[From the Mother Nature Network’s Green Tech blog by Karl Burkart; a 2:20 minute video is here] Winscape: Virtual reality windows are here Who needs nature when you can have virtual reality windows that simulate any setting with the flick of an iPhone app? Fri, Apr 30 2010 At first I thought this was a fake video, albeit a super-cool one. But in actuality it is totally real … well in the virtual sense of the word. Call it trompe l’oeil for the 21st century — Winscape can create the illusion that your living room windows look out over the Golden…

[From MIT’s Technology Review Editors blog; the story includes a 1 minute video]    Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Augmented-Reality Floor Tiling Take a walk on a floor that gives tactile, audio and visual feedback. By Kristina Grifantini Researchers at McGill University in Montreal, Canada have developed floor tiles that can simulate the look, sound and feel of snow, grass or pebbles underfoot. Such a tool could perhaps be used for augmented reality applications, tele-presence, training, rehabilitation or even as virtual foot controllers. The modular “haptic” floor tiling system is made up of a deformable plate suspended on a platform. Between…

[From LiveScience] Culture Men Show Off to Impress Women Even in Virtual Setting By Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience Contributor posted: 27 April 2010 Even in virtual-reality settings, men will take risks to impress the opposite sex. Past research found that males take more risks when someone is watching. However, it was uncertain whether this showing off was aimed more at other males or females. For instance, male pedestrians are more likely to cross busy roads if females are watching, but male drivers are less likely to wear seatbelts if male passengers are present. “Risk-taking is a significant cause of vandalism,…

[From netimperative (“Intelligence for Digital Business”); a summary of the report (in anAcrobat .pdf file) is available here]   Report: Are virtual holidays going to replace real ones? A generation of ‘Go-Nowhere Gamers’ could turn their back on out-of-home leisure in favour of gaming, social networking, and ‘always on’ media unless the travel industry responds to their needs, says a report commissioned by lastminute.com. Apr 26, 2010 The Future of Free Time report, produced by the online travel and leisure retailer in association with think-tank Future Foundation, looks at how travel and free time will change over the next five…

[From National Public Radio (NPR); the online story includes an audio version] Using Virtual Reality To Make Nuclear Reality Safer by Mike Shuster April 26, 2010 At Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico — home of the first American atomic bomb — scientists are using video-game technology to enhance training for the inspectors who monitor civilian nuclear activities around the world. The goal is to use virtual models of nuclear facilities to provide much more realistic training — an effort to revolutionize global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.…

[From Crave (“The Gadget Blog from CNET”); a 1:17 minute video is here] April 23, 2010 Picture the possibilities with 3D Lego animations by Tim Hornyak Having trouble picturing what that Lego monster castle/spaceship/robot will look like when assembled? Lego is rolling out augmented-reality store displays that show shoppers, in 3D animation, what a completed kit will look like. The move follows other toy makers bringing AR to action figures and baseball cards. I’m waiting for cereal boxes in my supermarket to start spewing 3D cornflakes. The Danish toy giant, known for cool stuff like Mindstorms robot kits and wacky…

[From Goal.com (“Score to Live”)] Virtual Reality: A Search For The Heart Of America’s Game Eric Betts finds video games convert fans to the beautiful game By Eric Betts Apr 21, 2010 One of the joys of being a soccer fan in the United States is the opportunity to convert the unbelievers, to watch as someone who was once indifferent or antagonistic falls in love with the game. To love soccer is to know it. People can’t develop a life-long passion for the game without a basic understanding of what’s happening on the pitch. Knowing the rules isn’t enough; I…

[From Xconomy Seattle (“Business + Technology in the Exponential Economy”)] Software, Interfaces, culture How a Business Can Span the Globe and Stay Close-Knit: Microsoft’s “Telepresence” Project Gregory T. Huang 4/12/10 Stop me if this sounds familiar. You work in a tight-knit team that has one or two colleagues who are located in a different office—across the street, across the state, or across the country. You’d like to communicate with them more regularly, but phone calls, e-mails, and video conferences have to do. Inevitably, you feel like you (and they) miss out on some day-to-day interactions that help all of you stay…

[From CNN’s SciTech blog] April 20, 2010 Real fear in a virtual world Posted by: John D. Sutter — CNN.com writer/producer  So, I walked up to a virtual pit. It was maybe 30 feet deep. With a wood plank crossing it. Somewhere deep down in my rational brain, I knew the hole wasn’t real – that it was a virtual reality scenario in a cramped office at Stanford University, where the floor seemed completely pit-free until I put on a clunky piece of hardware called a “headmount.” But that headmount changed everything.…

[From PC Authority; a 1:29 minute Google Earth video is here; an 8:14 minute Bing demo video is here]. Street View photos used for amazing Google Earth 3D cities by Daniel Long onApr 14, 2010 Google has combined its wealth of street view data with satellite imagery to create the a 3D city effect, while a Microsoft engineer has given an amazing demo of live video within Bing Maps. See the videos. 3D textured cityscapes are nothing new to Google Earth users: international cities such as New York have displayed this type of imagery for a while now.…

[From The Winnipeg Free Press; more information is here and here] [Picture from projectdesign] Life imitates art: ‘holodeck’ therapy to help rehabilitate wounded vets By: Bob Weber, THE CANADIAN PRESS 18/04/2010 EDMONTON – Wounded soldiers and injured civilians will soon be using technology reminiscent of the holodeck on old Star Trek movies to help regain their physical and mental confidence. “In this case, reality is reflecting art,” said Commodore Hans Jung, surgeon-general for the Canadian Forces. Jung was speaking at a funding announcement to bring a $1.5-million virtual reality simulator to Edmonton’s Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. People learning to use an…

[From St. Louis Today; a response is here] Our own little private virtual worlds By Patricia McLaughlin UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE 11/21/2009 [snip] Once the Age of Reason arrived in the 18th century, and you couldn’t do anything without a plausible scientific explanation, turning people to stone, gold, salt or whatever went out of style. So what a surprise to see it rebound in the 21st century and quickly reach epidemic levels. You know what I mean if you’ve ever been trapped in the cereal aisle behind a woman frozen in place, head tilted at an odd angle, eyes focused on…