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Virtual Worlds Weekly
Volume 1, Issue 2
February 23, 2007
http://www.VirtualWorldsWeekly.com
Second Life Scalability Issues Forces Linden to Restrict Access During Peak
Hours
A Peek at
Yoick's Outback Online Virtual Worlds Platform
Saturn Building
Ads in Google Earth for Spring Launch
Chorus Entertainment Launches First of its Many Planned Tween Virtual Worlds
GalaXseeds
IBM's VP Digital Convergence Colin J. Parris To Keynote Virtual Worlds 2007
Startups focus on Second Life
Input and feedback
Patent Granted to Linden Lab
Linden Kills First Land Program
Comverse Develops
Second Life Cell Phone Client
Doppelganger and Telepictures Productions Launch 'The Tyra Banks Show'
Who's New in Second Life this Week
(companies launching in Second Life and what they
are doing)
ING
in Second Life and the creation of www.OurVirtualHolland.com
Electric Sheep
Bringing Random House Imprint to Second Life
Reuters Hiring in Second Life
Manchester To open
Second Life Version of Itself
Mercedes-Benz To Open Second
Life Area
AMD Opens Developer
Pavilion in Second Life
Unitrin Direct Opens Cyber Skyscraper
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Second Life Scalability Issues Forces Linden to Restrict Access During Peak Hours
Since September concurrency rates have tripled, to a peak last week of over 34,000. So Linden will restrict access during peak hours to Second Life Residents who have transacted with Linden Lab either by being a premium account holder, owning land, or purchasing currency on the LindeX. At the same time, new account registrations will be closed. Also, Linden is building a set of Web-based tools to allow you to manage various aspects of your account, tentatively called my.secondlife.com. 3pointD takes a look at this in its first post and then follows up in a second post based on a note from Cory Ondrejka, chief technology officer at Linden, to 3PointD.
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A Peek at Yoick's Outback Online Virtual Worlds Platform
Tidbits on Outback Online (in beta currently and as the CEO puts it - on the cusp of emerging from stealth). OO is a 3D virtual world being developed by Yoick (not much on either web site) only that OO is peer-to-peer based. Company is led by CEO Rand Leeb-du Toit (his blog here where there is some interesting stuff). and John Wolpert, executive producer, according to a Scobleizer post. Pre-teens are pre-teens are Yoick’s sweetspot according to Rand's blog. In Outback Online they claim they can get 10,000 people onto an island whereas in Second Life you can only get 100 people into a single island before there are scalability issues, says the Scobleizer post.
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Saturn Building Ads in Google Earth for Spring Launch
Many in the Virtual Worlds industry have been waiting for Google to make its moves into the space via its Google Earth product. It looks like that role out is scheduled to begin later this year if an article in Business 2.0 is any indication. Very few know exactly what Google is up to and those folks are tight lipped at the moment. Praized Blog calls attention to this months Business 2.0 which takes a look at Google Earth tech. From the piece. This spring Saturn is looking to roll out a nationwide version of an online ad for its new Aura sedan built on Google Earth technology. Web users don’t have to download the mapping software; they just watch as the screen zooms all the way down from space into the nearest Saturn dealership - located by their IP address - where a salesman offers them a test-drive. A beta version of the ad, targeted at just six U.S. cities, received millions of click-throughs, according to Gokul Rajaram, product management director for Google AdSense. (You can view this 3-d ad here.)
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Chorus Entertainment Launches First of its Many Planned Tween Virtual Worlds GalaXseeds
Corus Entertainment is launching a network of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) for tweens in North America. thebigrip.com is the gateway to a virtual world in which players can play, explore, chat, compete, collect, create and customize characters in a safe online environment, say officials. One of the first is Galaxseeds is a new MMOG based on growing plants in space, designed for children. The game looks a lot like Habbo Hotel, with the 2.5D Isometric view, and the ability to customize your characters clothing, according to Second Life Insider. Corus Entertainment is a Canadian media giant that runs televsion, radio stations, as well as other media properties. The online initiative was created by Corus in association with Frima Studio Inc., a Quebec-based new media company.
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IBM's VP Digital Convergence Colin J. Parris To Keynote Virtual Worlds 2007
Virtual Worlds Management (publisher of this newsletter) announced that Colin J. Parris, Ph.D., VP, Digital Convergence, IBM Research, will keynote day two of the Virtual Worlds Conference. Under Dr. Parris' leadership IBM has formed an emerging business born from the IBM Innovation Jam around emerging technologies and virtual worlds. Colin will talk about how IBM has been experimenting in virtual worlds for business in three key areas: virtual commerce and work with clients to apply virtual world to business problems; driving new kinds of collaboration and education; and experimentation in pushing the limits with a broad community on what might be possible in virtual worlds. Under his leadership IBM has formed an emerging business around emerging technologies and virtual worlds. His business is bringing highly visual, interactive interfaces into the world of business, science, healthcare and education.
http://www.virtualworlds2007.com
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The winner of a business plan contest in Second Life is Minnesota-based Market Truths, a company that's likely to help others come up with business plans for Second Life. Market Truths devised a market research and analysis system to help real-world companies figure out what works and what doesn't in the virtual world, according to CNET. The second-place finisher, a team of three from the Seattle area called Metaverse Technology, has created a suite of communications and collaboration tools intended to give enterprise users a way to use Second Life for business meetings and other important gatherings.
