[From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel; more information is available from Nova Southeastern University] [Image: This screen shot shows the avatars of the research team members in an area of the private Second Life island where amputees will be able to meet virtually as part of the study. (Photo courtesy Nova Southeastern) Amputees navigate virtual world in NSU study By Nicole Brochu, Staff writer December 19, 2013 A Nova Southeastern University researcher is studying whether the virtual reality world of ‘Second Life’ can help amputees adjust to their prosthetics. Video games don’t have to be just for fun. The hope is…

[From The Verge, where the story includes more pictures and a 3:26 minute video] Avegant Glyph: The virtual reality headset made for the mainstream Part Google Glass, part Oculus Rift — part Beats by Dre By David Pierce on December 18, 2013 Picture it: you’re sitting on the plane or in the doctor’s waiting room, listening to music on a large, good-looking set of headphones. You decide you’d rather catch up on Justified, or play a little Call of Duty. You tip your headphones forward until the broad white band is now in front of your face, and suddenly your show…

[From No Jitter] Is Telepresence Dead? Sales of telepresence have stagnated not because of lack of demand, but instead of because of lack of innovation. Zeus Kerravala | December 11, 2013 As a technology, telepresence (TP) has been mainstream for about a decade now. In the mid part of the last decade, TP came to life with a big bang that was comparable to what we saw with Tebow-mania. Like Tebow-mania, the momentum behind TP has cooled off over the past few years, and shipments of the once shining star of the collaboration industry have plateaued over the past few…

[From PlayStation Universe, where the post includes an additional image] Sony’s new virtual reality headset patent detects objects, simulates body posture, pupil movement, blinking Posted December 12th, 2013 by Kyle Prahl A new patent filed by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. suggests the company is moving ever closer to completing its long-rumored virtual reality headset technology. The latest features, spotted in the patent by NeoGAF user Rösti, describes an “object avoidance apparatus” that detects obstacles in an image of the real-world, calculates their distance from you, and replaces them with different, virtual objects. The invention’s background describes a desire to more…

[From TIME] Meet the Robot Telemarketer Who Denies She’s A Robot Our encounter with an all-too-convincing robot By Zeke Miller and Denver Nicks With reporting by Michael Scherer, Christopher Wilson, and Jessica Roy [@jessicakroy] Follow @timenewsfeed Dec. 10, 2013 The phone call came from a charming woman with a bright, engaging voice to the cell phone of a TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer. She wanted to offer a deal on health insurance, but something was fishy. When Scherer asked point blank if she was a real person, or a computer-operated robot voice, she replied enthusiastically that she was real,…

[From the Philadelphia Inquirer; more information is available from Villanova] [Image: A still frame from a video by computer scientist Frank Klassner shows an omni-directional image of the interior of Villanova University’s chapel made with a Ladybug camera] Villanova adding robotic camera to its virtual reality technology By Jeff Gelles, Inquirer Columnist December 12, 2013 What if you could explore and conduct research on the floor of the Grand Canyon, or examine archaeological sites underneath the Vatican, without ever leaving the Philadelphia region? By next fall, those kinds of experiences and many more will be available to students and the…

[From Keystone Edge] Palmyra’s Robometrix starting production and sales of its consumer-market robots Thursday, December 12, 2013 Writer: Elise Vider Imagine remotely checking in on elderly loved ones with a mini-robot that you move around using your smartphone.  Or playing with your dog while you’re at work. Robometrix, a startup in Palmyra, is introducing its VisitorBot Mini, a compact telepresence device that can be operated on a tabletop or floor and sells for only $300. The larger VisitorBot Max stands four-feet-tall and, for example, can move around a factory floor to monitor overseas manufacturing from your Pennsylvania workplace. It sells…

[Interesting consideration of ‘Computers Are Social Actors’ telepresence issues; this is from Pillow Talk TV, where the post includes several more pictures; more information and full episodes of the series are available on its official web site] Almost Human: Playing the uncanny valley December 5, 2013 By jcodner Fox’s new futuristic cop drama Almost Human, from power-house J.J. Abrams and creator J.H. Wyman, steps into the gaping hole on network television left by his previous Fringe and not quite filled by shows like Arrow and Revolution. Starring Karl Urban, Minka Kelly, Lili Taylor, Mackenzie Crook, Michael Irby, and Michael Ealy…

[From Mashable, where the story includes a 1:32 minute video] Reactive Grip Wants Your Video Game Experience to Get Physical Colin Daileda December 7, 2013 A company called Tactical Haptics wants to give video games a sense of touch in a way that could put rumble packs to shame. Founder and CEO William Provancher told Mashable that his company has built a virtual reality device called Reactive Grip, a combination of software and hardware that lets video game players use a specialized controller to experience physical sensations unlike anything previously seen in gaming. Reactive Grip does a couple of things to create…

[Anonymous social presence? This is from Wired, where the story includes a photo gallery and a 1:15 minute video] [Image: A clever pop-up control panel in Drei’s physics-based IPad puzzler lets you communicate with your partner via instantly translated words and phrases. Image: Drei.] Brilliant iPad Game Forces You to Collaborate With a Stranger By Kyle VanHemert 12.04.13 To say that Drei restored my faith in humanity would be overdoing it, but I will say that it’s the only iPad game to ever make me consider my relationship with humanity, and that must be some sort of accomplishment. For the…

[From eWeek; a 1:09 minute video report is available from Mashable] [Image: Sequoia National Park via Google Street View] Google Street View Now Showcasing U.S. and Canadian National Parks By Todd R. Weiss  |  Posted 2013-11-20 Can’t get to Mount Rushmore to see it up close? Now Google’s Street View images can bring it to you, as well as many other lovely national parks in the U.S. and Canada. Google’s Street View crews have wandered all across national parks and historical sites in the United States and Canada to now bring many famous vistas and features to the screens of…

[From The Escapist, where the story includes a 2:17 minute video; a 0:57 BBC News report is available here, an 8:51 minute video is here, and the AquaTop Display web site is here] Researchers Combine a Kinect and a Bathtub to Create a Gaming Surface Using the Microsoft Kinect, a projector, and a bath, several Japanese researchers have created an interactive display surface. Josh Engen | 29 November 2013 Several researchers from the Koike Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have created an interactive surface by combining a Kinect with a small basin of water.…