[Having become a vegetarian many years ago after being bothered by the idea of eating animals (“anything with a face”), I have absolutely no interest in replicating the experience of eating chicken with skin and bones, but the new Nestle product described in this story from DesignTAXI is an interesting attempt to evoke presence. See the original story for a second image and follow the links at the end for more details. –Matthew] Nestlé Backs Vegan Chicken Wings That Come With ‘Skin’ & ‘Bones’ By Mikelle Leow November 23, 2021 It’s been said that bone-in wings taste better. Soon, vegetarian…

[In this IEEE Spectrum interview, the chief architect of early metaverse Second Life provides some valuable perspective on what would be required, and the prospects for, a successful and widely popular metaverse. –Matthew] [Image: Hanging out in Second Life. Credit: Linden Lab] What Can the Metaverse Learn From Second Life? Creator Philip Rosedale says a virtual reality internet is still some way off By Edd Gent November 29, 2021 The tech world is abuzz with talk of the metaverse, a virtual world where millions of people could soon gather to work, play, and socialize. The idea isn’t as new as…

[Nvidia’s latest technology platform Omniverse Avatar attempts to create effective social presence illusions, as described briefly in this story from The Verge; watch the demonstrations from the CEO’s recent presentation and see what you think. For more details about these and other recent innovations from Nvidia see coverage in ZDNet. –Matthew] Nvidia wants to fill the virtual and physical worlds with AI avatars New Omniverse Avatar platform combines 3D models and AI speech By James Vincent November 9, 2021 Nvidia has announced a new platform for creating virtual agents named Omniverse Avatar. The platform combines a number of discrete technologies…

[This article about very important positive applications of presence is from USC Trojan Family Magazine; see the original version for two more images. –Matthew] [Image: Can virtual reality and interactive media help us find common ground and embrace healthy behaviors? Credit: Painting by Sally Deng] WALK IN MY SHOES Tech Can Push Us Apart, but These Games and VR Build Empathy Meet the digital creators who are using tech to make us feel a little more human. By Beth Newcomb Autumn 2021 Jennifer Flores welcomes visitors into her home — a tent in L.A.’s Echo Park. She points out the…

[This Washington Post story describes some interesting examples of medium-as-social-actor presence experiences of people using the Replika AI chatbot app; see the original story for four more images. For more on the origins of Replika see a CBC story that promotes a new documentary called “The Machine that Feels” (which is apparently only available in Canada at this writing). See also the New Yorker story “The Chatbot Problem: As we teach computers to use natural language, we are bumping into the inescapable biases of human communication,” which begins with examples of cases in which Replika advised users to commit murder…

[If presence is an illusion of nonmediation, an overlooking of at least some of the roles of technology in an experience, the presentation of targeted stimuli during sleep to alter our dreams and subsequent memories and behavior without our conscious awareness represents a vivid example of presence with both positive and disturbing implications. This story from Futurism provides an overview of the possibilities and the extended excerpt from an article in Aeon by three experts in the area provides more details and examples. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: By Getty / Futurism] Scientists Warn That Marketers Are Trying to Inject Ads Into…

[Meta (Facebook) has been working on a haptic glove to enhance presence in virtual and augmented reality, as reported in this story from The Verge; note the discussion at the end about the degree of realism required for effective illusions. See the original story for two more images and for more details see the Tech@Facebook blog; videos are available from VR Trailers & Clips via YouTube and Facebook. TechCrunch reports that startup HaptX says the new device is “substantively identical” to its own. –Matthew] Meta’s sci-fi haptic glove prototype lets you feel VR objects using air pockets A new sci-fi…

[Here’s an interesting discussion about the nature of immersion and presence; different ways of merging of the mediated and nonmediated for entertainment and profit; the relative importance of fidelity, lag and other causes of immersion/presence; and how and when we’ll use VR headsets in the future. The interview with the head of AR and VR at Unity is from Wired, where it includes two more images. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Gabriel Bouys/Getty Images] Unity’s Head of VR Offers a Much-Needed Reality Check Timoni West, the head of augmented and virtual reality at Unity, talks to WIRED about the future of XR.…

[The new spatial audio product described in this story from DesignTAXI enhances presence by beaming sound to individual listeners even as they move around a room, essentially making the technology invisible; the company’s press release says it produces an “immersive” and “magical sensory experience” that “breaks down the remoteness of remote-working with video-callers feeling like they are in the same room and supports vital at-home wellness.” The original story includes five different images and one of the several videos available on the company’s YouTube channel. –Matthew] [Image: Microphone held next to a woman’s ear as she hears sound from the…

[In this story from The Washington Post several experts including our colleague Robby Ratan comment on the promise and perils of the metaverse, and the roles of presence in both. Robby is also quoted in a Popular Science story about a new study of the Proteus Effect, “Athletic virtual reality avatars might make exercise feel easier; Participants who cycled while using athletic VR avatars had lower heart rates.” –Matthew] [Image: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks to an avatar of himself in the metaverse during Facebook Connect. His vision of the future could have wide-ranging — and potentially ill-advised — effects.…

[As someone with a lifelong visual impairment I’ve looked at various times for both low and high tech simulations to illustrate to others how I experience the world, including online simulators (e.g., The Sight Center of Northwest Ohio) and apps (e.g., Perkins School for the Blind), so this story from Chicago’s Daily Herald about a new “virtual reality screening room” (a CAVE) at Chicago’s Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired is of particular interest. A 10 minute July 2021 story from WGN News available via YouTube features a visit to Hadley and a demonstration of the new room…

[This story from The Washington Post summarizes the evolution of robots for the home and how it’s leading to social robots that evoke medium-as-social-actor presence and become our “emotional companions.” See the original version for three more images and links to related stories. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Illustration by Andrew Nye for The Washington Post] The next generation of home robots will be more capable — and perhaps more social Tech titans and upstarts alike are working to deepen our relationships with their robots By Chris Velazco November 10, 2021 Wander around any big-box electronics store long enough and you may…