[From PC Magazine] Apple Patent Reveals Plans for 3D on Steroids By Damon Poeter February 10, 2012 Apple has filed a patent application for a 3D eye-tracking graphical user interface (GUI) for personal electronic devices like the iPhone and iPad. The application, published Friday by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, describes technology that could be incorporated in the company’s iOS mobile operating system for use with gaming, photography, video, biometrics, and surveillance applications, according to the Patently Apple blog, which spotted the filing. Apple’s proposed technology essentially uses various techniques to combine aspects of current 3D simulation for handheld…

[From Wired’s Danger Room blog; a 5:16 minute video from the Royal Society is available here] Neuroscientists to Top Brass: Mess With Minds… Carefully By Katie Scott, Wired.co.uk February 7, 2012 A working group led by the Royal Society has warned the scientific community and the Government to tread carefully when entering the ethical minefield that is the use of neuroscience. A report published today by the Royal Society tackles the divisive issue of the potential uses of neuroscience research by the military or security forces — whether to improve the performance of our troops, to “diminish” the performance of…

[From The Philadelphia Inquirer] On Movies: ‘Pina’ melds dance with 3-D – and her death February 05, 2012 | By Steven Rea, Inquirer Columnist Wim Wenders was two weeks away from the start date for his new film when his star – Philippina “Pina” Bausch, the German choreographer – died. She had cancer, and had been diagnosed only five days earlier. “We had been talking about making this together for almost 20 years,” says Wenders, who had finally figured out how to go about doing his documentary – in 3-D – when Bausch died. “We were so happy that after…

[From The Atlantic; note: ISPR is non-partisan] [Image from Down With Tyranny] The Uncanny Valley: What Robot Theory Tells Us About Mitt Romney The GOP front-runner looks just enough like the perfect picture of an American president to make us uncomfortable. By Brian Fung Jan 31 2012 Mitt Romney is the storybook presidential candidate. He’s successful, good-looking and a family man, to boot. Yet one of this political season’s enduring puzzles has been the former governor’s consistent inability to bond with voters. It’s been suggested that Romney’s robotic persona may be to blame — and perhaps the analogy isn’t far…

[From TekGoblin] Kinect-Powered Amusement Park Will Blow Your Mind Analysis by Nic Halverson Mon Feb 6, 2012 Has playing video games on your couch lost its luster? Ever wish you could fully immerse yourself in an interactive world of virtual reality? If so, you might want to keep an eye on ticket prices to South Korea. “Live Park 4D Art Factory” is a new amusement park/virtual museum that recently opened in Ilsan, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. The 10,000-square-foot space includes 65 attractions, several interactive displays and art installation.…

[From TekGoblin; more information is available from Corning] Corning’s Second Day of Glass By: Andy Mercer | February 5, 2012 Nearly a year ago, Corning (maker of Gorilla Glass), released a video encapsulating it’s vision of the future. It’s since gotten 17 million views on youtube, and started numerous discussions and responses. In the video, Corning predicted large scale desktop touchscreen displays, bigger video screens, and dynamic billboards. And while much of the video is still in the future, the OLED TV’s shown by LG at this year’s CES do seem to bring the video to life. Despite the fact…

[From CBC News; more information is available from The University of Ottawa] [Image: University of Ottawa scientist Emil Petriu is shown with a robot in his lab. Petriu and his colleagues are replacing the robot’s mechanical parts with more human-like parts they are designing. (Peter Thornton/University of Ottawa)] Life-like robot being built in Ottawa lab Scientist believes humans, robots can have symbiotic relationship CBC News Jan 20, 2012 Canadian scientists are developing a robot that mimics the human face’s expressions and human hand’s tactile processes, which they say will be useful in areas like nursing, nuclear plant maintenance, and explosive…

[From Geek-O-System] AAAH! AAAH! TAKE IT AWAY! Beavis and Butt-Head in Real Life are Positively Terrifying by James Plafke | January 20th, 2012 Artist Kevin Kirkpatrick made these prosthetic busts of Beavis and Butt-Head, taking an absolutely horrifying turn and making them realistic instead of cartoony. Check out more pictures and angles [at the url above], all of which can’t be unseen, so proceed with caution.…

[From ThisIsColossal] Speedy PVC Pipe Sculptures By Christopher on December 7, 2011 These whimsical sculptures by Korean artist Kang Duck-Bong are made by adhering myriad cuts of PVC pipe and covering them in a thick shellac of urethane paint. The process creates an uncanny sense of motion, the figures appearing blurred and perpetually in motion. Kang’s work is on display at Gallery 4Walls in Seoul through December 23 as part of his solo show, Disguise. A huge thanks to Cho at Gallery 4Walls for providing the imagery for this post.…

[From Consumer Reports; an extended interview with Scott Jochim, president of Digital Tech Frontier and Popar Toys, is available in GamesBeat] Toy Fair 2012: Popar Toys brings augmented reality to paper books Jan 31, 2012 – Carol Mangis Popar Toys, a new line from tech company Digital Tech Frontier, is taking an innovative approach to meshing book-reading with technology: Instead of bringing books to the device, a la Amazon Kindle Keyboard and Barnes & Noble Nook, it’s using devices to enhance the books. We had an early look at the how it all works before Popar’s debut in a couple…

[From The Huffington Post, where the post includes additional images and a 6:44 minute video] ‘Hunger In Los Angeles’: Virtual Reality Makes Journalism Immersive, Pixelated Lucas Kavner lucas.kavner@huffingtonpost.com 01/30/2012 Imagine you’re at a food bank outside the First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles. It’s a clear and hot Saturday in August. Dozens of hungry people are lining up. The woman who runs the food bank is overwhelmed. She yells people’s numbers quickly. “There are too many people,” one woman complains, as she stands in line, her arms crossed. Others wait patiently, but the mood is tense. Then someone in line…

[From PSFK] Watch TV On The Go With See-Through Video Glasses By Emma Hutchings on January 19, 2012 A few years ago, PSFK wrote about an emerging technology from Israeli company Lumus. Now, they’ve released a new pair of glasses that lets the wearer view video content from the internet, movies and TV with their large, high-resolution virtual screen. The eyewear is see-through, providing simultaneous connectivity to what you want to watch and your surroundings. The glasses project an 87-inch screen about 10 feet in front of the wearer that can only be viewed by them, passers-by will just see…