[From the Washington Post] Housewatch Digital images give home buyers a vivid new perspective By Katherine Salant Saturday, February 6, 2010 Can you know what it feels like to stand in a house without actually standing in it? Can a computer-generated image of an interior that includes every detail, right down to the high-heeled shoes on the floor of a dressing room where the imaginary owner kicked them off, truly convey a sense of place? These are not theoretical questions. As computer-generated virtual-reality images of homes become less costly to generate, many in the home-building industry expect them to play a…

[From Education Week] Published Online: December 22, 2009; Updated: January 5, 2010 Scholars Test Emotion-Sensitive Tutoring Software ‘Intelligent’ Systems Respond to Students’ Cues By Debra Viadero A high school student is working on a geometry problem with her tutor, “Jane.” The student solves the problem incorrectly and expresses frustration. Empathetic, Jane shows momentary frustration, too. Then she responds encouragingly, “Let’s read again what the problem is asking.” This scene would not be out of place in most educational environments were it not for one important detail: Jane is a character on a computer screen.…

[From The Wichita (Kansas) Eagle] Posted on Sun, Jan. 31, 2010 Technology changing how we work, play, shop BY ROY WENZL The Wichita Eagle Our avatars are coming. Those mobile and 3-D and interactive technologies being created around us are about to beam us into a new world, filled with workday holograms, avatars and stuff we called magic only a few years ago. Some of the new magic is being created in Wichita. It’s going to enrich and disrupt our lives. It’s going to delight us and plague us. In that augmented reality that may soon envelop us, in a world…

[From North Carolina’s News & Observer] Virtual looks and feels almost real BY DAVID BRACKEN – Staff Writer DURHAM — As Mushtaqur Rahman floated to the rafters of Duke Chapel, it was easy to forget that he was neither in a church nor off the ground. “Feeling rather angelic right now?” asked Rahman’s colleague, William Rice II, as both men peered through oversize 3-D goggles at the virtual chapel being projected above, below and all around them. Rahman and Rice are engineers with Parsons Brinkerhoff, one of the world’s largest civil engineering firms. They had come to Duke’s Pratt School…

[From The New York Times] January 29, 2010 Doctor and Patient Practicing on Patients, Real and Otherwise By PAULINE W. CHEN, M.D. Near the end of my surgical training, I spent three months as chief resident of a hospital trauma team. Two other doctors-in-training and I formed the first-line emergency room response, assessing and resuscitating patients who had been mangled, burned or otherwise injured. It was my first experience as a leader, but each of us was already fairly proficient and we all got along. I was confident that we would work well together. I was wrong. During our first…

[From The Future of Media blog of The Interpublic Emerging Media Lab] Emerging MediaCES 2009: Yoostar, Guitar Hero for movies? Friday, January 9th, 2009 by: Devora Rogers What if you could star in famous movies, without ever leaving your home? That is what Yoostar Entertainment Group hopes to deliver to consumers with their recently unveiled Yoostar product. Using green screen technology, the system allows users to star in their favorite movie scenes along with famous actors (and their friends)–then share their performances with friends.…

[A press release from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)] FRONTLINE EXPLORES WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN IN A WORLD IMMERSED IN TECHNOLOGY FRONTLINE Presents DIGITAL NATION Tuesday, February 2, 2010, from 9 to 10:30 P.M. ET on PBS www.pbs.org/frontline/digitalnation Within a single generation, digital media and the World Wide Web have transformed virtually every aspect of modern culture, from the way we learn and work to the ways in which we socialize and even conduct war. But is the technology moving faster than we can adapt to it? And is our 24/7 wired world causing us to lose as…

[A press release from Panasonic] Panasonic Develops World’s Largest 152-inch Full HD 3D Plasma Display The ultra-large, 4K x 2K quadruple full HD plasma panel creates a true full HD 3D world, delivering an overwhelming immersive experience LAS VEGAS, NV (January 6, 2010) – Panasonic Corporation, a world leader in the HDTV technology, has developed the world’s largest [1] 152-inch 4K x 2K definition Full HD 3D plasma display.  The display features a revolutionary new plasma display panel (PDP) Panasonic developed with its new super-efficient quadruple luminous efficiency technology [2].  The technology enhances PDP’s unique advantages as self-illuminating device, contributing to…

[From Computerworld] Gadget Patents That We Hope Will Turn Into Real Products Harry McCracken 19.01.2010 IDG News Service Gadget patents can change the world, as everyone from Alexander Graham Bell to Steve Jobs has proved. Some of our favorite gadget-related patents, however, are for technologies and products that haven’t changed much of anything–at least not yet. Here are ten intriguing examples, including ones from both famously inventive companies and lone geniuses. We’re not saying that any of them are a catchy ad campaign away from becoming history-making breakthroughs–though one or two might stand a chance. We just like them. And…

[From Wired magazine’s Autopia blog] Ford Goes to Cyberspace to Help Astronauts By Chuck Squatriglia  January 20, 2010 Ford and United Space Alliance are cribbing from the movie and gaming industries by using virtual-reality software to create better cars — and spaceships. The automaker and the aerospace company — a lead contractor for the space shuttle — are sharing their experience with animation software to create simulations that benefit astronauts and motorists. In Ford’s case, engineers and designers work in cyberspace to design automobile interiors. United Space Alliance uses the same technology to track launch debris during liftoff. Now a new…

[From The Human Productivity Lab’s Telepresence Options web site] The Intercompany Telepresence and Videoconferencing Handbook “The Inter-Company Telepresence and Video Conferencing Handbook” educates CIOs, executives, managers, telepresence and video conferencing professionals about the opportunities, challenges and solutions for inter-company telepresence and video conferencing with partners, vendors, and customers.  Written by Howard S. Lichtman, President of the telepresence consultancy Human Productivity Lab and Peter Brockmann, President of Brockmann & Company – The Customer Insight Firm, the Handbook is a guide to reducing costs, improving individual and organizational productivity, improving time-to-market advantage, and leveraging your investment in telepresence and videoconferencing as part of…

[From Eye Weekly (“a publication of Eye Communications, a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited”)] Avatar fashion For those seeking aesthetic perfection, digital alter-egos may represent the final frontier BY Sarah Nicole Prickett   January 20, 2010 13:01 It’s strange that fashion has been long acknowledged to be fantasy, yet has taken just as long in turning to virtual reality. Cher Horowitz played computerized dress-up, like, 15 years ago. Why only now are there apps for that nothing-to-wear feeling? There’s iWeardrobe, which has you photograph the contents of your closet, then mix-and-match on screen. Cute, but virtual dressing shouldn’t involve…