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February 2009
The Archives
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02.15.09Linden Lab Purges Nearly a Million AccountsSL Name Watch is an ingenious program that tracks, well, Second Life names. Amusing on its own to know that there are 155,230 GossipGirls, I suppose. Also useful if you want to choose a specific last name. But Adz pointed out a few weeks ago that Name Watch can give some deeper insight into what's happening on the Grid. He notes that in conjunction with the sudden silence of the Second Life economic statistics, was a sudden purge of over 800,000 accounts: "There is a pattern. Most of the affected last names were opened and closed before SLNameWatch.com was founded. The remainder ...
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02.15.09The Forked Road: Virtual World Agencies and Where They WentA Californian, a Brit and a sheep walk into a bar. Not just any bar - but the hottest bar in town. The kind of bar with limos lined up out front and models handing out free samples of Red Bull to the people waiting in line. All three walk out some time later. The Californian says: "That bar was cool. It's just too bad it was so small. If the bar was bigger, and the people were more glamorous and global, it would make a mint." The Brit says: "Sure the bar was cool. But you don't make money with ...
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02.14.09Choose Your Channel: Linden Lab Blog Changes and Finding Your LoveLinden Lab announced that it was killing the single channel blog and replacing it with a new and improved version this coming week: one that will stream blog postings into individual 'channels', include 'members only' streams for things like educators and solution providers, and give Torley some space back. I can't help feeling an odd sense of loss. Maybe it's on the heels of Robin Linden's departure from the Lab (and here's hoping she is true to her word and we see her, um, new her on the Grid). I was really touched today to see the number of people who ...
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02.12.09Free Your Avatar: X-Box Live Lets LooseX-Box Live is allowing you to free your avatar in time for Valentines Day. The simple application lets you port your avatar off the X-Box platform and send photos of it to friends. "The updated ‘Free Your Avatar’ tool will provide brand new backgrounds and props for every occasion including birthday backgrounds, party hats and balloons. Additionally, people will be able to upload their very own backgrounds: Place your avatar in front of famous landmarks you’ve always wanted to visit, or insert your avatars into your favorite movie scene. " I've often wondered why you can't do the same in Second Life. ...
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02.12.09Bioinformatics Scientist Vouches for Second LifeIn tough times, one biologist/bioinformatics scientist, Sandra Porter, has come to recognize the benefits of Second Life as a meeting place for the scientific community. Writing for the Genome Technology newsletter, Porter acknowledges not only the cost savings in terms of travel, but also that, compared to a virtual conference or Webinar, "there are some things that you can do at a Second Life meeting that wouldn't be as easy in the physical world." Second Life is gaining a reputation in the health and science world for its ability to house 3D body parts and simulations through which an avatar ...
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02.12.09Accountants in Second Life: North Carolina $400K Education Investment in Virtual WorldsAs reported on Virtual Worlds News, North Carolina State University (NCSU) has received $400,000 from accounting firm Ernst & Young. The money will be used to fund the development of a Second Life presence for the Department of Accounting. Seventy-five NCSU alums who are Ernst & Young employees will top off this donation with another $100,000. NCSU's College of Management already has a very active presence in Second Life - professor Lynda Aiman-Smith and lecturer Claudia Kimbrough actively pursue collaborative teaching possibilities around the globe by using Second Life to contact people, as a report from late 2007 on ...
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02.11.09Missionary Position on Second LifeAs far as untapped populations go, Second Life has one that soon could be a target of missionary activity. (Um. You said it, not me.) World Gospel Mission, (WGM) an organization that "connects in ministry with churches worldwide to make disciples of Jesus Christ among all nations," is currently reviewing the pluses and minuses of missionary work in this virtual world. WGM recently posted an entry on its blog with one main intriguing question for the missionary-minded: "Are the temptations of the virtual world so compelling that missionaries should avoid an online presence, or is it possible to be an influence ...
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02.11.09Mormon Avatars, the Super Bowl, and Second LifeAvatars are heating up. The recent Super Bowl featured an avatar-focused commercial for Coca-Cola which proved that avatars are approaching mainstream consciousness. (And also implies that it's only when you log off and stop living in an aimless fantasy that you'll meet the cute guy or gal "behind the avatar" - It's the Real Thing, no?) One angle to the role of the avatar as identity is how religion fits into the avatar practice. The Mormon Times recently took a look at this angle by asking the hard question: "Can an avatar be Mormom?" The answer seems self-evident: yes! Of course ...
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02.11.09Virtual Pizza Leaves Us, Virtually, HungryFrom the Questionable Business Department, we have often wondered if ordering pizza, or any kind of fresh food for that matter, from a virtual world serves any benefit. To answer our question, Srkibe, the blogger at Skribe Productions out of Australia, looked into the V-Commerce this very question, looking at pizza delivery originating in a virtual world. The piece elicited many comments, which explains the enduring popularity of either pizza, Second Life, or both. To start, Skribe writes, SL still has that novelty veneer that won't soon wear off. "Believing that something," he writes, "mundane is cooler, better, more elvish ...
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02.06.09Metanomics: Coming Events and All ThatIt feels like a great month or two coming up on Metanomics, which of course I reserve the right to shamelessly promote and plug. I'm definitely marking down Reuben, who I'm hoping will hand out free celebrity bling or maybe some Britney prim hair or something, M Linden (get your questions in now!), and partly because it's the correct thing to say but mostly because I really do believe it's one of the incredible stories of SL...the show on People with Disabilities and virtual worlds. Oh - and Tom. But then I'm a totally admitted fanboy, there, I said it. OK - so ...
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