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The Archives
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01.05.09IBM releases ARIA for the blindJust a few weeks ago, IBM launched a prototype of its Virtual Worlds User Interface for the Blind, an "accessible rich Internet application" (ARIA) that will help blind people navigate and interact with Second Life, with the goal being to eventually branch out to other virtual worlds. The user interface allows for blind users to "see" the virtual environment by sending text-based information to the user along with recorded verbal descriptions. Information on items in the virtual worlds is provided by sighted users, who annotate objects and locations for future use by the blind users. When a blind user comes ...
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12.20.08ThinkBalm, the Immersive Internet and Collaborative CultureCo-creation: From Prims to Ideas A while back I was invited to something called the "ThinkBalm Innovation Community" and I suppose it was the word innovation: I'll even open spam if it uses the word, and if I ever get an e-mail from some Nigerian with $5 billion in a bank somewhere who needs my INNOVATIVE help in getting that money out, I'd probably respond. Turns out that ThinkBalm wasn't spam, of course, but a community of like-minded individuals with a passion for the immersive Web, a bank full of ideas, and the moxy to actually make stuff happen. Erica Driver is the ...
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09.08.08OpenSim Developers: They Don’t BiteThe open source community says that standards arise first from code. Without the code driving things, there are no policies, standards, identity systems, content protection, or ability to tag and flag grids for their level of privacy or whether they're G or X-rated or any of that stuff - it all starts from bytes, baby, and what brilliant little bytes they are. OK, so some context, because the geeks had their own table at the recent Virtual World conference in LA. Two tables in fact - one a booth in the exhibit hall, and the second a panel discussion ...
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09.06.08IBM and Business Collaboration in Virtual WorldsIBM presented a demo at the VW08 conference of integration between Sametime Instant Messaging, user authentication, and virtual meeting spaces. The following video shows it in action, and it's a very compelling demo of how virtual worlds and collaborative applications like LotusNotes will integrate. Virtual worlds not as destinations for collaborations, but as mini applications built within collaboration processes. Brilliant work.
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07.08.08Teleport to OpenSim from Second Life: Interoperability and the Decentralized GridIBM and Linden Lab have announced that they've accomplished avatar interoperability between OpenSim and Second Life today, allowing avatars to teleport between grids. At yesterday's keynote by Mitch Kapor the big announcement was met with a yawn, but his comments on needing to decentralize the governance and Grid hinted at the direction of the Lab. Today's announcement demonstrates the direction that the Lab is taking: acting as the central hub for commerce and identity while allowing other grids to link to these services. While cross-grid log-in between OpenSim and Second Life had been achieved before, the difference is that this time ...
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07.03.08Cigna Launches Virtual World Healthcare PlatformCigna recently launched a virtual healthcare community pilot program in Second Life (SL) that the company hopes will "help foster real and sustainable behavior change that improvies health." The Second Life 'island,' or virtual space, developed with branding agency Method, will house seminars, interactive displays, educational games and virtual health consultations. There will also be a nutrition zone that will give users critical information on food and nutrition that will help people better understand their body's needs and choices. The use of Second Life will extend Cigna's reach beyond traditional educational outlets. "With a social interactivity that extends beyond geographic boundaries," said ...
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07.01.08The Year Ahead for Virtual Worlds: And the Children Shall LeadA post over at Linux News summarizes the potential of virtual worlds and offers predictions for the year ahead, among them: * Increasing stickiness and trial conversion rates remain top priorities for virtual world operators. * There will be many experiments with platform interoperability and universal avatars. Several efforts are already underway, including IBM and Linden Labs' collaboration in pushing an open standard and the China Recreation District initiative to build a virtual platform that can host millions of avatars. * 3-D virtual worlds will become more user friendly and compelling. The author relies like many other observers and venture guys on the kids ...
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06.01.08Children, Chains and Cold Cash: The Business Case for SL5BThe exclusion of builds by child AVs and (we await clarification) Gor, BDSM and other communities puts the lie to the idea that Linden Lab actually celebrates the "magic" of its community - it's in it for the money, after all, and will celebrate magic selectively. This isn't news. This isn't some radical shift in policy - there's always been a FIC, it's just that its definition has become narrower as time goes on, and in order to simplify things it's just as easy to exclude large swaths as it is to include a select group of businesses or talent. Prokofy ...
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04.03.08IBM Second Life Joint Effort to Lock Up Islands: Put Your Sim Behind a FirewallLinden Lab and IBM have announced a joint venture to allow corporations to run islands in Second Life behind corporate firewalls. According to the New York Times: "The goal, they say, is to offer companies “secure, flexible and customizable” 3-D virtual environments that are designed and controlled by corporations. The initial effort is a demonstration project, running Second Life technology on I.B.M. servers, behind a Big Blue firewall. But the companies plan to introduce a corporate offering before the end of this year, either as a product or as a service, presumably hosted by I.B.M." Linden has been planning to 'open the gird' ...
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03.24.08IBM Adds 3D Collaboration to UC StrategyIBM has already announced a significant investment in unified communications (UC), a strategy meant to compete with Microsoft, who is fast becoming the industry leader in UC developments. IBM has now announced it will continue to leverage its interest in Dassault Systèmes' 3D Live to facilitate online collaboration between globally-based engineering teams. The goal is tomake it easier for engineers to work out complex problems easier over great distances, as well as continuing IBM's development of a UC strategy that is hinged on the March 28, 2008 launch of Lotus Sametime Advanced, which improves upon Lotus Sametime by adding real-time community ...
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