[An innovative and now award-winning open-access digital publication provides insights into the history of presence-evoking technologies, as reported in this story from The Brown Daily Herald (see the original version for two more images). A Brown University press release includes this: “’Shadow Plays’ explores popular forms of entertainment in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as stereoscopes and moving panoramas, that were used to transport viewers to a new world. Through six case histories and eight interactive simulations, [Author Massimo] Riva shows how those early innovations foreshadowed present-day virtual, augmented and extended reality experiences. [Allison] Levy, [director of Brown University…

[In this VentureBeat guest column (adapted from an earlier piece in Big Think), a long-time participant in and observer of the evolution of presence-evoking technologies explains why virtual reality is about to revolutionize education. See the original version of the column for three different images, and the Dreamscape Learn website for more information and videos such as “Dreamscape Learn: A new form of education” (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] Virtual reality is finally ready to revolutionize education By Louis Rosenberg, an early pioneer of virtual and augmented reality, and the founder of Immersion Corporation, Microscribe 3D, Outland Research and Unanimous AI.…

[This extremely positive review from UploadVR describes what sounds like an impressive and innovative presence-evoking use of eye-tracking combined with a compelling first-person narrative. See the original review for three more pictures and 1:33 minute video, and see a similarly positive review in The Verge (with the title “Before Your Eyes is a beautiful showcase of what VR storytelling can be”) for more pictures and details (including spoilers). –Matthew] Before Your Eyes VR Review – Sublime Immersive Narrative For PSVR 2 Before Your Eyes is a sublime narrative experience for PlayStation VR2 that leverages eye tracking technology to tell an…

[As with nearly all of the press coverage of a new “hyper-realistic” beauty filter on TikTok, this story from MIT Technology Review provides user and expert reactions, including concerns that the filter is so convincing that it amplifies negative effects on (especially young people’s) self-perceptions and esteem. As user Rosaura Alvrz notes, “This is a problem. You can’t even tell it’s a filter anymore.” For more details see coverage from Insider, a 1:15 minute CNN video, and related stories from Tech Crunch (“TikTok’s Teenage Filter Has Us Confronting Our Own Mortality”) and Design TAXI (“AI Modeling Agency Removes The Need…

[How long before it’s common to enter hotels and other businesses and encounter employees who are only present via hologram? A first step is being taken by a hotel chain in Scandinavia, as reported in this story from Skift; see the original version for a one-minute video (also available on Vimeo). –Matthew] Holograms at the Front Desk Replace Real People at Aiden by Best Western Justin Dawes, Skift March 8, 2023 CIC Hospitality is opening 30 boutique Aiden by Best Western hotels in Scandinavia, but they won’t come with staff in the flesh and blood standing at the front desk.…

[The alarming trend toward a world in which we can’t trust any of the mediated messages we encounter is illustrated vividly in this story from The Washington Post about scammers using easily-created AI voices of people’s loved ones to trick them out of their money (see the original story for a second picture). A December 2021 ISPR Presence News post described isolated cases in which business executives were targeted by voice scammers and an August 2022 post highlighted how scammers are using deepfakes to get hired by businesses for “money, espionage, access to company systems and unearned career advancement.” But…

[The story below from Virginia Commonwealth University describes what sounds like a valuable project that uses presence experiences and a variety of measurement tools to better understand perceptions of, and improve the legality and morality of, police interrogations. See the original version for an additional picture. –Matthew] Professor’s virtual reality research looks to pave way for more equitable police interrogations of young adults What can VR reveal about police interrogations? A Wilder School criminal justice associate professor, a two-time School of Business alum, a School of the Arts instructor and a theatre student are working together to find out. By…

[A new version of a “remote kissing device” is apparently providing another example of the uncanny valley, as reported in this short story from My Modern Net. CNN’s coverage includes a humorous 2:06 minute video essay. For comparison, see the December 2016 ISPR Presence News post about the less realistic “Kissenger” device. By the way, in addition to the ~$42 cost at Taobao mentioned below, at this writing the new device is selling for $107 on AliExpress and someone’s offering one on eBay for $450. –Matthew] [Image: Source: New York Post] Remote Kissing Device Lets Users Smooch Anyone Over the…

[Drawing on a phrase from philosopher Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation (and made popular in the Matrix films) this essay in Dissent raises disturbing but important concerns about humanity’s efforts to create presence-evoking immersive media “worlds.” For a related but less scathing perspective, see the new essay “Virtual Reality has arrived, but are humans ready for it?” in the Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences. –Matthew] [Image: A rendering of a virtual-reality party. Credit: Yagi Studio/Getty Images] The Desert of the Virtual The metaverse heralds an age in which hardly anyone still believes that tech firms can actually solve our problems.…

[The Daily Beast story below describes one person’s experiences with an unusual application of presence-evoking virtual reality. In it ROOt explains some of the challenges and benefits of pole-dancing in VR and the author notes that “If the makers of virtual reality hardware and software could fix some of the issues that arise with pole dancing, they would inadvertently be solving concerns that a larger user base has with virtual reality.” See the original story for five videos via Tik Tok, YouTube and Twitter. –Matthew] What This VR Pole-Dancer Wants You To Know About the Metaverse Mark Zuckerberg could learn…

[Today’s post contains three very different but interesting short news stories about presence. –Matthew] [From AdNews; see the original version (or YouTube) for the 90 second ad] ‘Children Should Be Seen and Heard’ in a poignant ad industry-backed campaign Creative Agency: Zenith March 1, 2023 MissingSchool, Cocogun, Scoundrel, Rumble, UnLtd and Zenith have teamed up with their latest campaign ‘Don’t you forget about me’, to reconnect seriously sick kids with school. The integrated campaign features a rousing children’s chorus covering the ’80s hit Don’t You (Forget About Me) by the Scottish rock band Simple Minds. The ad shows sick children…

[The CNET story below provides a quick, context-filled first-person report on a demonstration of the latest presence-evoking hologram technology from Light Field Lab. See the original story for four more images and a 6:09 minute video. The author of a similar report in Forbes writes that “If I wasn’t visiting a company that makes holographic technology, I would have thought I was speaking with a person wearing a mask – it looked that real.“ See coverage in PC Magazine for more images and videos as well as details, including Light Field Labs’ expectations regarding when we’ll start seeing the displays…