Abstract. The evolution of technology in support to the Knowledge Society of the years 2000s will be driven by three dominant trends: a) increase of richness and completeness of communications towards "Immersive Virtual Telepresence" (IVT), including an increased attention to the aspects of human perception and of person-machine interaction; b) increasingly relevant role of mobility starting from the UMTS "Beyond 3rd Generation" (B3G); c) pervasive diffusion of intelligence in the space around us through the development of network technologies towards the objective of "Ambient Intelligence" (AmI). This tutorial paper intends to provide an insight on some of the main technologies that will allow the development of this new perspective, as well as on perception issues and related human factors. The paper also provides information on ongoing and planned projects on virtual technologies and ambient intelligence technologies.

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