[From U-T San Diego (the San Diego Union-Tribune); for more information, including the significance of the image, see “Second Life’s Second Life for Social Innovation” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review] PARKINSON’S PATIENT, 86, BUILDS A NEW LIFE IN VIRTUAL WORLD Parkinson’s patients shed their limitations in simulated online universe By Pam Kragen  Sept. 24, 2013 CARLSBAD – When Fran Swenson visits Creations Park each day, she takes tai chi classes, swims, ice skates and goes ballroom dancing. Although Parkinson’s disease and macular degeneration have reduced the 86-year-old La Costa resident’s ability to walk, see and leave her one-bedroom apartment,…

[From psfk, where the story includes more images] Virtual Reality Art Show Takes Viewers Into A Seedy Underworld The Nail Polish Inferno uses the Oculus Rift to transport people to a hallucinatory alternate universe. Laura Chase on September 13, 2013 Step inside a virtual reality art show without moving a finger. ‘The Nail Polish Inferno’ is a digital art installation that immerses people in a hallucinatory 3-D ecosystem, that resembles a strip club full of mutant fantastic creatures such as provocative galactic purple pole dancers, sharks swinging on the ceiling, a giant hand that moves like an octopus, a grotesque…

[From Develop, where the story includes several more images] Crossing the UI Rift with Oculus Virtual reality opens the doors to a new era for user interface design. Oculus VR speaks to Develop about its opportunities by Will Freeman Wednesday, 11th September 2013 [This feature was published in the September 2013 edition of Develop magazine, which is available through your browser and on iPad.] Virtual reality doesn’t present user interface design with its first opportunity for transformation. The dawn of 3D long ago afforded games makers the prospect of moving beyond flat heads-up-displays and conventional menus. And when mobile gaming…

[A news release from Iowa State University; see also “Professors use virtual reality to train firefighters” in the Iowa State Daily] [Image: Nir Keren, left, and Warren Franke, center, have conducted research on firefighter stress levels using virtual reality simulations. Photo by Robert Elbert.] Experienced firefighters are more analytical under stress than novices, according to ISU study Posted Jul 31, 2013 AMES, Iowa – Experienced firefighters take longer to make decisions under stress than novice firefighters, according to research conducted at Iowa State University. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After conducting dozens of virtual reality trials in which…

[From Gizmag, where the story includes many more images and a video] Intelligent Headset aims to immerse users in augmented reality of sound and space By Heidi Hoopes September 12, 2013 Running down an alley you make out the low growls of a zombie approaching distinctly above you and to the right. Touring a famous city you get lost, happen upon a fascinating art exhibit, and touch your headphones to find out where you are and what you see. Intelligent Headset hopes to create these augmented reality scenarios with its GPS-enabled 3D audio headset and a complementary suite of smartphone…

[From Joystiq, where the story includes additional images] How to make players sick in your virtual reality game by Richard Mitchell on Aug 30th 2013 There is a great, undiscovered potential in virtual reality development. Sure, you can create lifelike virtual worlds, but you can also make players sick. Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey and VP of product Nate Mitchell hosted a panel at GDC Europe last week, instructing developers on how to avoid the VR development pitfalls that make players uncomfortable. It was a lovely service for VR developers, but we saw a much greater opportunity. Inadvertently, the panel…

[From NevilleHobson.com; for more coverage see the Atlanta Constitution-Journal] Disney brings the second-screen experience to the movies published September 11, 2013 by Neville Hobson The advent of mobile devices – especially tablets – has changed people’s behaviours in how we access, consume and share information across multiple devices, and where we do it, as surveys constantly show us. One place you don’t see that happening, though, is in the cinema. Using a smartphone, tablet, etc, in a darkened theatre is regarded in most cultures as the height of socially-unacceptable behaviour, not to mention an assumption of piracy by anyone who…

[From ExtremeTech, where the story includes additional images. If nothing else, be sure to watch the frog video] Intel moves to make 3D gesture control as pervasive as the mouse By David Cardinal on September 11, 2013 Gesture-control peripheral makers Leap Motion and Haptix have stolen the spotlight from traditional input devices over the past year with promising new devices and OEM design wins. A bit lost in the mix has been tech-giant Intel’s sizable investment in what it calls perceptual computing. At IDF 2013 this week, Intel unveiled its plans to make 3D input as common as the mouse…

[From the Daily Mail, where the story includes additional images] Hyperloop creator invents incredible Iron Man-inspired 3D software system to design and print ROCKET PARTS Elon Musk has invented a gesture-controlled 3D printing system for rocket parts inspired by the design process in the first Iron Man film The entrepreneur had teased his creation on Twitter in recent weeks has now released a video demonstrating the technology In the video he uses hand gestures and a special controller to assemble wire frame blueprints that could be sued in a SpaceX rocket By Sarah Griffiths 6 September 2013 Serial entrepreneur Elon…

[From Gizmag] Synchronized virtual reality heartbeat triggers out-of-body experiences By Lakshmi Sandhana August 25, 2013 New research demonstrates that triggering an out-of-body experience (OBE) could be as simple as getting a person to watch a video of themselves with their heartbeat projected onto it. According to the study, it’s easy to trick the mind into thinking it belongs to an external body and manipulate a person’s self-consciousness by externalizing the body’s internal rhythms. The findings could lead to new treatments for people with perceptual disorders such as anorexia and could also help dieters too.…

[Whether they’re actors or not, a great example of presence; this is from TVPredictions.com with links to some of the other coverage added] LG: Ultra 4K TV Can Be Scary Good By Swanni Washington, D.C. (September 8, 2013) – LG is ready to do anything to sell the new 4K TVs even if it means almost scaring people to death. The Los Angeles Times reports that LG recently replaced the window of a high-rise office building in Chile with an 84-inch 4K set and then invited people to come in to interview for mythical jobs. During the interviews, which [were]…

[From CoolestGadgets.com; for more information see the Perfect Polly web site. And don’t miss the hilarious 4:54 minute segment about the product from the Colbert Report] Perfect Polly want a Cracker? Didn’t Think So… by Julie – on August 28th, 2013 I love having a pet, as far as I’m concerned the positives far outweigh the negatives. Sure, having a pet requires some work and expense, then there’s boarding your pet when your on vacation, vet bills, walks in the rain… but all the love and loyalty is almost always worth it. But what about those of us with lifestyles…