[From the web site of Stanford University’s School of Medicine] SEPT. 27, 2010 5 questions: Gaba on the LKSC’s simulation-based learning As associate dean for immersive and simulation-based learning, David Gaba, MD, has played a major role in the development of the Hon Mai and Joseph Goodman Center for Simulation and Immersive Learning — a virtual hospital floor on the ground level of the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge and one of the world’s largest medical simulation facilities. An internationally-renowned expert in this type of experiential, hands-on learning, Gaba, professor of anesthesiology, recently discussed the history of the…

[From The UK’s Independent] [Image: Crazy horses: Eadweard Muybridge’s studies of motion looked comically wrong to his peers] Tom Sutcliffe: Are we still backing the wrong horse? The week in culture Friday, 17 September 2010 There’s a venerable story about the painter Constable which is often cited by writers who want us to recognise that he was a modern pioneer, rather than an exemplar of chocolate-box traditionalism. He was having an argument with a friend about conventions of representation in landscape painting. The friend was trying to persuade him to paint grass as Poussin did, in the honeyed tones of…

[From The Gilroy Dispatch] Telepresence could unite world at expo Sep 22, 2010 By Martin Cheek At the Shanghai World Expo this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the Bay Area’s bid to make Moffett Field the site of the 2020 World Expo. If we do get the go-ahead to put on this massive fair showcasing science, technology and industry, I say let’s do it Silicon Valley style. Let’s connect the world using the telepresence technology developed at the very location where the Silicon Valley World Expo might take place in a decade. NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field does…

[From Broadcasting & Cable] Beyond the Hologram New virtual technologies and enhanced displays are only the start of CNN’s midterm election coverage By George Winslow — Broadcasting & Cable, 9/20/2010 It’s odd to think of hologram technology as old-school, but for its midterm 2010 election coverage, CNN probably won’t be bringing back those images that seemed so dramatic during the last presidential election. Instead, the cable news network is looking to stay ahead of the news pack with a number of virtual-technology advances. “I think we were way ahead in 2006 and 2008 with our display technology and the Magic…

[From Avaya’s Connected blog] Collaboration | By Michael Killian | 9 Sep 2010 Virtual Conferencing And Collaboration – Where It Fits A few weeks back I had a chance to try out Avaya web.alive™ with a friend from Active Port and some Avaya colleagues. In short, it’s a web-based application that provides a good “3D” virtual representation of people via avatars, the meeting place/room, and displayed materials. Does virtual collaboration have a place in the collaboration communication landscape or is it just another interesting technology and communication mode to further complicate our communication choices? The major choices for real time…

[From Electrolux Design Lab; a 0:29 minute video is available here] Electrolux Design Lab 2010 Finalist: Daniel Dobrogorsky Published 2010-08-24 Daniel Dobrogorsky, a design student studying in Australia, is the creator of the Kitchen Hideaway. Here we provide a synopsis of his submission to the 2010 Electrolux Design Lab final and ask him a few questions about his concept. Background: The Kitchen Hideaway is a virtual reality concept that allows the inhabitants of a communal building to imagine being in a kitchen, preparing a particular meal rather than having to actually do this for themselves. The thoughts of the user are…

[From Kotaku] Play Frogger, On The Street, For Real By Luke Plunkett   Sep 14, 2010 Tellart have built a version of Frogger that you don’t play with a controller in front of a TV. You play with your feet, on the street, as it should be played. Of course, for safety reasons it should probably be played on the footpath, not somewhere with cars, but hey, this is still awesome. A game screen is projected onto the street while the player wears a helmet encrusted with LEDs. In a neat gesture, the team behind the game have released the software…

[From The Gazette in Montreal; the original story includes a 2:52 minute video] This is your brain. Any questions? Simulator for neurosurgeons. ‘Training brain’ responds to user’s touch, replicating the qualities of the real thing By MONIQUE MUISE, The Gazette September 16, 2010 It looked like a brain, felt like a brain, even pulsated ever so slightly like a brain, but the lifelike organ unveiled to reporters and medical professionals yesterday in Montreal was actually a highly sophisticated imposter. Made up of detailed MRI images transferred into a computer to create a remarkably real 3-D simulation, the “training brain” is…

[From Connecting with Consumers] If You Can Touch It, You’ll Pay More For It By A J Kimmel on Friday, September 10 2010 Okay, here’s a question for you: You’re at a fine restaurant. It’s getting late, and after a terrific appetizer and main plate, you’re feeling kind of filled. There’s maybe a half glass worth of wine left in the bottle and your companion obligingly informs you that it’s your’s for the taking. So now the big decision – to dessert or not to dessert. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the question. Does it matter whether they simply list…

[From The Oxford Press in Oxford, Ohio; more details are available here] [Image: A screenshot of the virtual reality mandala created by AIMS students working on projects to help preserve Tibetan culture] Miami students work on digital archives for Tibet By Caitlin Kluener Contributing Writer September 13, 2010 OXFORD — Students and faculty alike are anxiously awaiting the arrival of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama at Miami University for his public lecture Oct. 21. A group of students headed by Glenn Platt and the Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies, however, has other plans for him. They plan on asking His…

[From MIT’s Technology Review Editors blog] Thursday, August 05, 2010 A Strange New Take on Telepresence Could a blob-like robot better convey the presence of a remote user? By Kristina Grifantini Many telepresence robots–like Anybot and Texai–resemble a teleconferencing system on wheels. Roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, who has previously created some unnervingly realistic humanoid machines, has a different idea. His newest and arguably most unsettling robot yet is Telenoid, which resembles a barely-formed robotic child, with a soft body, clay-like face and stubs instead of limbs. Ishiguro explains that Telenoid is meant to represent a human presence, and could be used…

[From Space Daily] [Image: DLR’s Space Justin is to be deployed in space as a service robot] Outer Space Close Enough To Touch by Staff Writers Bonn, Germany (SPX) Sep 08, 2010 Telerobots (remotely controlled robots) can be used not only in outer space but also in terrestrial environments that are hazardous for human beings, such as minefields or areas affected by nuclear radiation. Innovations derived from virtual reality telepresence and teleaction are also being employed in technology for medicine and production environments. The German Aerospace Center leads the world with its research into the field known as ‘multimodal telepresence’.…