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Input and feedback Patent Granted to Linden Lab
William Slawski found a granted patent to Linden Lab. It was originally filed in 2000, but wasn’t granted until October, 2006: Input and feedback system, Invented by Philip Rosedale, Assigned to Linden Research, Inc. "An input and feedback system for use with simulator devices immobilizes a portion of the user’s body using a securement device which holds the immobilized portion in a fixed position." More here.
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Linden Kills First Land Program
Effective immediately, the supply of cheap First Land parcels by Linden Lab will cease, according to the official Linden Blog. The program allowed new premium users to buy property for L$1 per meter, reports Reuters. Premium accounts will still be able to own up to 512m of land as part of their Premium membership package as they do now, the only change is that Linden will not be supplying the discounted parcels as we have done in the past. Without First Land what is the value of a Premium account? poses the post. Answering itself it adds: Well consider that the L$1200 stipend per month (around USD$4.50) plus 512m free tier per month (around USD$5.00) means that the monthly premium account essentially pays for itself. We are actively looking for additional ways to increase premium value, and we would love to hear any ideas the community has on this.
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Comverse Develops Second Life Cell Phone Client
Comverse Technology is the first to shoehorn the Second Life Client onto a java enabled cell phone. The solution requires a PC running a specialized server. The cell phone based client not only provides most of the functionality of the standard client, it also allows SMS messaging, instant messaging, and even mobile video streaming into Second Life. Second Life Insider has the scoop.
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Doppelganger and Telepictures Productions Launch 'The Tyra Banks Show'
On Monday, February 19, 2007, Doppelganger and Telepictures Productions launch "The Tyra Banks Show" Virtual Set in the 3D virtual world, The Music Lounge, making "The Tyra Banks Show" the first and only television show in The Music Lounge and leading the way as an innovator in the digital space.
Continue reading "Doppelganger and Telepictures Productions Launch 'The Tyra Banks Show' " »
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ING in Second Life and the creation of www.OurVirtualHolland.com
Dutch bankers ING, in partnership with metaverse services company Rivers Run Red, are going to open Virtual Holland. From the hING Asia/Pacific blog: At ING we also tested and discussed Second Life and we decided already some time ago to move ahead with the creation of a Virtual Holland, where we will invite other companies and institutions, as well as individuals of course, to be active, hold office, start a business, and participate in art contests and so on. You can read it all on this FAQ. 3pointD has some thoughts on the project.
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Sheep Bringing Random House Imprint to Second Life
It looks like the Electric Sheep Company are getting ready to bring authors from Random House’s Bantam Dell imprint to Second Life - 3pointD has the details.
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Reuters is Hiring for their Second Life Team. Do you live inside Second Life? Have you got solid SL design and building skills? Do you dream in LSL code? If so, then do we have a job for you! so says the post here.
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Manchester To open Second Life Version of Itself
The Manchester Evening News reports that Manchester is set to open a virtual version of itself in Second Life. The aim is promote the Manchester 'brand' and raise awareness of the city in the real world. The move is a collaboration between the Urbis museum, Manchester's Digital Development Agency (DDA) and consultants Clicks and Links. Thanks to stuart bruce for the lead.
http://www.stuartbruce.biz/2007/02/manchester_crea.html
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Mercedes-Benz To Open Second Life Area
Mercedes-Benz will be opening their virtual showroom and test track in Second Life on Februrary 20th in the "upmarket South West district," according to SL Business Communicators.
http://freshtakes.typepad.com/sl_communicators/2007/02/mercedesbenz_se.html
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AMD Opens Developer Pavilion in Second Life
AMD today opened the AMD Dev Central Pavilion on AMD Dev Central Island located within the Second Life (SL) metaverse, to extend its Developer Outreach program into a virtual space for meetings, lectures, training courses and networking opportunities for developers. To celebrate the launch of the pavilion, AMD will host a three-month treasure hunt contest with interactive Linden scripting language (LSL) and open source programming challenges.
Continue reading "AMD Opens Developer Pavilion in Second Life" »
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Unitrin Direct Opens Cyber Skyscraper
With today's opening of its cyber skyscraper, Unitrin Direct has become the first auto insurance company to own a virtual office building in Second Life, according to Unitrin.
http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-gaming/20070221/LAW12922022007-1.html
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