[At a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland a United Arab Emirates official argued that murder in a future version of the metaverse should be an internationally recognized punishable crime. The story from IFL Science reports on the initial comments and immediate responses and I’ve compiled excerpts from several other stories that represent other responses. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: A. Solano / Shutterstock.com] Will Murder In The Metaverse Be Outlawed? Davos Discusses How To Police New Tech By Tom Hale May 27, 2022 If you’re “murdered” in the metaverse, should it be considered a distressing crime that…

[A new study in Scientific Reports found that “gentle strokes on the back” from a robotic hand, expressions of care by a synthesized robot voice, and especially the combination of the two, produced more positive moods and perceptions that the robot was more human-like (indicators of medium-as-social-actor presence). The summary of the study below is from BPS Research Digest (where it includes a different image) and you can follow the link within it to read the full article. The findings reinforce those of an earlier study summarized in a November 2021 PsyPost story titled “A pat on the hand from…

[Although it doesn’t mention presence, many of the examples of “disappearing displays” in this story from Electronic Design highlight their potential to evoke presence illusions (see the original story for two different images). I found this story after watching a 5:24 minute video about how the producers of Star Trek: Discovery have begun using a “real-life Holodeck” “augmented reality wall” to enhance the “realism” for both actors and viewers; the video is available on YouTube and for more information about this and other examples of these AR Walls see a July 2021 story in American Cinematographer. –Matthew] [Image: NBC’s Beijing…

[In a post on his blog, writer Matt Bell reports on a small test he conducted to see if computer-generated deepfake images of vacation photos would deceive his Facebook friends. In the process he raises important questions about the ethics and implications of not just selecting the “best” unaltered images to create an idealized impression of an event, or editing some of the images to further enhance the impression, but including completely artificial images of places and events that never occurred, something that is increasingly easy for even non-experts to do. As in so many contexts, it seems we’ll have…

[This story from the UK’s Birmingham Mail describes some of the work of social care organization Antser that uses immersive media experiences to increase understanding and help prevent domestic violence. For more about its work see Antser’s website. An October 2021 story in Knowable Magazine and a July 2020 story from Australia’s 7NEWS.com.au report on similar efforts. For some evidence-based context see two articles by our colleagues: “Being the Victim of Intimate Partner Violence in Virtual Reality: First- Versus Third-Person Perspective” in Frontiers in Psychology and “The Paradox of Interactive Media: The Potential for Video Games and Virtual Reality as…

[This TechRadar story is an encouraging reminder that virtual reality headsets will continue to evolve to be less obtrusive and more comfortable, which will make them more capable of evoking compelling presence illusions. The original version of the story includes a 4:53 minute video (also available via YouTube), and follow the story links and see coverage in Road to VR for more information. –Matthew] Nvidia’s ultra-thin VR glasses look like the big step that virtual reality needs But don’t expect the Meta Quest 3 to get a design overhaul yet By Hamish Hector May 10, 2022 Nvidia developers, in association…

[Presence plays a key role in a new 8,000-word essay in Medium by Meta President of Global Affairs (and former UK Deputy Prime Minister) Nick Clegg that attempts to outline the company’s vision for the metaverse. Much of the coverage includes this quote: “We’ve gone from desktop to web to mobile; from text to photos to video. In this progression, the metaverse is a logical evolution. It’s the next generation of the internet — a more immersive, 3D experience. Its defining quality will be a feeling of presence, like you are right there with another person or in another place.”…

[The global pandemic has brought many changes in the demand for and evolution of technologies that evoke presence. This NPR story uses personal stories, statistics and interviews with technology creators to describe some of the changes in physical exercise. See the original story for seven more pictures and a 44 second video. –Matthew] [Image: Linda Munson’s youngest grandson, Daniel Gomez, 2, tries on an Oculus headset in her yard in Berlin, Conn. Playing different virtual reality games has become her family’s regular Sunday activity, Munson said. Credit: Yehyun Kim for NPR] Virtual workouts spiked during the pandemic — and the…

[Based on definitions of presence that involve an illusion of nonmediation or at least partial overlooking of the role of technology in an experience – a seemingly direct connection to mediated places, people and events, brain-computer interface (BCI) technology has great potential to evoke presence experiences. But how would it work? This story from Fast Company describes a series of videos by design firm Card79 that explores this question. The original story includes four more images and a 3:45 minute video from the series; the other videos are available on Card79’s website. –Matthew] What a brain-controlled computer might feel like…

[Google recently announced a new Immersive View mode for Google Maps, as reported in the story below by The Verge. Ars Technica includes some interesting details in its coverage: “For most uses, Google Maps is a flat, 2D app, and if your device can handle more graphics and a bit more data, you can fire up the Google Earth 3D data set and get 3D buildings. At Google I/O Google has announced a new level that turns the graphics slider way, way up on Google Maps: Immersive View. When exploring an area in Google Maps, the company says Immersive View…

[The new immersive art experience described in this Fast Company story highlights the idea that presence experiences occur in the mind, don’t have to correspond to our experiences of the external world and can be strongly influenced by individual differences. See the original story for five more images and visit the Dreammachine website for more information and several reviews. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: David Levene/courtesy Dreamachine] The year’s most exciting immersive art experience has just opened. But no one will see it Yes, visual art can exist without explicitly being seen. Just check out ‘Dreamachine,’ a trippy new immersive installation in…

[This story from Buzzfeed reports on and amusingly captures the variety of medium-as-social-actor presence responses to a Twitter post featuring a picture of a delivery robot on a walking trail in the woods near Northampton, England last Sunday morning. See the original story (and the full Twitter conversation) for more responses. Coverage in Futurism provides context, describing the incident as “a rather adorable reminder of the helplessness of increasingly ubiquitous autonomous machines” and noting that “This poor little bot is far from the first to run into trouble. Some of been getting stuck on curbs, while another met a fiery demise…