[From Delta, the newspaper of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands; more information is available here] October 6, 2009 | Nadine Böke Aantal On top of the world It’s the latest craze in smartphone applications: augmented reality. Point your camera at a street and information about restaurants or other attractions are displayed on top of the video image of that particular street. But there is a similar technique that´s arguably even better: see-through augmented reality. Imagine finding your way by car without having to look at the screen of your tomtom; instead, you’d just put on a special pair…

[From The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle] A dose of virtual reality: Sanitation workers receive accident training through a simulator October 5, 2009 To become better drivers and reduce accidents, the city’s sanitation workers took a safety course that included videos, computer work and driving a simulator. By Jodi Rogstad CHEYENNE — As Chris Hinds turned the packer truck around a corner, the suburban neighborhood and landscape gave way to an abandoned downtown. It was raining, which made for slick roads. But Hinds never logged a mile: He was driving a simulator inside a semitrailer parked next to the sanitation department’s transfer station.…

[From Digital Arts (“comprehensive coverage of the art of graphic design, 3D, animation, video, effects, web and interactive design, in print and online”); the Virtual Box Simulator is here] AKQA and Skive show off augmented reality projects using Adobe Flash Tuesday 13 Oct 2009 I just got back from the Adobe Max conference in Los Angeles and I am very excited. There was a lot to be impressed about and one of the technologies getting a lot of attention was augmented reality (AR). AR is the technique of overlaying graphics on an image of the real world such that the…

[From San Jose (California) Mercury News] Santa Cruz agency starts pilot study of virtual reality drug treatment By Cathy Kelly 09/30/2009 SANTA CRUZ — Drug addiction counselors usually frown on patients dipping into alternate “realities,” but a Santa Cruz non-profit agency this week will become what a researcher says is the first clinic to use a virtual reality system to treat drug addiction. A pilot study treating addicts of heroin and other opiate derivatives will be conducted at Janus of Santa Cruz. The technology was featured at a Tuesday conference organized by the agency. The third annual substance abuse conference…

[This week’s episode of the series House featured an interesting portrayal of characters immersed in a vivid virtual gaming environment, as well as a patient who believes that the nonmediated ‘real’ world has become the gaming environment; details are in the press release below from BusinessWire; the beginning of the episode is available in HD at Amazon.com; the full episode will be available on Hulu on October 6, and the episode will be shown on USA Network in the U.S. on October 11 at 11:00 PM EST] September 29, 2009 Encore Hollywood Builds Unprecedented Visual Effects for House’s ‘Savage Scape’ HOLLYWOOD–(BUSINESS…