Technology is being used to create community and close geographical gaps between people. Among the more physical applications, the Kissinger Kiss Messenger is a robotic communication device that interprets the lip movments of a kiss-er and replicates them to a device in the possession of the kiss-ee.
Along a similar vein, the iFeel_IM! harness adds haptic feedback to virtual communication to replicate feelings and feedback that one might receive in face to face communication.