[This story from VRScout reminded me of the “infinite regression” or “simulations within simulations” scenario (see Jones, Lombard, and Jasak, 2011), portrayed in the 1999 film The Thirteenth Floor. To demonstrate how VR can be (and in the future will more easily and commonly be) used to create immersive experiences, developer Quentin Valembois spent 24 hours in virtual reality creating a virtual reality game. See the original story for two more images and watch the 9:31 minute video via YouTube. On a related topic, see the New World Notes blog post, “Why Are We Not Having Conferences About The Metaverse…

[Geography students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) can learn about earthquakes by experiencing vivid simulations from a variety of perspectives thanks to a combination of virtual reality and vibrating platforms. See the original version of this story for two additional images. For more on this topic see the ISPR Presence News posts “Big Shaker mobile earthquake simulator used to increase awareness and safety” (October 2019) and “An earthquake simulator to treat PTSD in New Zealand” (June 2012). –Matthew] [Image: The VR tech adds a touch of realism to the learning experience, allowing students to immerse themselves in various…

[A new, important and all-too-timely benefit of the presence evoked by passive viewing of virtual exercise from the first-person perspective has been found in a study from Tohoku University. For more details see the published study. –Matthew] [Image: Figure 2 from the new study: Participants and the virtual bodies in the virtual scenario: (A,D) male and female participants sitting, wearing the visor and looking in the direction that was coherent with their group assignment in order to see the avatar (the male is looking down, towards himself; the female is looking to her left side), respectively; (B) (static phase) and (C)…

[A new technology demonstrated by University College London researchers offers the possibility of “fully immersive real-world simulations without the need for clunky headsets or goggles.” The details and links to more information are in this UCL news release and watch a 2:42 video about the new tech on YouTube. –Matthew] Levitating objects with sound could revolutionise virtual reality and 3D printing 21 June 2022 Using sound to levitate something when there are other objects in the way has been shown for the first time by UCL researchers and could lead to advances in the manufacturing and entertainment sectors. The findings…

[The headline of this Washington Post story is premature since Amazon is still developing the feature, but the ability to have Alexa speak in the voice of someone who has died based on only a minute’s worth of voice recordings represents another example of ways technology can be used to evoke presence after death. The excerpt from coverage in The Verge that follows below notes that Amazon’s senior VP and head scientist of Alexa artificial intelligence “said the feature could enable customers to have ‘lasting personal relationships’ with the deceased.” Of course as the Washington Post sub-headline notes, this raises…

[In this post from No Jitter, a long-time “independent communications technology consultant” reports on his experience at a recent virtual conference event and provides observations and predictions about the prospects for this application of presence-evoking technology; follow the link to his 5:30 minute video (on YouTube) and see his About page for links to other presence-related posts and videos. –Matthew] Virtual Events in VR: The Reality An industry analyst shares his thoughts on the VR option for NICE’s recent Interactions event. By Tom Brannen June 21, 2022 As someone who is super interested in virtual reality (VR), I jumped at the…

[In an amusing example of medium-as-social-actor presence, the Swedish city Malmö is encouraging people to use its public trash cans by having them “dish out racy audio messages after being fed trash,” as reported below by CNN (and in case you’re wondering, confirmed by Snopes). The original story includes a video (also on YouTube) that demonstrates the trash cans’ voice responses (in Swedish). Initially the voice was only female, which generated objections similar to those regarding the gendering of virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa; a writer in Quartz noted that “If we’re socializing the idea that women should talk…

[Meta has revealed a series of prototypes for future VR headsets and explained how it’s working to solve key barriers to the key goal of producing, in the words of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “a realistic sense of presence, … the feeling of being with someone or in some place as if you’re physically there.” This story from Engadget provides details and the original includes several images. The author of coverage in New Atlas (which includes the 29:14 minute “Meta VR prototypes: Inside the Lab” video, also available on YouTube), notes that realistic visuals aren’t the only challenge: “I think it’s…

[The Verge reports on Voicemod’s use of artificial intelligence to create more convincing real-time transformations of anyone’s voice, which illustrates again the promise and peril of presence-evoking technology; as Futurism’s coverage notes: “Being able to completely change our voice, however, comes with a much darker side as well, not unlike the use of deepfakes. For instance, cloned voices could be used to commit fraud or bully others. … Bottom line? It’s no longer just faces that can be turned into the likeness of celebrities. In fact, we’re already living in a future in which both our faces and voices can…

[The U.S. Federal Drug Administration has approved a new system for spinal surgery that “convert[s] imaging data into either a 2D or 3D immersive hologram” and superimposes the “navigation plan right on the patient’s body” during the operation. The details, and links to two other applications of presence-evoking technology in the operating room, are presented in this story from Fierce Biotech. See the Novarad press release for more information including a one-minute video (also on Vimeo). Another Fierce Biotech story reports on FDA approval of a Lensar system that incorporates augmented-reality imaging technology for cataract surgery. –Matthew] FDA clears augmented…

[Like most of the coverage of the recently announced largest-ever, 65-inch holographic display from Looking Glass Factory, this story from VentureBeat draws on the company’s press release (via PR Newswire), but it adds several interesting details. For more information on and examples of the technology see The Verge and the 12:08 minute video “Hands-On with Looking Glass 8K Holographic Display!” from Adam Savage’s Tested on YouTube. CNET‘s coverage highlights the many presence-evoking works being presented at Tribeca Immersive 2022, including several available from home. –Matthew] [Image: Looking Glass CEO Shawn Frayne with holographic James Bond displayed on the Looking Glass…

[This essay from Scientific American describes depersonalization/derealization disorder and relates the psychiatric syndrome to many theories and questions regarding illusions, including the simulation argument that what we perceive as reality is a constructed simulation. The disorder is also apparently related to inverse presence, “the illusion that a nonmediated ‘real’ experience is mediated” (Timmins & Lombard, 2005). You can watch the new nine-minute film via YouTube and learn about media coverage and other films about the syndrome on the Depersonalization Disorder in the Media page of the DP Manual website. –Matthew] When Things Feel Unreal, Is That a Delusion or an…