[This 9Honey story from Australia describes the heartwarming use of telepresence robots to allow loved ones to “be together” at family weddings when COVID and other factors would otherwise make it impossible; see the original story for several more pictures. –Matthew] [Image: Will Trott parks up for the wedding speeches. Credit: James Field Photography] How robots are helping guests attend weddings from kilometres away: ‘I had front-row seats’ By Shelley Thomas December ~3, 2021 For Sydneysider Will Trott, attending his little sister’s wedding at a working sheep and cattle station south of Adelaide transformed into a “highly emotive” out-of-body experience.…

[Although the term metaverse is being used broadly to refer to social virtual worlds (see Mashable’s story on the evolution and current definitions of metaverse), you can experience New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square online with other people in (at least) two ways this year. The Bloomberg story below describes MetaFest 2022, drawing in part from a press release available via Business Wire; for more information see the event’s website. A different experience from the same company is available for the second year using the VNYE website and app; details are in another press release via Business…

[Of course it’s already virtual because it’s a video (!), but this short DesignTAXI story describes an impressive (and eerie) 1:21 minute demonstration that illustrates how well a 3D scan of a physical object can mimic the object itself. The video is available in the original story or via Vimeo. See the M-XR website, particularly the Projects page, for more information (if you want to get your own object scanned, see the Technology page). –Matthew] Is This Christmas Card Real Or Virtual? We Can’t Tell By Mikelle Leow December 22, 2021 An incredible digital project will change everything you know…

[Somewhere between viewing a film in a traditional movie theater and exploring an interactive virtual environment experienced via a head-mounted display is VR Cinema. This Spectrum News story is about one company providing the latter experience in a growing number of venues. See the Positron website for more details. –Matthew] LA-based Positron continues to roll out virtual reality motion chairs By Joseph Pimentel December 7, 2021 LOS ANGELES — Soon, you may only need to visit your local movie theater to see what it feels like to be on top of Machu Picchu. Just hop on Positron’s virtual reality motion…

[Here’s a Christmas-themed take by The National on news about telepresence robotics company Cyberselves. For more news, including about how the company will compete in next year’s $10 million finals of the ANA Avatar XPRIZE, see the Cyberselves website. And for demonstration videos see the company’s YouTube channel (the video “Cyberselves DASA Project Summary” is a good place to start).  –Matthew] Robotics help keep Santa out of trouble ROBOTICS experts are using the latest technology to help Santa make his North Pole workshop Covid-compliant and avoid any embarrassing chimney-related incidents tonight. By Gregor Young 24th December 2021 The National Robotarium in…

[A widely-cited Reuters report briefly describes the latest work of a Japanese professor and his students toward adding taste to presence experiences .See the original version for four more images and a 1:14 minute video summary. For more information see a three minute Global News report via YouTube, a May 2020 ISPR Presence News post and an August 2021 press release from Meiji University titled “Yoshiaki Miyashita Laboratory, Faculty of Comprehensive Mathematics Developed ‘TeleSalty’, a communication system that allows you to experience the same concentration of salt in real time even remotely.” –Matthew] [Image: Source: Mashable Southeast Asia] Tasty TV:…

[For this pre-Christmas post I’ve collected links to some interesting and potentially restorative recent examples of presence – enjoy! –Matthew] [Image: Source: Capture the Atlas] Presence via building façade: Louis Vuitton window installation (Noel Y. Calingasan • NYC via Twitter – Day and Night) “Louis Vuitton unveiled its holiday window installation featuring a colorful, towering Christmas Tree that scales the entire corner facade of their Fifth Avenue [New York City] store.” — Presence via still images: The 2021 Northern Lights Photographer Of The Year (Capture the Atlas) “There aren’t many events as moving as seeing the aurora borealis dance and illuminate…

[The UK’s National Gallery will open a free exhibition in spring 2022 that will allow visitors to experience Paolo Veronese’s 1562 painting “The Consecration of Saint Nicholas” as it would have appeared in its original chapel in the church of San Benedetto al Po near Mantua, Italy. Some of the details from the National Gallery’s press release are below; see the original version for three more images and more information about the painting. A company called Immersive Promotion Design presents details about and examples from the mentioned R&D project that explored the best ways to effectively promote this and other…

[The author of this short Road to VR story is right when he says it’s hard describe an impressive recent demonstration of social mixed reality from Unity Labs that uses Meta/Facebook’s Presence Platform – it’s easier to watch the included 25 second video (also available on YouTube). For a very detailed 27 minute demonstration and discussion see a video from Adam Savage’s Tested on YouTube and for more on the new Presence Platform see a story in VRScout and a 28 minute video from Facebook ‘s Reality Labs that features the chess demo starting at 15:38. –Matthew] Unity’s Incredible Mixed…

[Deepfake video technologies are already a major threat – Reuters reports that “Non-consensual deepfake pornography accounted for 96% of a sample study of more than 14,000 deepfake videos posted online, according to a 2019 report by Sensity, a company that detects and monitors synthetic media” and a new Wired report is headlined “The Biggest Deepfake Abuse Site Is Growing in Disturbing Ways.” But the danger of the use of even audio-only deepfakes for malicious social engineering are highlighted in this story from Singularity Hub. In a Continuity Central story an expert from trend-tracking company IntSights warns of the “potential evolution…

[This link-filled CNN report covers the latest developments in digital fashion and discusses key challenges (e.g., convincing people to pay for objects that only exist online; transportability across platforms) and benefits (e.g., for sustainability); see the original story for eight more images. In a short NPR interview Imran Ahmed, CEO and editor-in-chief of the Business of Fashion, explains why companies think there’s a market for fashion in the digital world: “Fundamentally, it comes down to the purpose of why fashion exists. Of course, we all wear clothes for functional reasons – to stay warm or to cover ourselves up. But…

[In a positive but disturbing application of presence, a new virtual reality experience puts users in the role of President of the United States making life-and-death decisions that affect millions of people during an apparent attack with limited time and information. The author of this story from The Guardian provides a first-person report along with other information about the project. See the original story for two more images and two videos of the simulation, and for more information including quotes from a variety of experts, see a press release from Global Zero. –Matthew] ‘15 minutes to save the world’: a…