Training virtual border guards
Even as some panic about the possibility of terrorist exploitation< of Second Life, a program in Canada is using the virtual world to catch people at the border.
Cinemax documentary asks: Why Second Life?
The new documentary film “Molotov Alva and His Search For His Creator: A Second Life Odyssey” seeks to tackle the issues of virtual identity head-on.
EVE Online experiments with virtual democracy
It can be difficult for the most well-meaning of virtual worlds companies to understand what their customers want. But CCP, the company behind the sci-fi world of EVE Online, thinks they’ve solved the riddle: have users elect their own representatives.
Rivers Run Red wins a Webby
Metaverse development company Rivers Run Red won a Webby award for Branded Content for their work promoting Coca-Cola in Second Life.
Report finds jihadist presence in SL ‘very minimal’
As Western governments search the world for terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda henchmen, a new report suggests that wherever he’s hiding, it’s probably not in Second Life.
Four of 25 “hot startups” are virtual worlds
Game designer Raph Koster linked to the “World’s Most Valuable Digital Startups” as chosen by the Silicon Alley Insider. Four of them are companies well-known to followers of the virtual worlds industry.
New SL site rankings may signal end to camping
Linden Lab is working to revamp its current traffic ranking system, which has long been manipulated by landowners who pay users to camp out for hours or days at a time in an attempt to climb to the top of the “Popular Places” list.
VW analysts sees boom in kids and branded worlds
The casual gaming market, which includes virtual worlds, grew by 29% last year to total over US$1 billion, says a report by market analysts.
SL posts strong economic growth on dwindling enrollments
Fewer new users are signing up for Second Life, but the faithful are spending more time and money than ever inside Linden Lab’s virtual world.
Frustrated virtual agencies look beyond Second Life
The fledgling virtual agencies and service companies who made it big during the boom years of Second Life are looking toward greener pastures, weary of unmet promises from Linden Lab and drawn by competing virtual worlds.
Linden to increase land supply, drop prices
Linden Lab announced on its blog yesterday it would be increasing the land supply in Second Life for the second quarter of 2008.
Second Life on The Daily Show
Jon Stewart had his own take on the appearance of Philip Rosedale and other virtual worlds experts before Congress last week: “Virtual worlds hearings! It’s official: Congress has given up on the actual world!”
At VW08, kids are the focus
At one of the largest gatherings of the virtual worlds industry, the energy of platform developers, consultants, and marketers was focused on how to target the under-18 crowd.
Cisco in Second Life to stay
“We’re definitely committed to Second Life,” Cisco’s Jeanette Gibson told Reuters at the Virtual Worlds Conference in New York. “Second Life is here to stay, and so are we.”
Ondrejka looking to get out of academia
Reuters caught up with Linden Lab ex-CTO Cory Ondrejka at the Virtual Worlds Conference in New York. Ondrejka teased us for getting our coverage of his departure from the company wrong. “I didn’t leave Linden Lab. Philip fired me,” Ondrejka corrected.
Vivox to Lipsync, Part 2: Call us!
On the heels of yesterday’s blog post that virtual worlds voice implementer Vivox would keep its service closed to third party developers like Lipsync, company executives told Reuters they’ve wanted to cooperate but didn’t know how to get in touch.
Vivox to Lipsync: No voice for you
Vivox executives told Reuters at the Virtual World Conference there’s no plan to open access to Second Life’s voice stream to external developers, limiting the practical usefulness of planned “lipsync” technology.
Logitech subsidiary debuts “3D Mouse” for Second Life
3Dconnexion, a subsidiary of computer peripherals giant Logitech, debuted a made-for-Second-Life “3D Mouse” at the Virtual Worlds 2008 Conference in New York.
Rosedale discloses FBI griefing probe to Congress
Linden Lab Chief Executive Philip Rosedale testified before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday that he has asked the FBI to investigate denial of service attacks in Second Life, but reassured lawmakers that the online community is able to police itself.
Reading lips in Second Life
A new technology could add a whole new level of immersion to voice chat. Called “Lipsync,” now a viewer alternative to the Second Life browser, it lets Second Life avatars move their lips in rhythm to their speech.
