[From Ubergizmo]   iPhone Virtual Reality Viewer Edwin Kee 08/18/2011 The iPhone is one versatile handset, and you can add the iPhone Virtual Reality Viewer to its fast growing list of capabilities. As the name suggests, this device will work in tandem with an iPhone to develop immersive, 3D viewing experiences. Just how does it work? Well, it marries the built-in accelerometer in the iPhone alongside free downloadable applications, allowing the 3D environments within to move whenever the iPhone is moved.…

[From Tom’s Guide] Sony Says Games Will Read Emotions in 10 Years Sony is talking crazy, indicating that games may be able to tell if you’re lying or depressed just ten years down the road. We’ll stick with growing crops, thanks. August 25, 2011 – By Kevin Parrish Seriously, when do games stop being games and cross over into virtual reality? This was the question I asked Nvidia months ago at ECGC 2011, and was told there will always be a market for the high-end PC gamer with the rig nearly the size of a bookcase. But putting visual realism…

[From TechCrunch, where the story includes additional images] Handroid: Japanese Company Shows Advanced Robot Hand (Video) Serkan Toto August 24, 2011 Japan-based tech startup ITK has brought us one step closer to the Robocalypse. Roboticists around the world are working on manufacturing “sensitive” hands for robots suitable for touching humans or handling breakable objects, a problem that’s notoriously difficult to solve. ITK is now throwing their hat into the ring with Handroid a new model that seems to be one of the most advanced robot hands out there. Sporting five fully movable fingers, the Handroid looks a lot like the hand Arnold…

[From InformationWeek] Collaboration Tool Bets Bobbleheads Beat Avatars Sococo’s virtual office space helps co-workers “see” each other with simple icons. Is this just enough virtual reality to help your team? David F. Carr | August 22, 2011 Sococo may be just enough virtual reality for organizations wanting to add another dimension to corporate collaboration–but not necessarily three dimensions. Looking like a buddy list presence icon with eyes and a headset, a Sococo icon moves around the floor plan of a virtual office space like a chess piece moving around the board. You enter and leave rooms to join and leave…

[From PC World] How ‘Glee: The 3D Concert Movie’ Sold Me on 3D Not thrilled by 3D movies? Don’t stop believing until you watch ‘Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.’ By Patrick Miller, PCWorld August 19, 2011 I’d had it up to here with 3D. I thought Avatar was pretty cool in 3D, I didn’t mind it in Up, and I liked Step Up 3D and Tron: Legacy more than I thought I would. But now it seems as if everything except romantic comedies has mediocre 3D effects grafted on, just to (weakly) justify a more expensive movie ticket. It’s enough…

[From Imperial College London, where the article includes additional information; Gaetano Ling’s website is here] Postgrad develops magic goggles and enchanted maps for a fun museum experience Imperial graduate from Innovation Design Engineering course showcases his interactive tools as part of his graduation project Tuesday 19 July 2011 by Colin Smith An Imperial postgraduate has developed a suite of interactive tools to make museums and galleries more fun for children, including magic goggles, a Harry Potter style map and brushes that make sounds. The prototype virtual reality glasses developed by Gaetano Ling are called Corbu Goggles and they ‘magically’ reveal…

[From MIT’s Technology Review] [Office bot: This telepresence robot, from Anybots, costs $15,000. Known as the QB, it has built-in obstacle avoidance that automatically prevents it from striking objects such as doorways.] Telepresence Robots Seek Office Work New models have reached the marketplace, but high initial prices keep applications limited. Thursday, August 18, 2011 By Tom Simonite Building on the trend toward remote work, two companies started shipping wheeled telepresence robots to customers this year, and other versions are launching soon. While prices are steep and sales tepid, some early adopters find that the robots offer advantages over technologies such…

[From IANS via Gulf News] [Image: Vaibhava Srinivasan’s cockpit at his home with original Boeing 727 captain seats. The chartered accountant uses the flight simulator as a way of winding down on weekends. He built the cockpit in his house after collecting equipment from all over the world.] Bust stress by conquering the sky, the virtual way Market for flight simulators growing across the world IANS Published: August 6, 2011 New Delhi: Vaibhava Srinivasan, 33, was flying a Boeing 737 aircraft over the picturesque Himalayan mountain range on his way to China, when he had to suddenly cut short his…

[From TechNewsWorld] OPINION Why Video Conferencing Sucks Understanding human interaction isn’t easy. We tend to be complex and very different. The reason we aren’t doing video conferencing calls regularly is partially because these systems don’t interoperate, but it is mostly because these systems don’t embrace the way we actually like to communicate. By Rob Enderle TechNewsWorld 08/15/11 I’ve been covering video conferencing (now often called “telepresence”) products since the late 80s and saw my first offering in the mid-60s as a child at Disneyland. Over the years, product wave after product wave has come to market with the promise of…

[From Humans Invent, where the story includes additional images] You’re fired: How gaming killed the boardroom By Ben Sillis 15th August 2011 Need to get someone out to New York for a crucial business meeting next week? It’ll cost you. At a week’s notice, a business class return trip on British Airways from Heathrow to JFK International will set your company back upwards of £3,800. As stock markets plunge, and the wait for this “bounce back” continues, that’s money few can afford – but you can’t put a value on being in the same room as a potential client. Unless…

[From SmartPlanet] Video: How ‘augmented reality’ will make boring cities beautiful By Christopher Mims | August 10, 2011 In the near future, as you stroll down the street, billboards and street signs will change to suit your interests. Ghostly arrows will float in the air, pointing you toward your destination. Buildings, vehicles, the apparel of those you pass, and the very fabric of the reality you perceive will all be as changeable as your wardrobe. That’s the vision of futurists and science fiction authors like Vernor Vinge, and increasingly, it’s the reality brought to us by ever-more-powerful mobile devices.…

[From Microsoft Research] A New Window to the Face By Douglas Gantenbein August 8, 2011 9:00 AM PT The human face is a complicated thing—powered by 52 muscles; contoured by the nose, eyebrows, and other features; and capable of an almost infinite range of expressions, from joy to anger to sorrow to puzzlement. Perhaps that is why realistic animation of the human face has been what Microsoft Research Asia scientist Xin Tong calls a “holy grail” of computer graphics. Decades of research in computer graphics have developed a number of techniques for capturing three-dimensional moving images of the human face.…