[From Stanford News] [Image: Participants in an experiment in Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab used female avatars in sexualized or non-sexualized dress. Courtesy of Jeremy Bailenson] Sexualized avatars affect the real world, Stanford researchers find A Stanford study shows that after women wear sexualized avatars in a virtual reality world, they feel objectified and are more likely to accept rape myths in the real world. The research could have implications for the role of female characters in video games. By Cynthia McKelvey Stanford Report, October 10, 2013 Researchers at Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab are delving into questions posed by…

[From The Next Web, where the post includes more pictures] Wake up and smell the virtual coffee: The OPHONE will take your breath away By Paul Sawers, Thursday, 17 Oct ’13 You’re well-versed in virtual pets, virtual reality and many other virtual variants of physical entities. But what about virtual coffee? Yes, this is a ‘thing’, it seems. The Next Web is at Wired 2013 today in London, where David Edwards, a professor in Biomedical Engineering at Harvard University and founder of Le Labatoire, was on hand to give a glimpse into the future of your favorite caffeinated beverage.…

[From IEEE Spectrum’s Automaton blog; we’ve often noted the irony of flying around the world to meet to discuss telepresence technologies that allow people to not have to fly around the world to meet; how long before we’ll do this for ISPR conferences?!] [Image: A Beam remote presence robot at a conference.] How to Attend Next Week’s RoboBusiness Conference as a Robot By Erin Rapacki Posted 18 Oct 2013 This is a guest post. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not represent positions of IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE. If you were hoping to…

[From the Washington Post via AP] Halloween display depicting fatalities at Oklahoma home frightens neighbors, prompts 911 call By KRISTI EATON Associated Press Oct 17, 2013 MUSTANG, Okla. (AP) — One man lies on his stomach on the driveway. Blood is splattered along the garage door that smashed his head and presumably killed him. Another man lies a few feet away, run over by a truck. The scene in a middle-class Oklahoma neighborhood made of single-story homes and well-manicured lawns seems out of a horror story because, well, it is. The two accident victims are in fact dummies, created as…

[From Pittsburgh City Paper] [Image: Like a wormhole in time: Kurt Hentschlager’s POL] In Hive, the choreography of the figures is mesmerizing and almost mystical by David S. Berger At its best, art will refashion one’s way of seeing. This is true of the latest exhibits by Kurt Hentschlager, an Austrian-born artist who now teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibits, at Wood Street Galleries and Space, are the U.S. premieres of three works: Hive, Model 5 and POL. From 1993 to 2003, Hentschlager teamed with Ulf Langeinrich in a group called Granular Synthesis, and…

[From Fast Company’s Co.Exist blog, where the post includes more pictures and a 7:36 minute video] Power-Ups, Virtual Balls, And Quantum Engines: Watch The Future Of Sports Check out the first iteration of this new virtual reality version of sports, where the ball is generated by a computer and you can earn special powers, just like a video game. Jessica Leber October 11, 2013 Basketball, soccer, baseball–these are all fine sports. But wouldn’t they be even more fun if they could be released from the boring, been-there-done-that laws of physics? This is what human-computer interaction researchers in Germany were wondering…

[From CBS DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth), where you can watch the 2:53 minute video version of the story] UTD Combats Bullying With Virtual Reality Project October 10, 2013 DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Inside a dark room at The University of Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth Evan Harris gets to play a video game. It’s a virtual video game starring him. Evan has an Avatar which mimics his facial expressions. “He astoundingly looks a lot like me,” says Harris from Grand Prairie with a slight smile. There is a camera on the computer screen which captures Evan’s emotions. While he’s in one room, clinician…

[From International Business Times, where the story includes a another image and a 1:01 video] The Remote Control Tourists Who Check Out The City Before You Book Your Trip By Mark Johanson on October 10 2013 Ever wish you could truly see a city through someone else’s eyes, explore its streets, and check out its sights and senses before you visited? That’s the aim of Melbourne’s new “Remote Control Tourists,” who will roam Australia’s capital of culture between Oct. 9 and Oct. 13 as slaves to your Facebook and Twitter demands (hashtag #MelbourneRCT). You tell the proxies what to eat,…

[From Road to VR, where the story includes a 2:23 minute video; see also a BBC News report with one of the PIANO creators and the related Synthesia app] Mixed Reality Piano Trainer Makes Learning the Piano Easy (and maybe even fun) October 8, 2013 by Ben Lang Back in December of last year, after seeing few compelling consumer augmented reality applications, I wrote a short article about one that I would actually use, an AR piano trainer. I’m thrilled today to see that something very similar has popped up, and can’t wait to get my hands on it!…

[From NBC News, where the story includes additional images] [Image: Sixense’s new motion-tracking system makes virtual reality seem like it’s finally within our grasp. Sixense/YouTube] Virtual reality gaming is nearly here — we just need the right controller Yannick LeJacq NBC News October 7, 2013 Video games have long promised to offer their players “immersive experiences,” but full-blown virtual reality — the holodeck or the matrix — was still a fantasy. Now with the Oculus Rift headset on the horizon, that’s no longer the case: soon gamers will be able to slip on a pair of high-tech goggles and truly…

[From Ani.me, where the story includes a 6:59 minute video; information and another video about a related app that lets the user shake hands with Hatsune Miku is available from Kotaku] [News] Oculurs VR Allows Fans to ‘Sleep With’ Hatsune Miku By Scott Larsen October 5, 2013 I have friends who are absolutely obsessed with characters. They pride themselves on owning anything and everything which feature’s their obsession’s image: posters, wallets, and of course the coveted hug-pillows. To these individuals, I now simply laugh at their obviously meager efforts. Why? Because with the new Oculus Rift VR, you can take…

[From Gizmodo Australia, where the story includes several more images] Exploring The Prehistoric World, By Way Of Virtual Reality Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan 27 September 2013 For most history students, “exploring the past” means sifting through mountains of data. But digital archaeologist Marcus Abbott wants to make early human civilisation — or its digital simulacra — freely accessible to anyone who wants to explore it. His first prehistoric VR environment? A 3000-year-old spiritual site in the East Anglian fens.…