[Smartphone companies including Oppo are working to successfully hide the forward-facing (“selfie” camera) behind the display screen, with the latest advances reported in this story from Engadget. Beyond the aesthetic and immersive effect of having the image occupy the entire screen, the advances hold the prospect of solving the eye-contact problem in video collaboration, enabling users to look directly at each other. See the original version of the story for more images including the sample photo mentioned. –Matthew] Oppo’s latest under-screen camera may finally be capable of good photos The company’s third-gen camera setup benefits from some AI trickery and…

[In this story from Forbes, a retail industry expert argues that ambitious, and even less ambitious, virtual experiences not available in the home will engage consumers and draw them back to ‘real world’ retail venues after the pandemic. For more details see an interview with the CEO of Sandbox VR in VentureBeat. –Matthew] [Image: A boy reacts while wearing virtual reality (VR) glasses in a roller coaster simulator. Credit: Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)] Want To Bring People Back To The Real World? Provide A Virtual One By Greg Maloney (“I write on the confluence of shopping centers, ecommerce &…

[An industry expert asks why voice assistants haven’t become more popular and used for more significant tasks, and provides two key answers, in this short commentary from MediaPost. See also “A Siri-ous guide to the world of voice assistants: AI virtual assistants explained for 2021” from UneeQ. –Matthew] [Image: Source: “This is how people are using voice assistants during Coronavirus” in Voice] COMMENTARY Where Are All The Voice Assistants? By Cory Treffiletti, Featured Contributor July 28, 2021 A few years back I was involved in helping launch and build a voice assistant business. I loved it. The company was Voicea,…

[Many aspects of presence phenomena, including the sense of freedom and exploration many creator-users fear will be lost as corporations take over as they did the early versions of the internet, are explored in this interesting story from Input; see the original story for more images, tweets and videos. –Matthew] ANTHROPOMORPHISM How furries are making virtual reality actually worth visiting The community is at the vanguard of VR — from world design to teledildonic orgies. Matt Baume July 27, 2021 Here I am, standing in the basement of a sprawling house full of stolen merchandise in Louisville, Kentucky, and I…

[This short story from Wallpaper, and supplementary excerpts from V Magazine that follow, describe a new coffee table book that uses augmented reality integration with vivid images to create a sense of presence as transportation (though that term isn’t used). See the original stories for more images from the book; the authors’ Instagram for more samples of their work; and the publishers’ page for the book to read the “journey”-themed description, see dynamic illustrations of the “experiential” effect and order a copy (for $120). –Matthew] Go on a dream holiday with this virtual reality book Kiss & Fly is a…

[Here’s a good primer on the past, present and possible futures of immersive, presence-evoking technology. The original version from Big Think includes an additional image and two videos. –Matthew] [Image: Man using VR device seen with glitch effect. Credit: nuclear_lily via Adobe Stock] Immersive technology will revolutionize everything from theme parks to daily life Virtual reality continues to blur the line between the physical and the digital, and it will change our lives forever. By Stephen Johnson 22 July, 2021 Immersive technology aims to overlay a digital layer of experience atop everyday reality, changing how we interact with everything from…

[I’ve pieced together parts of recent stories from different sources to tell the story of how Samsung’s latest huge, modular television will be used as the foundation of a new virtual production studio in Korea (I join the author of the last excerpt in disappointment that “for those of us still hoping to one day live in a home with virtual walls that can change their decor at-will, pricing for The Wall still puts it well out of reach for most domestic installations.”). For more information see the link in this sentence from the Engadget story: “virtual production is expected…

[ScienceAlert reports on how a visual effects artist extracted a new subjective point-of-view image from an iconic photo taken on the moon over a half-century ago, creating a presence-evoking image and even a second, immersive 360 degree version of what Buzz Aldrin saw as the photo was taken. See the original story and especially the artist’s Reddit post and its links, for more details. DesignTAXI’s coverage adds this: “This point of view has left social media users astounded, if not a little spooked. ‘It’s kind of eerie… It’s literally people 52 years in the future using modern technology to catch…

[This short, funny story from Kotaku reports on the upcoming release of a game that simulates mowing British lawns and in the process highlights the impressive evolution of similar simulations and the benefits of ‘thinking outside the box’ when choosing activities to reproduce in presence-evoking virtual environments. See the original story for a second picture and a 1:05 minute trailer (also available via YouTube); more images and another video are on the product’s Steam store page. –Matthew] [Image: A very exciting screenshot of Lawn Mower Simulator. Credit: Skyhook Games / Curve Digital] Lawn Mowing Simulator Takes Cutting The Grass Very…

[The use of artificial intelligence technology in a new documentary to create the illusion of the late Anthony Bourdain’s voice has raised a controversy with important implications regarding the ethics of presence. This story from The New Yorker provides the facts and explores the reasons some are upset – including their previous presence experiences in the form of parasocial relationships with Bourdain – and the evolving standards and techniques for disclosing illusions to audiences. –Matthew] [Image: The artificial voice may trouble people in large part because of the close connection they feel with Bourdain, shown here in 2011. Credit: Jose…

[This short story from The News Wheel describes a new telepresence robot and its role in providing virtual access to U.S. soccer matches for children who otherwise can’t attend. See the original version for a second picture and a 0:47 minute video (also available on YouTube) and U.S. Soccer press releases here and here for more information. And see an OhmniLabs tweet for a photo of “Luna and CHAMP meeting with Megan Rapinoe at USWNT’s Send-Off Series game versus Mexico.” –Matthew] [Image: Luna Perrone got to meet Alex Morgan through the use of the CHAMP robot. Credit: Volkswagen] VW and…

[The results so far aren’t particularly surprising and don’t explicitly involve presence, but the ambitious (inter-generational, cross-university, multi-method, longitudinal) study described in this story from Lafayette College, and especially in the linked now-published and free/accessible article in the journal Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies and other detailed reports, provide potentially valuable insights into ways that presence via video chat helps, and can best help, alleviate perceived isolation in family members.  –Matthew] [Image: The young daughter of Prof. Lauren Myers reacts to her grandparents during a video chat.] Video Chat Supports Family Connections By Shannon Sigafoos July 13, 2021 Throughout the…