[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…

[From CNET’s Crave blog; a 1:43 minute video is here]    March 27, 2010 Moo-Tube: Russian cows get LCD TVs by Tim Hornyak A farm in Russia has turned its cows into TV junkies by installing high-tech LCD televisions in a barn. The farm in the Moscow region began its Farm 2.0 experiment earlier this month in an attempt to boost milk quality. The lack of open spaces and visual stimuli during winter apparently gives cows the blues, affecting milk. The farmers decided to find out whether TV can make the animals any happier.…

[From MIT’s Technology Review Editors blog; a 4:17 minute video is here]   Monday, April 12, 2010 New Computer Interface Goes Beyond Just Touch Manual Deskterity combines a touch with the trusty pen. By Erica Naone Touch screen interfaces may be trendy in gadget design, but that doesn’t mean they do everything elegantly. The finger is simply too blunt for many tasks. A new interface, called Manual Deskterity, attempts to combine the strengths of touch interaction with the precision of a pen.…

[From MIT Media Relations; a 1:42 minute video is here]   MIT Media Lab unveils ‘Surround Vision’ New system would let TV programs spill off the screen and into the living room for immediate release: April 9, 2010 contact: Jen Hirsch – MIT News Office email: jfhirsch@mit.edu call: 617-253-1682 written by: Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Surround sound technology uses multiple speakers to extend the world of a TV show or movie beyond the edges of the screen: the audience can, in effect, hear what’s happening just off-camera. Researchers at MIT’s Media Lab have developed a system…

[From WSAZ-TV in West Virginia; the story features a 3 minute video]    Apr 7, 2010 The Future of Mine Safety Training Days after one of the worst mining disasters in U.S. history, one group is hoping to change the way coal miners get their safety training. Brad Myers HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ-TV) — Just days after 25 miners died in an apparent mine explosion in West Virginia, the push is already on to take safety training for miners to the next level. “One of the tragedies of having a disaster of this sort is to see the human suffering,” West Virginia…

[From the New York Times] TV Sports In 3-D, Masters Does Have Extra Dimension By RICHARD SANDOMIR Published: March 31, 2010 If the test footage shot recently at the Augusta National Golf Club is an authentic gauge, the Masters in 3-D will look terrific. Only a few thousand early adopters with 3-D television sets will be able to see the tournament in this manner, but they will be fortunate: one look at Augusta in 3-D will make high-definition seem obsolete.…

[From Gizmag] First advanced prototype revealed for the Australian bionic eye By Loz Blain March 31, 2010 Researchers at Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) have produced a prototype version of a bionic eye implant that could be ready to start restoring rudimentary vision to blind people as soon as 2013. The system consists of a pair of glasses with a camera built in, a processor that fits in your pocket, and an ocular implant that sits against the retina at the back of the eye and electronically stimulates the retinal neurons that send visual information to the brain. The resulting visual…

[From the Pink Tentacle blog; watch a :42 minute video here] [Pictured: Geminoid F and her human counterpart, wearing outfits by fashion designer Junko Koshino] Geminoid F: Remote-control female android 05 Apr 2010 Researchers from the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University have teamed up with robot maker Kokoro Co., Ltd. to create a realistic-looking remote-control female android that mimics the facial expressions and speech of a human operator. Modeled after a woman in her twenties, the android — called Geminoid F (the “F” stands for female) — has long black hair, soft silicone skin, and a set of lifelike teeth that…

[From The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Tweed blog] April 2, 2010 Our Math Class Was Never Like This Matthew Weathers, the Biola University faculty member whose Halloween stunt made us smile last fall, has done it again for April Fools’ [watch the 2:13 long video here]…

[From Jaunted (“The Pop Culture Travel Guide”)] Tour Pennsylvania’s Civil War Trails From Inside Google Earth April 2, 2010 at 5:05 PM | by Omri If you’ve ever wanted to tour Pennsylvania’s historic Civil War sites but can’t imagine navigating the perennially-unfinished death trap that is the Turnpike, we’ve got good news! A new project spearheaded by the Pennsylvania Tourism Office aims to deliver the state’s Civil War Trails right to your desktop, blending Google Earth technology, historical information, and incredible high-def GigaPan panoramic photos. The images are so detailed that you can literally zoom in on gravestone inscriptions, to…