[From MIT’s Technology Review] Second Life Founder’s New Virtual World Uses Body Tracking Hardware Hardware that tracks your head, eyes and hands will make the follow up to Second Life very different to the pioneering virtual world Tom Simonite May 20, 2013 The founder of once-popular virtual world Second Life, Philip Rosedale, is working on a new 3D digital world that looks like it will be operated using gestures and body-tracking hardware. Rosedale declined to talk about his new company, called High Fidelity, just yet. But videos and other material posted online by the company suggest it is working on…

[From Gamespot, where the story includes an additional image and two videos] VRcade Sets Its Sights on the Next Leap in Immersive Gaming Using the Oculus Rift, VRcade’s engineers are designing what they believe will become the future of virtual entertainment. May 8, 2013 By Peter Brown, Editor The Oculus Rift has single-handedly revived public interest in virtual reality and it represents a tremendous leap forward from the immature head-mounted display tech that was touted so passionately in the ’90s. For developers interested in advancing the field of immersive gaming, it has already proven to be a catalyst of sorts,…

[From The Washington Post, where the story includes a large photo gallery] Mind-controlled prostheses offer hope for disabled By Devin Powell, Published: May 6 The first kick of the 2014 FIFA World Cup may be delivered in Sao Paulo next June by a Brazilian who is paralyzed from the waist down. If all goes according to plan, the teenager will walk onto the field, cock back a foot and swing at the soccer ball, using a mechanical exoskeleton controlled by the teen’s brain. Motorized metal braces tested on monkeys will support and bend the kicker’s legs. The braces will be…

[From ExtremeTech] An elastic touchscreen into which you can literally sink your fingers By James Plafke on April 19, 2013 When touchscreens first became widespread on our mobile devices, the main complaint from touchscreen detractors was that it felt weird to poke at a flat surface rather than tactile buttons. Eventually, most of the mobile phone audience grew to either love or live with the flat touchscreen. Now, with an elastic touchscreen you can pull and poke, a project out of MIT’s Media Lab aims to put tactile sensation back into using your devices.

[From NBC News, where the story includes additional images] [Image: ARMAR IIIa, designed by the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), unloads a dishwasher in a recent demonstration in Germany] Dawn of the bot? New era nears, experts say Nidhi Subbaraman NBC News May 13, 2013 Science fiction is quickly taking a back seat to science fact. Just look at a new report by the country’s leading roboticists. By 2030, it says, robots will be everywhere. At the gym, they’ll help you train. In operating rooms, flea-sized robots will zip through your blood vessels to repair tissues. Using voice commands and…

[From VentureBeat, where the story includes additional images] How Google is melding our real and virtual worlds with games, apps … and Glass May 1, 2013 John Koetsier “The world around you is not what it seems,” says Ingress, the virtual game that uses the real world as its gamespace. And, perhaps, when Google’s semi-independent division Niantic Labs is finished with its mission, we humans won’t be, either. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and usable. Note carefully that Google says nothing about the Internet in that statement. In the last few eye-blinks…

[From Singularity Hub; for more information, see “Bringing back the brainwaves: NeuroGaming 2013 Conference in retrospect” at Neurogadget.com] The Future of Gaming – It May All Be in Your Head Written By: Aaron Frank Posted: 05/12/13 Gaming as a hobby evokes images of lethargic teenagers huddled over their controllers, submerged in their couch surrounded by candy bar wrappers. This image should soon hit the reset button since a more exciting version of gaming is coming. It’s called neurogaming, and it’s riding on the heels of some exponential technologies that are converging on each other. Many of these were on display…

[From CNET] [Image: The arrays use some 8,000 touch-sensitive transistors. Credit: Georgia Institute of Technology] New ‘smart skin’ so sensitive it rivals the real thing Researchers say their experimental arrays sense pressure in the same range as the human fingertip, which could result in better bots and prosthetics. By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore April 26, 2013 Using what they are calling “mechanical agitation,” researchers out of the Georgia Institute of Technology say they’ve developed arrays that can sense touch with the same level of sensitivity as the human fingertip, which could result in better bots and prosthetics.

[From Penn State] [Image: Game avatar with a backpack. Credit: S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State] Bonding with your virtual self may alter your actual perceptions By Matthew Swayne May 2, 2013 PARIS — When people create and modify their virtual reality avatars, the hardships faced by their alter egos can influence how they perceive virtual environments, according to researchers. A group of students who saw that a backpack was attached to an avatar that they had created overestimated the heights of virtual hills, just as people in real life tend to overestimate heights and distances while carrying extra weight, according…

[From Mashable] Oculus Rift Used to Simulate Decapitation by Guillotine By Stan Schroeder May 7, 2013 We’ve seen the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift take a 90-year old grandmother on a charming tour through Tuscany, but the device can also be used for other, much less pleasant experiences. In one very blatant example, users are going through the experience of being decapitated by a guillotine, a device used for executions, most famously in the 18th century during the French Revolution. This Oculus Rift experience, created during the Exile Game Jam by Erkki Trummal, André Berlemont and Morten Brunbjerg, is dubbed…

[From The Philadelphia Inquirer, where the story includes additional images] [Image: Rolling Game Station, a 32-foot trailer loaded with video games, went to Zachary Jordan’s house in Douglassville for his eighth-birthday party. It is one of at least five games on wheels operations in the area. (MICHAEL S. WIRTZ / Staff Photographer)] Parties favoring video games By Kristin E. Holmes, Inquirer Staff Writer May 05, 2013 It was Zachary Jordan’s eighth-birthday party, but cake and ice cream couldn’t compete. There was something much more delectable outside: Super Mario Bros. in the dark. Parked in front of Zachary’s Douglassville home was…

[From OnlineAthens, where the story includes additional images] [Image: B.J. Whimpey, left, rides a virtual reality bicycle while Ray Smith, one of the two designers, looks on at the Driftmier Engineering Center in Athens, Ga., Thursday, May 2, 2013. (AJ Reynolds/Staff) AJ Reynolds/OnlineAthens & The Athens Banner-Herald] Shooting, biking and space mining at UGA virtual reality showcase By Lee Shearer – Friday, May 3, 2013 The places were virtual, but the fun was real Thursday in a virtual-reality open house on the University of Georgia campus. Visitors could operate a robotic flyer, fire a Glock 9mm pistol complete with recoil,…