[From PC World; a review of the new products can be found here] Toshiba to Launch No-glasses 3D TV This Year in Japan By Martyn Williams, IDG News Oct 4, 2010 Toshiba is readying two 3D televisions that can produce images with the illusion of depth but don’t require the user to wear glasses, it said Monday. It will launch the televisions in Japan in December. By dispensing with glasses, the TVs answer a key complaint of would-be buyers — but they won’t come cheap. Toshiba will offer a 12-inch model and a 20-inch model. They’ll cost around ¥120,000 (US$1,430) and…

[From CNN] When glass touch screens feel like sandpaper By John D. Sutter, CNN October 8, 2010 (CNN) — Glass screens that can feel the touch of your fingers are all the rage these days. You’ll find them in all kinds of gadgets, from smartphones to tablet computers. But the way a team of Disney Researchers sees it, there’s one huge problem with this technology: All glass screens feel exactly the same. So, OK, that “problem” may not be keeping you up at night. But think about the difference between typing on a hardware keyboard, where you can feel whether…

[A press release from Mitsubishi; a 0:55 minute video is available here] The All-New 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport is set to become the “World’s First Online Test Drive” CYPRESS, California Thu, Oct 07, 2010 Starting November 2nd and continuing through November 10th, 2010, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc., (MMNA), will host the World’s First Online Test Drive of an actual vehicle utilizing interactive remote control of the company’s latest automotive creation, the all-new 2011 Outlander Sport. Residents of the United States who are 18 years and older with a valid driver’s license will be able to register to have the…

[From AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald; more details are available in a story from The Catholic News Agency] New technologies confuse reality and fiction: Pope October 8, 2010 Pope Benedict XVI said on Thursday that the media’s increasing reliance on images, fuelled by the endless development of new technologies, risked confusing real life with virtual reality.…

[From eWeek; see also the observations of Human Productivity Lab President Howard Lichtman here; a 1:32 minute promotional video for the new product is here] VOIP and Telephony Cisco Umi Brings TelePresence Into the Home By: Jeffrey Burt 2010-10-07 Cisco made another step into the consumer space with its Umi video communication product for the home. However, critics point to its high cost as a key liability. Cisco Systems made its much-anticipated push deeper into the consumer space Oct. 6 with its Cisco Umi home telepresence system. The pricey offering brings Cisco into closer competition with video communication vendor Skype and…

[From CNET; a 7:43 minute video is available here] October 4, 2010 A look at Microsoft’s latest surface computer by Ina Fried Not content with turning all manner of surfaces into computers, Microsoft’s researchers are working to turn an entire room into one giant computing surface. Andy Wilson and his team had already turned a table top, a globe-sized sphere, and a walk-in dome into surface computers. Microsoft also has its Surface, a tabletop computer that it sells for use in places like hotels and restaurants. But with LightSpace–the latest research project–Wilson has turned an entire 10-foot-by-8-foot room into a…

[From the Chronicle of Higher Education’s ProfHacker blog] September 22, 2010 Would You Protect Your Computer’s Feelings? Clifford Nass Says Yes. By Jason B. Jones What if there was a book that explained how to write end comments on student papers or exams; why peer review processes often avoid, rather than facilitate, sound judgment; how to encourage meaningful group work; and why academic events feature so much ritual flattery? Clifford Nass’s The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships doesn’t restrict itself to academe—indeed, it claims to offer social rules for almost any situation—but…

[From The Philadelphia Inquirer] Oct. 1, 2010 History in 3-D Welcome to Liberty 360, a circular theater telling the American tale. By Kathryn Canavan For The Inquirer The centuries will collide in Philadelphia’s historic district this weekend when tour guides in 18th-century garb welcome visitors to the 21st century and a 3-D theater in the round. David Niles, designer of the well-received video wall at the Comcast Center, is offering a new 3-D attraction dubbed Liberty 360 that opened this week. It’s a 15-minute, sometimes-panoramic show about the iconic symbols of America. The onscreen host is tinkerer extraordinaire Benjamin Franklin…

[From SlashGear]  Namco Bandai and Nissan Team Up to Create Futuristic Yokohama City in Virtual Reality By Evan Selleck on Thu Sep 30th, 2010 Virtual Reality (VR) was all the rage several years ago. In arcades all over the world (where you could find them), there were rigs set up to showcase a digital world, where the player was fully submerged. A part of the game, and not just playing it. And while it may have quieted down over the years, it looks like Nissan and Namco Bandai have found a way to make it useful again. Both companies have…

[From IEEE Spectrum, part of a special report on telepresence that features much supplemental and related material] When My Avatar Went to Work A robot surrogate took my place at the office. Here’s why one may take yours, too By Erico Guizzo  /  September 2010 As I come down the hallway, heads start popping out of cubicles and offices, all eyes turning in my direction. Some of my colleagues laugh, some frown. One looks terrified and flees. That’s what happens, I suppose, when you show up at the office as a robot. The robot is acting as my stand-in at work.…

[From The Ottawa Citizen] [Image: Psychologist Kieron O’Connor, shown with a computer screen loaded with 3-D images from a hoarder’s stash, is conducting research into virtual reality therapies at the University of Quebec Outaouais in Gatineau.] Hoarding: The virtual reality of clutter By Maria Cook September 28, 2010 Psychologist Kieron O’Connor has compiled a list 30 pages long of different objects he has seen hoarders accumulate. The list includes newspapers, empty cornflake packages and toilet paper rolls. “It’s a very difficult problem to treat,” he says. “People collect things and they can’t get rid of them. They build up at…

[From GlobalPost, where the story includes a short video]   [Image: A visitor plays a new 3D game on Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 motion-sensitive controller “Move” at Tokyo Game Show in Chiba, east of Tokyo Sept. 16, 2010. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)] Tokyo Game Show: Gamers go all out In Japan, it’s surreal reality meets virtual reality. By Jason Overdorf September 27, 2010 TOKYO, Japan — High atop a 30-foot tower built to showcase Microsoft’s new Xbox360 Kinect, Japanese models kitted out in short-shorts, pigtails and sneakers scrambled to kick their virtual selves into high gear before a giant, cinema-sized screen. As…