[From PC Magazine] Scientists Demo Thought-Controlled Robots By Adario Strange July 9, 2012 In the 2009 film Surrogates, based on the popular graphic novel, Bruce Willis is shown struggling in a world dominated by realistic robot avatars controlled by humans sitting comfortably in their homes. Often injured or somehow disfigured, opting to interact with the world from a distance, the people are shown seamlessly operating their metal doppelgangers via a brain link apparatus that goes mostly unexplained in the film. Now, a team of researchers based in laboratories around the globe, have developed a system similar to the one depicted…

[From BostInno] MIT’s Media Lab Brings Watching Movies at Home to a Whole New, Immersive Level [Video] June 24th, 2012 by Lauren Landry People run to the theater to see 3-D movies, why? Sure, because Avatar looks cool, but also because they want to be immersed in the experience, making their way through Pandora and helping protect the world alongside long-legged, blue-bellied supernatural creatures. Yet, what if you could achieve a similar experience at home without ever having to throw on a pair of cardboard glasses? Over at the MIT Media Lab, in the Object-Based Media research group, V. Michael…

[From The Plano Star-Courier, where the story includes more images] Bridging the gap between reality and the virtual world By Bill Conrad Published: Thursday, June 21, 2012 VIRTSIM, the next innovation in tactical police and military training, was unveiled Friday morning in an east Plano warehouse owned by Raytheon. To date, the technology has been sold to the FBI, and has also been used by U.S. armed forces, U.S. Marshals and police departments in cities such as Plano and Frisco. Eight members of the McKinney Police Department’s S.W.A.T. team donned special goggles, firearms and motion-capture equipment prior to beginning their…

[From Psychology Today’s The Storytelling Animal blog] The Power of Fake Gay (and Black) Friends How fiction changes the world. by Jonathan Gottschall, Ph.D. Published on June 20, 2012 by Jonathan Gottschall, Ph.D. in The Storytelling Animal The “evolution” of President Obama’s views on same-sex marriage match the rapidly liberalizing attitudes of the country as a whole.  The swift pace of change has flummoxed social scientists, who expect much slower erosion of entrenched cultural biases. On the May 6th episode of Meet the Press, Joe Biden surprised viewers not only by endorsing gay marriage himself, but by attributing historic changes…

[From 3D Focus; James Iliff’s web site features an extensive two part post titled The Conquest of Presence in First-Person Shooters] The rise of consumer-facing smartphone 3D virtual reality US based virtual reality expert James Iliff reports on the rise of smartphone virtual reality applications and why VR will be the next frontier in gaming. Jun 18, 2012 Beyond 3D camera rigs, blockbuster movies, and anaglyph glasses, the 3D scene in Los Angeles has a bustling underground, and a revolution is on the horizon.  The small but tight-knit virtual reality hardware community is striking out against corporate monoliths like Sony…

[From Scotsman.com; details regarding the WA|HH Quantum Sensations ‘drunk’ spray are available at Gizmodo; see LBBOnline for more on the Mariah Carey holographic appearances] Chitra Ramaswamy: Virtual reality, but not quite Published on Sunday 24 June 2012 Life, eh? Just when you think things can’t get any sillier than a £16 spray that simulates the feeling of being drunk when sprayed down one’s gullible gullet (note: this is not a joke), you discover that being dead is no longer an obstacle to, well, living. Or at least making money. I’m talking about holograms, people. Not the kind you find on…

[From Phys.org, where the story includes more images and two videos] Canon’s Mixed Reality System may speed design cycles June 23, 2012 by Nancy Owano (Phys.org) — Canon this week announced a new augmented reality system—headset and software. The new system is to allow virtual prototypes to replace physical ones. Three-dimensional computer generated images can instantly change based on the user’s movements. The Mixed Reality (MR) System is being initially promoted as an industrial design tool where, for example, the head-set-wearing user gets to see a computer-generated image of a car on a set of real tires, all in realtime.…

[From The Japan Times; a 3:26 minute video is available here and the full research report is here] Riken develops system blurring line between virtual and reality Jiji June 28, 2012 The Riken research institute says it has developed a “substitutional reality” system to study how the brain works when people become confused about the reality of what they perceive. In an experiment using the system, subjects could not tell the difference between real-life scenes and recorded ones displayed on special head-mounted gear, according to an article by Riken published in the British journal Scientific Reports.

[From TekGoblin] Different Types of Immersion and How They Work Posted by Daniel Moeller June 25, 2012 In virtual-reality speak, ‘immersion’ can mean a number of different things. Ever taken a look at the Matrix, and thought about what it might mean for us? Rene Descartes was one of the first to ask this question – if we’re totally ‘immersed’ in an environment where all sense stimuli are artificially produced and fed to us, how could we distinguish that environment from external reality? Immersion is a critical concept in game design, and it comes in four main flavors. In this…

[From The Hollywood Reporter, where the story includes more images and links to videos and related stories] [Illustration: Kagan McLeod] Marilyn Monroe Hologram Concert in the Works Amid Growing Controversy The trend ignited by a Tupac Shakur resurrection in the desert portends rights battles of epic proportions. 5/31/2012 by Eriq Gardner This story originally appeared in the June 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. When Tupac Shakur took the stage in hologram form at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, hundreds of thousands of onlookers reveled in seeing one of hip-hop’s greatest performers seemingly brought back…

[From The Wall Street Journal, where the story includes a slideshow, an interactive graphic and a 5 minute video] Next Cameras Come Into View Experimental Device Has a Billion Pixels, Can Zoom In After a Photo Is Taken By Gautam NaikK Updated June 21, 2012 Scientists at Duke University have built an experimental camera that allows the user—after a photo is taken—to zoom in on portions of the image in extraordinary detail, a development that could fundamentally alter the way images are captured and viewed. The new camera collects more than 30 times as much picture data as today’s best…

[From The New York Times Magazine, where eight portraits are featured; more information and portraits are available on John Clang’s web site] Futuristic Family Reunions Be Here Now Julie Bosman June 1, 2012 In Singapore, it is a common practice for entire families to gather on special occasions for a formal picture, often at a studio, with the resulting image framed and prominently displayed at home. The growing tendency of younger family members to take jobs abroad, however, has left many modern portraits missing a relation or two. So the Singaporean photographer John Clang devised a solution, piggybacking on the…