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.
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.
Mitch Kapor unveils SL navigation via 3D camera
Linden Lab Chairman Mitch Kapor just sent over a video for a project that he first disclosed to Reuters in Davos: Hands Free 3D, a novel way of navigating Second Life using only your own body movements and a 3D camera.
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!”
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.
Apology to IBM and Linden Lab
Due to a technical error, I accidentally transmitted a story well in advance of the embargo set by IBM and Linden Lab. My sincerest apologies to all involved.
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.
Linden tightens the reins on its brand
Linden Lab clamped down on Monday on use of its logo by third parties, and introduced a new brand for people and companies to promote their connection to Second Life.
Volkov Catteneo: Yes, I am Robert Leatherwood
Robert Leatherwood told Reuters over the weekend that he was the owner of the Volkov Catteneo avatar.
Linden Lab hiring up to 40 part-time content creators
Linden Lab will be paying up to 40 Second Life residents US$10/hr to create content as part of its “Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW)” initiative, Jack Linden said on Thursday. Linden will pay its workers in American dollars and not game currency, a break from most Second Life-based employment.
Jack Linden said he wanted […]
Linden “actively discussing” ad farms
Jack Linden said Friday that Linden Lab is looking into the problem of ad farms — small patches of land filled with garish virtual billboards.
Poll: Most adults don’t want fantasy avatars
Given the chance to roleplay a furry, robot, or the opposite gender in a virtual world, most adults would choose something that resembles their real world persona, a new poll has found.
Davos 2008 biographies
Biographies for the Reuters/Second Life interviewees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Volkov Catteneo: Rollback exploit plugged by LL
Volkov Catteneo, the Second Life avatar at the center of last year’s SexGen copyright infringement lawsuit, told Reuters in a Second Life interview that the technique used to make copies of virtual objects has been blocked by Linden Lab.
Linden: 150% fraud penalty applies to exchanges, not residents
The 150% penalty for purchasing fraudulent currency is directed primarily at third-party currency exchanges, representatives for Linden Lab told Reuters on Thursday.
