[From Gizmodo] These Creepy Dolls Are Actually Real Humans By Sam Biddle Apr 20, 2012 Even if these were toys, [they’d] be super, super unsettling to look at. The dead eyes. The bleached skin. The lack of any discernible genitalia. But they’re flesh and blood humans, transformed into terrifying figurines [the photos are at the “Portraits & Fashion” link]. Photographer Hayden Wood’s brilliantly strange new project “Living Dolls,” shows off his career as an advertising and photo manipulation pro. Only now he’s advertising the Uncanny Valley instead of… things. Barbie and Ken, the quintessential image of friendliness and love, are…

[From Wired’s Danger Room blog] Darpa to Troubled Soldiers: Meet Your New Simulated Therapist By Katie Drummond April 20, 2012 The Pentagon hasn’t made much progress in solving the PTSD crisis plaguing this generation of soldiers. Now it’s adding new staff members to the therapy teams tasked with spotting the signs of emotional pain and providing therapy to the beleaguered. Only this isn’t a typical hiring boost. The new therapists, Danger Room has learned, will be computer-generated “virtual humans,” used to offer diagnostics, and programmed to appear empathetic.…

[From The Institute for Creative Technologies; a 1:09 minute video is here] Out of the Box: USC Researchers Debut Smartphone 3-D Virtual Reality Viewer Made Out of Cardboard Easy-to-assemble fold-out viewer transforms smartphones into portable immersive virtual reality systems. First 100 do-it-yourself VR viewers being distributed at IEEE Virtual Reality Conference in Orange County, March 4 – 8 March 05, 2012 Smart phones have endless applications that keep users connected to the real world. But researchers from the Mixed Reality (MxR) Lab at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies are developing ways to use these ubiquitous devices…

[From Fast Company’s Co.Design, where the story includes several images and a 2:38 minute video] Heady Gadget Lets You Simulate An Out-Of-Body Experience If the soul left the body, what would that feel like? Many religions claim that the body is just a vessel for the soul. And at death, the soul doesn’t die, but it leaves the body to go somewhere else. How would that moment feel? Obviously, there’s really no way to know. Or is there? Faith Condition, by Lukas Franciszkiewicz, is an ongoing project that explores the role of technology in the future of faith. His initial…

[From Jason Godfrey’s blog Big Smile No Teeth at The Star Online] The final frontier? When models have to compete with video game characters for jobs, it’s time for a re-think. By Jason Godfrey Sunday April 22, 2012 It’s tough being a model and it only gets tougher. Not only is competition among models for jobs incredibly fierce, but now models are competing against computers too. Yep, this could be to modelling what Deep Blue beating Kasparov was to chess, but way less mentally straining. April’s issue of Arena Homme features Prada’s new spring/summer collection as modelled entirely by characters…

[From The New York Daily News, where the story includes a 1:26 minute video] [Image: Susan Watts/New York Daily News] Bloomingdale’s virtual reality windows let shoppers try on shades without wearing them System gives a screen test on how you’ll look with the latest designer eyewear By Gina Salamone / New York Daily News Thursday, April 19, 2012 Window shopping is taking on a new meaning at Bloomingdale’s. As they get ready for summer, busy New Yorkers now can try on sunglasses without stepping inside the store. Virtual-reality technology projects designer shades onto shoppers who simply stand in front of the…

[From VentureBeat] TourWrist’s 360-degree panoramas add another dimension April 18, 2012 Heather Kelly Remember virtual reality tours, those 360-degree panoramic photos you could navigate with your mouse? They were hot for a while, popping up on every real estate agent and hotel site, but the low quality and jerky navigation made them feel antiquated and oh-so Web 1.0. TourWrist began reviving the art form last year by taking it mobile and adding a slick user interface. Now the company is taking the images further with an update to its iPhone and iPad app, new APIs and SDKs, and neat interactivity features,…

[From The Guardian’s GrrlScientist blog; watch the 8:32 minute video in HD on YouTube] Riding the Booster Riding a solid rocket booster up and then down again during a launch of the space shuttle Tuesday 10 April 2012 Here’s a fun little video from NASA: an HD video that shows a stunning view from a solid rocket booster attached to the space shuttle, pushing it up into orbit, and then not attached to the space shuttle, whilst the booster is plunging back to Earth.…

[From The Wall Street Journal, where the story includes more images and multiple videos] Rapper’s De-Light: Tupac ‘Hologram’ May Go on Tour By Ethan Smith April 16, 2012 The biggest buzz at Sunday’s Coachella music festival in California wasn’t for a hot new DJ or indie-rock band. It was for Tupac Shakur, the rapper who died more than 15 years ago and “performed” Sunday night alongside Snoop Dogg and producer Dr. Dre. Internet video of the Sunday evening show became an instant sensation on Monday morning. That response is helping push the possibility of a virtual Tupac tour in coming…

[From io9] Ray Bradbury on how Disneyland humanized robots By Lauren Davis Apr 15, 2012 Ray Bradbury is a self-professed “Disney nut” and, in 1965, found himself dismayed by an article in the Nation decrying Disneyland as vulgar entertainment. In response, he penned a love letter to Disneyland, defending Walt Disney as a man on the cutting edge of making robots seem human. Bradbury wrote this piece, “The Machine-Tooled Happyland,” for the October 1965 issue of Holiday magazine. It’s a defense of Disneyland, which Bradbury admits he hesitated to visit because it struck him as anti-intellectual. He recalls a fond…

[From The Hollywood Reporter; the original story about the reasons for the censorship appeared in Offbeat China; in a related story in The Telegraph, Twitter users ‘thought Titanic disaster was just a film plot’] Chinese ‘Titanic’ Fans Balk at Cuts to Rerelease UPDATED: Government regulators edit out nude scenes, but the film is expected to surpass the 2D version’s box-office performance. 4/12/2012 by Patrick Brzeski Chinese moviegoers turned up en masse for the debut of Titanic 3D on Tuesday, netting 20th Century Fox International $11.6 million, the second-highest opening-day take ever in the country. The original Titanic earned $44 million…

[From DigInfo TV, where the story includes a 2:13 minute video] Robot Hand Communicates Grip Force, Body Temperature and Touch 27 March 2012 A research group at Osaka University is developing a robot hand for tele-handshaking. It communicates a person’s grip force, body temperature, and touch. “In ordinary video-conferencing systems, it’s difficult even to see life-sized pictures of other people. But by attaching this robot hand, you can shake hands with people at a distance. Shaking hands like this gives a greater sense of other people’s presence than you get with regular video-conferencing systems.”…