Parr, Paul Smith and Dr. Morag Maskey in the Blue Room. Source: The Journal] Children with autism overcome real-life fears in virtual world 3rd July 2014 Immersive reality can help children with autism spectrum disorder overcome their fears and phobias, new research has shown. In a study published today in PLOS ONE, experts at Newcastle University describe how, following treatment in an immersive virtual reality room, eight out of nine children were able to tackle the situation they feared. Four children were found to have completely overcome their phobias.…

[From CNET; a story about a Nashville entrepreneur who tried the same thing this year is available in The Tennessean] [Image: A look inside the lights. Joe Stiglingh/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET] When you fly a drone into fireworks, it’s quite beautiful A YouTube video that’s currently inciting wonder shows a completely different perspective on a fireworks display. by Chris Matyszczyk July 5, 2014 The proliferation of controlled flying objects has incited many an imagination. Some believe drones should be used to deliver vacuum cleaners. Others might have more nefarious, prurient intentions. However, one man thought it might be entertaining…

[From the Daily Mail, where the story includes more images and two videos] [Image: Researchers have shown off their device called the revealing flashlight that can be used to digitally restore artefacts. Pictured is an artefact (1), while an input (in this case a finger at 2) is being used to manipulate a LeapMotion gesture device (3), which allows the user to ‘point’ where they want the projection to go] Shining a light on the past: ‘Virtual reality’ torch projects missing fragments on to ancient treasures, restoring them to their former glory Researchers led from Bordeaux have created an augmented…

[From Motherboard, where the story includes more pictures; for another perspective (!) and more examples, see “Flat design casts a long shadow” in WDD] [Image: An example of a long shadow in a flat design, from WDD] The Virtual Sun Is Finally Setting Written by Claire L. Evans, Futures Editor June 27, 2014 In 2006, I switched from PC to Mac in the midst of an aesthetic sea change called Web 2.0. Overnight, all my buttons and toggles became aqueous, squishy blobs. For my entire young life as a computer user, that place had been populated with beige file folders…

[From Road to VR, where the story includes more pictures and a 4:14 minute video] Kite & Lightning’s ‘Genesis’ is an Immersion-machine That Takes You on a Reality-bending Ride June 30, 2014 by Ben Lang When the Kite & Lightning developers told me they had something to show me that couldn’t physically be demonstrated anywhere else, I was intrigued. Little did I know, upon arriving at their office, that I would be stepping into a contraption that’s been presumed to be a torture device, a jungle gym, and yes, even a “sex machine.” Kite & Lightning is a creative development…