[The increasingly realistic and impactful nature of experiences in virtual reality, and the increasing popularity of the technology, creates prospects for both positive and negative effects on users. This Washington Post story describes some of the challenges in preventing and prosecuting sexual harassment and assault in virtual worlds. Here’s a key quote: “’This type of immersive and embodied experience [makes] harassing behavior feel as realistic as in the physical world,’ [Clemson University professor Guo] Freeman said. ‘It’s like my offline body is attacked because it feels so real. It’s like someone is touching me.’” –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Illustration by Emily…

[A Disney invention inspired by Star Trek’s Holodeck simulation room brings new potential for presence experiences in immersive virtual reality, theme parks and beyond. This story from Fast Company provides the available details and the original version contains three animated gifs as well as a 4:49 minute video (also available directly via YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Source: TheSocialTalks] A Disney Imagineer explains how they made the HoloTile floor, a magical walkway that moves in any direction The sci-fi inspired device could bring us a step closer to truly immersive virtual reality. By Nate Berg January 31, 2024 Disney Imagineer Lanny Smoot…

[A new, story in Vanity Fair offers vivid examples of how Apple’s new Vision Pro technology evokes presence, with some powerful, even addictive, consequences. I’ve selected the excerpts below and then highlighted key statements within them (in bold text). See the original story for more details and a second image. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Norman Jean Roy] Why Tim Cook Is Going All In on the Apple Vision Pro Inside Apple Park, the tech giant’s CEO talks about the genesis of a “mind-blowing” new device that could change the way we live and work. A-list directors are already on board—“My experience…

[A new documentary explores the evolving uses of technology to create the illusion of a loved one’s presence after death, and the complex positive and negative consequences of the phenomenon. This review from The Utah Review includes material from an interview with the filmmakers; see the original version for two more images and a video clip (also available on YouTube). See also a balanced assessment of the technologies in a review from Slant Magazine and a particularly negative assessment in a review from Rolling Stone. IndieWire has a 12:45 minute video interview with the filmmakers on YouTube. At this writing…

[PetaPixel has a link-filled round-up of reviews of Apple’s new Vision Pro headset (the original story includes a second image and seven videos). In addition to some indirect references to presence experiences, these three quotes from the last section of the round-up capture the technology journalists’ reactions: “The Vision Pro is an astounding product… It’s the sort of first-generation device only Apple can really make…” “Apple’s headset has all the characteristics of a first-generation product: It’s big and heavy, its battery life sucks, there are few great apps and it can be buggy… Yet so much of what the Vision…

[Nothing too startling, but this BBC story provides a link-filled update on the post-pandemic status of the use of presence-evoking technologies for remote work. See the original version for two more images.  –Matthew] [Image: Tech companies across the globe are trying to improve remote collaboration, one VR headset at a time. Credit: Alamy] Can AR and VR finally disrupt the exhausting culture of video meetings? Some companies touted virtual and augmented reality as the new frontier of the office. It hasn’t materialised. But XR tech still may have a role to play in the modern hybrid workplace. By Brennan Doherty,…

[On Zoom, users can replace their camera’s image with a customizable cartoon avatar that blinks and moves subtly even when the user steps away, but Lenovo has announced an AI-generated photorealistic video avatar that can actually convince other people they’re seeing you in front of your turned-on camera during a video conference, even when you’ve left the room. And a newly announced Lenovo AI-based assistant sounds like it’ll be capable of evoking compelling medium-as-social-actor presence as users communicate with their computer. Some of the details about both developments are in the Forbes story below. The new tools are part of…

[Florida A&M University is using a variety of presence-evoking technologies, including a new virtual version of its campus, to recruit prospective students and build community among current students and alumni. See the original version of this story from the Tallahassee Democrat for four more pictures and a 57 second video (also available on YouTube). Note the statement at the end from the alumna who “brainstormed the Rattlerverse idea”: “This is the next step in the era of spatial computing — to have immersive versions of universities, businesses and whatever else people have to offer… People can come at any time…

[Researchers at Australia’s Edith Cowan University are using virtual reality, and the presence experiences it enables, to better understand how criminals think and act. See the original version of the story below for three more images; for more details see the researchers’ article in Scientific Reports; and for a related story, see the March 2023 ISPR Presence News post “Professor’s VR research looks to pave way for more equitable police interrogations of young adults.”  –Matthew] [Image: Participants are questioned inside a virtual reality interview room.] Using virtual reality to get inside the criminal mind ECU psychology researchers have revealed new…

[According to this story from The Guardian, and Loughborough University’s press release via GlobeNewswire, instructors and guest speakers will soon regularly appear in European university classes via Proto holograms, either appearing as realistic versions of themselves or as other personas. The press release notes that “the school joins a dozen U.S. universities using Proto” and that “Proto has been used at Harvard, Dartmouth, William & Mary Law School, Hobart & Williams, Gallaudet, the University of Central Florida, and many more.” Of course some of those quoted in the story may be biased, but it sounds like students are impressed by…

[It’s unclear how effective it will be, but the latest example of the growing threat from the use of generative artificial intelligence technologies to manipulate perceptions and behavior in the political sphere is the use of automatic phone calls that seem to be from President Joe Biden, telling prospective voters not to vote in today’s first-in-the-nation primary election. The details are in this story from CNN, where you can listen to the robocall. More context on the threat follows below from USA Today’s coverage. See also “Three technology trends shaping 2024’s elections” from MIT Technology Review. –Matthew] [Image: Attendees hold…

[Virtual influencers on social media aren’t new, but as the technology improves and their images and text become more convincing, they’re more likely to evoke presence in internet users and be perceived as real people. This story from the Daily Mail provides a vivid example; see the original version for eight more images, one of which is a screengrab of a conversation with a user. For more images and information, see Emily Pellegrini‘s Instagram. Combine this story with one in Futurism titled, “Huge proportion of internet is AI-generated slime, researchers find,” and the increasing difficulty in accurately distinguishing human and…