[From Bob Enderle’s Unfiltered Opinion IT Business Edge blog] [Image: A scene from the film Demolition Man] Facebook and the Ugly Present, Wonderful Future of Video Communications Posted by Rob Enderle Jul 7, 2011 One-on-one videoconferencing has likely had the longest time coming to market of any tech product since it became viable as a technology. First showcased in the 1960s, I participated in the first large trials at Apple that started in the late 1980s. While desktop cameras proliferated on notebooks and as USB peripherals, for much of the last two decades, people have rarely performed video calls. WebEx…

[From The Australian] [Image: The interactive experience at UNSW’s iCinema Centre. Source: The Australian] Lost in cyberspace Ruth Ostrow From: The Australian July 23, 2011 You only have to be the parent of a child over the age of seven to know what I’m talking about: the vacant eyes so preoccupied by what’s on screen that they can’t focus on your face for more than a few seconds before being drawn back into the cyberworld. As you talk, your little darling types or toggles. “Are you listening to me?” you ask, only to be told in a precocious tone: “Yeahhhh.…

[From PSFK] Sonic Cradle Lets You Mix Soundscapes With Your Breathing By Stephen Fortune on July 13, 2011 One can rest easy about the fate of the remix, as artists are constantly seeking new ways to push remix culture into new territory. Oftentimes, they do so by reimagining the interface by which one can cut and mash up (like such novel projects as the VJacket and Karina Van Heck’s internal organ mixing desk), and the latest experiment in embodied remix interfaces is even more ambitious than previous forays. Jay Vidyarthi and Darwin Frost have designed the Sonic Cradle that enables…

[From Japan Times] [Image: Virtual venue: Takeshi Natsuno, managing director at Dwango, explains the features of Nico Nico Douga’s new Nicofarre venue. ALEXIS WUILLAUME PHOTO] Website Nico Nico Douga goes live … house By MARK JARNES Special to The Japan Times Thursday, July 14, 2011 Online video-sharing website Nico Nico Douga has become a popular place for young Japanese to check out new music. Now imagine stepping inside the site to experience those tunes live. That’s the feeling you get when you enter Tokyo’s newest live venue, Nicofarre. “We wanted to create an interactive musical experience where reality and virtual…

[From The Philadelphia Inquirer] War games, not debates, are what this race needs July 17, 2011 Jim Geraghty Brace yourself: Seven Republican presidential debates are scheduled in the next four months, and even more may be added. After two or three, the questions and answers are going to sound depressingly similar and predictable. Ah, yes, you’ll cut taxes and spending. You’ll respond decisively to foreign threats. Yawn. With primary debates including so little debate and so much rehearsed recitation of stale sound bites, it’s time to shake things up. What could give primary voters a clearer perspective of a candidate’s…

[From TechFlash] [Image: The avatar for Dr. Brian Ross welcomes participants to an online training session using Xbox chat technology (Stephen Brashear photos/PSBJ)] GAMING TECHNOLOGY How Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Kinect help surgeons in the OR by Brad Broberg on Saturday, July 16, 2011 The sight of a surgeon playing “Grand Theft Auto” in the operating room might raise eyebrows, but it’s one example of how consumer technology is being repurposed to advance the practice of medicine. Rising medical costs — bloated by expensive, complicated machines — are wrecking the nation’s economic health, while off-the-shelf consumer gadgets keep getting cheaper…

[From The University of California, San Diego News Center] [Image: Brain response as measured by fMRI to videos of a robot, android and human] Your Brain on Androids July 14, 2011 By Inga Kiderra Ever get the heebie-jeebies at a wax museum? Feel uneasy with an anthropomorphic robot? What about playing a video game or watching an animated movie, where the human characters are pretty realistic but just not quite right and maybe a bit creepy? If yes, then you’ve probably been a visitor to what’s called the “uncanny valley.” The phenomenon has been described anecdotally for years, but how…

[From AFP via France 24; for more information see the museum’s Facebook page here] Pamplona museum offers virtual bull runs (AFP) – July 14, 2011 PAMPLONA, Spain — Revellers at Spain’s San Fermin festival lacking the nerve to run through the streets chased by a herd of thunderous bulls can now opt for a virtual bull-run. Visitors to Pamplona’s Museo del Encierro run on a treadmill while wearing virtual reality goggles that let them see computer-generated images of what it is like to race ahead of pounding hooves. “This is the only simulator in the world of a San Fermin…

[From The Australian] Thrills, spills and smells of 4-D films promise a white-knuckle ride John Harlow From: The Australian July 11, 2011 Just as audiences go sour on 3-D movies, fed up with high ticket prices, murky images and uncomfortable glasses, Hollywood blockbusters are being converted into 4-D. The fourth dimension is often said to be time, which drags during a poor 3-D movie. But in South Korea 4-D refers to a new chain of cinemas that synchronise blockbuster movies with the physical effects usually found in theme park rides. A Korean company called CJ 4D Plex has built cinemas…

[From Mediaite] Production Company Caught Faking Fourth of July Firework Footage In Boston For CBS Special by Jon Bershad | July 8th, 2011 This holiday weekend, anyone who was watching CBS in Boston got to see some amazing shots of fireworks. In fact, the footage was way more impressive than those on other networks as it featured incredible glimpses of the fireworks going off right behind such landmarks as Fenway stadium and the state house. However, some eagle-eyed, geography-knowledgable viewers began to notice something was amiss. The fireworks were shot off from a barge and for CBS to have gotten…

[From Chain Store Age; more information follows below] ‘Virtual Assistant’ technology makes retail debut at Duane Reade July 5, 2011 | By Marianne Wilson New York City — Next-generation digital signage that uses the latest in holographic imaging and audio-visual technology to create the illusion of a real person is making its U.S. debut at Duane Reade’s new flagship in downtown Manhattan. The technology, the Tensator Virtual Assistant, is provided by Lawrence, a Tensator Group Co. Completely customized for Duane Reade, it takes the form of a female greeter who welcomes entering customers and provides information on everything store-related. Currently,…

[From DigInfo TV, where the story features a 4:21 minute video and a collection of images] Ultra Realistic Dental Training Robot – Showa Hanako 2 30 June 2011 Showa University has announced Showa Hanako 2, a robot dental patient fabricated by robot maker Tmsuk. Compared with its predecessor Showa Hanako 1, this robot is designed to be more realistic, functional, and easier to use. Showa Hanako 2 will actually be sold by the dental supply company The Yoshida Dental Manufacturing. The main features of the new robot are a silicone skin and mouth lining by Orient Industry, a maker of…