[This story from Built In provides an entertaining, link-filled history and update on efforts to bring olfactory illusions to presence experiences. See the original story for three more images, and for more information see ISPR Presence News posts from June 2020 (an interview with OVR Technology’s CEO) and September 2020 (regarding the Virtual Mayflower project). –Matthew] The Metaverse, in Glorious Smell-O-Vision! Scent-based immersion could be coming soon. Will the public have a nose for it? Stephen Gossett, a staff reporter covering UX, design and product management. He is the former digital editor at the design magazine Sixtysix. February 8, 2022;…

[Despite recent improvements in virtual reality technology, users’ avatars still don’t have legs due to the difficulty of realistic tracking of full body movements. This CNN report describes the challenges and prospects for progress; note the explicit use of the term presence without the need for a definition, and the references to the uncanny valley at the end. The original version of the story includes a video and more images. –Matthew] [Image: Avatar bodies in Meta’s Horizon Worlds VR app are limited to floating torsos with head, hands, and arms.] Why you can’t have legs in virtual reality (yet) By…

[A new and popular presence experience has opened for a short run in London, as described below in an abridged version of a Broadcast story followed by more details from XR Today. More images and a 38-second trailer are available in both stories (the trailer is also on YouTube). See also the BBC Studios press release. For a story about a related presence experience on a digital billboard in Piccadilly Circle see coverage in The Evening Standard. –Matthew] Behind the scenes at The Green Planet AR Experience Broadcast takes a tour of the AR-driven spin-off of the BBC NHU series…

[This TechCrunch story provides an update on the work of digital humans startup Soul Machines. Particularly notable is a description of the company’s “Levels of Autonomous Animation Framework to Improve Human and Machine Collaboration” (from a free online whitepaper) and its vision of a future in which we all can create realistic digital twins of ourselves to interact with the world in our place. See the original story for four more images. –Matthew] Are lifelike digital humans the future of customer experience? By Rebecca Bellan February 14, 2022 Soul Machines, a New Zealand-based company that uses CGI, AI and natural…

[This story from The Debrief expands on a press release from Edith Cowan University about a new study demonstrating advantages of interacting with an avatar rather than a nonmediated therapist; note the proposed explanations for the key finding in the indented paragraph before the “OUTLOOK…” heading. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Edith Cowan University] MANY PREFER VR TO IN-PERSON THERAPY, NEW RESEARCH SHOWS By Raquel Santos February 15, 2022 Is the idea of openly speaking in front of a therapist too intimidating for you? New research says that you’re not alone in this… and that many people feel more comfortable speaking to…

[The Brookings Institution is a Washington, D.C. “nonprofit public policy organization” whose mission is “to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level.” Below is the first part of an extensive new Brookings policy brief on the promise and peril of the application of presence-evoking technologies of the ‘metaverse’ in education. See the original, unabridged version on the Brookings website and/or download it in pdf format. –Matthew] A whole new world: Education meets the metaverse By Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Jennifer M. Zosh, Helen Shwe Hadani, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Kevin Clark,…

[This story from USA Today makes clear that the latest version of a hologram concert is much more elaborate and compelling than a stage with a translucent projected image and soundtrack of a musical artist who has died. See the original story for a 30 second video and a large photo gallery. For more information see the BASE Hologram website and for information and tickets see the WhitneyHouston.com website. –Matthew] Whitney Houston died 10 years ago, but her legacy and voice live on in Vegas hologram show By Melissa Ruggieri February 11, 2022 “Good evening, everyone, and welcome. There’s going…

[To raise awareness about the climate crisis, Greenpeace installed a large ‘Ice Portal’ in London’s Trafalgar Square, “bringing the remote and fragile Antarctic straight into the heart of a bustling city over 8,000 miles away.” Press coverage of the effort drew on this press release; follow the link under “NOTES” for a three-minute video and a large photo gallery. –Matthew] “It’s like looking through a window” – Giant portal to the Antarctic appears in London Greenpeace International 24 January 2022 London, UK – In a world-first, a towering portal has appeared in London’s iconic Trafalgar Square bringing the Antarctic to…

[Despite its current limitation, technology expert Charlie Fink is very impressed with the recently introduced Cisco Webex augmented reality holograms, as he reports in this story from Forbes. See the original version for two videos and two different images, and a related Forbes story about how McLaren Racing is using the technology “for a competitive edge in car design.” Fast Company’s first-person story about Cisco’s announcement of the technology last October clearly identifies the company’s goal: “Microsoft developed the ability to render a company’s product within the HoloLens; Cisco aims to add to the experience by making the people seem…

[Presence experiences need not match our experiences in the ‘real’ world (i.e., the mediated stimuli need not be perceptually or socially realistic), as demonstrated by the walk-through kaleidoscope described in this story from New Atlas. See the original version for a second image and a 1:27 minute video. DesignTAXI’s coverage (drawing on a press release) adds this: “The result appeared way more expansive than the space allowed, presenting solutions that can be replicated in areas beyond the realms of art. ‘Our kaleidoscope is meant to represent how a simple and considered design, when supported with a material that can scale…

[This Ars Technica report describes a new feature in Meta’s virtual worlds designed to maintain personal space among user avatars and prevent the longstanding problems of harassment and assaults in virtual settings. The story, which includes a second image and a 6:37 minute video, provides important context but only briefly mentions a specific recent groping incident experienced by Meta beta tester Nina Jane Patel, Co-founder and VP of Metaverse Research – Kabuni; she wrote a thoughtful Medium post about her experience and its relevance to bigger issues including the role of presence. See also coverage from CNBC TV18. –Matthew] Meta…

[This ‘Perspective’ column from The Washington Post, which includes insights from a recent study by and an interview with our colleague Jeremy Bailenson, describes a parent’s experiences with virtual reality and presence. For more on the topic see the December 2021 CNN story “In VR, there are no rules, so parents are making up their own,” which includes this: “While casting [an option that lets you see what the VR headset-wearer is doing in real time on a smartphone or other flat screen] and limiting types of content kids can access may help adults track what their children are doing,…