[From Yahoo! Tech, where the story includes a 0:54 minute video; more information is available from Land Rover] Land Rover’s New Camera Technology Lets Drivers See ‘Through’ the Car’s Hood Relaxnews/Yahoo Tech Apr 9, 2014 For years, different kinds of cameras have acted as smart mirrors for vehicles, helping drivers better see what’s happening behind them. Now luxury SUV maker Land Rover is expanding on that idea, incorporating a camera under the hood to help drivers better see what’s happening right in front of them. The technology is called the “Transparent Bonnet,” and it overlays a camera feed onto the inside…

[From New Scientist] [Image: Roboy the social robot] The robot tricks to bridge the uncanny valley Giving robots a series of small behavioural tics can make help them appear a lot more human, which makes us feel more comfortable interacting with them 19 March 2014 by Paul Marks If a robot bleeped and squeaked with personality like R2D2 from Star Wars, would you like it better? What if it glanced into the distance when you asked it a question, as though pondering its response? Little behavioural tics like these could be crucial to people accepting robots into their everyday lives.…

[From The Creators Project, where the post includes more pictures and a 3:10 minute video] Experience The Magic Of Iceland Through This Multi-Sensory Book By Bogar Alonso – Apr 7 2014 Long known for its breathtaking vistas, Iceland offers an experience too rich for just one of the five senses. Whereas other literary depictions of the Nordic expanse might only focus on pretty pictures, Hvísl – Whispers of Iceland is a visual and auditory journey. Pages aren’t turned so much as they’re triggered. A colorful arrangement of electronic sensors spark snippets of Icelandic sounds provided by artist Johannes Mandorfer. Anything…

[From Fast Company, where the story includes more images and a video; see also available a story in Architect magazine] [Image: Lifteye projects into the elevator what you would see if the walls were made of glass.] This Elevator Might Make You Forget You’re Stuck In A Metal Death Trap With Strangers What if instead of staring at the walls as we rode up and down, we could look at the view from outside? Sydney Brownstone April 4, 2014 Unless someone comes up with a better way for groups of people to move vertically within tall buildings (pneumatic tubes, anyone?),…

[From VentureBeat; see also coverage by Gigaom] Virtual reality has another ‘wow’ moment as Jaunt introduces 360-degree cinematic videos April 3, 2014 Dean Takahashi I was alone in a room wearing virtual reality goggles. But it felt like I was in a park, surrounded by four Shaolin monks who were threatening me on all sides with martial arts moves. This kind of surround-video experience is what you’ll get from Jaunt, a new entertainment startup coming out of stealth today. On top of announcing a funding round, Jaunt is unveiling for the first time its new way to experience 360-degree videos in…

[From Wired, where the story includes 2 videos] An Oculus Rift Hack That Lets You Draw in 3-D By Joseph Flaherty 04.02.14 Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus Rift has reopened conversation about the potential of virtual reality, but a key question remains: How will we actually interact with these worlds? Minecraft creator Markus Persson noted that while these tools can enable amazing experiences, moving around and creating in them is far from a solved problem. A group of Royal College of Art students–Guillaume Couche, Daniela Paredes Fuentes, Pierre Paslier, and Oluwaseyi Sosanya–has developed a tool called GravitySketch that starts…

[Here are a few presence-related highlights of 2014 April Fools jokes from the web; if you spot others, please post links in the comments…!  –Matthew ] 1. RAZER Razer introduces Eidolon: The world’s first wearable drone system. Play life in the third person: A true out-of-body experience.

[When effective, this should evoke inverse presence; the post is from designboom, where you’ll find many more photos of the art] Giant Photoshop eraser sticks to London streets Guus & Tayfun March 21, 2014 Two creatives behind the ‘street eraser‘ blog are merging the digital world with the analog, sticking their adobe-inspired art throughout London’s urban fabric. The giant playful labels illustrate the familiar grey and white checkerboard pattern, visible when using the eraser tool in Photoshop. Eliminating graffitti from traffic signs, color from mailboxes and portions of billboards, the intervention seemingly reveals a concealed world beneath our own. The…

[From GizMag, where the story includes additional pictures] Japanese rockstar Yoshiki engages in piano battle with hologram of himself By Nick Lavars March 20, 2014 Following in the virtual footsteps of Tupac Shakur, at the SXSW festival last weekend Japanese musical icon Yoshiki used a hologram not just in an attempt to add a little flair to his performance, but to indulge those fans who can’t quite get enough of him. Yoshiki, a musician, songwriter, composer, record producer, front man of heavy-metal band X Japan and classical soloist, appeared on stage at the music and technology festival to a rousing…

[From The Asahi Shimbun, where the story includes additional images] 3-D display offers chilling look at Nagasaki after A-bomb attack March 05, 2014 By Miyuki Kanno / Staff Writer NAGASAKI–A new 3-D imaging display system allowing viewers to experience the devastation of Nagasaki immediately after the 1945 atomic bombing opened here on March 3. Virtual Genshiya (Virtual atomic wasteland), developed by Takashi Fujiki, a professor of technology education at Nagasaki University, uses computer graphics to give viewers a panoramic view of a 500-meter radius of ground zero just after the blast. The system is on display at the Art and…

[There has been lots of coverage of Facebook’s purchase of Oculus VR, including predictions and concerns about the implications (e.g., see stories at Fast Company and Time). Here’s how Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg describes the future of VR and presence in his announcement on Facebook] Mark Zuckerberg March 25 near Palo Alto, CA I’m excited to announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. For the past few years, this has mostly meant building mobile apps that help you share with the people…

[From VentureBeat, where the story includes an additional image] [Image: Dhanushan Balachandreswaran of Sulon Technologies. Image Credit: Dean Takahashi.] Sulon Technologies enters the virtual reality race with a new kind of immersive experience March 19, 2014 Dean Takahashi Sulon Technologies is unveiling a new kind virtual reality platform that will turn any room into a fanciful virtual space. Sulon is showing off its demo of The Cortex virtual reality “spatial gaming” platform at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. In doing so, the company is trying to win over the hearts of game developers in what is becoming a…