tagged w/ Second Life
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Five years ago director Daniel Moshel set out on an ambitious journey. His feat? ‘Login 2 Life’, a new documentary that examines how engagement in the virtual world is not an escape from reality but rather an extension of our everyday human existence.
http://www.simbarusseau.com/login-2-life/Five years ago director Daniel Moshel set out on an ambitious journey. His feat?... more
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Have you ever considered making money by playing video games? Yes, it is possible. So how profitable is it? Well, one lady has become a millionaire just from buying and selling virtual real estate in a game called "Second Life".Have you ever considered making money by playing video games? Yes, it is possible.... more
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Ian Fette, a product manager for Google's Chrome browser says that we should be expecting three dimensional applications to be available sometime this summer.Ian Fette, a product manager for Google's Chrome browser says that we should be... more
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Don't get too attached to that avatar of a punk rock angel you spent five hours designing in Second Life. According to Gartner, if you think you'll be doing work related tasks in virtual worlds in the coming years, chances are your employer is going to establish dress codes that governs how the avatar looks and behaves - and halo wearing flying rockers just won't cut it.Don't get too attached to that avatar of a punk rock angel you spent five hours... more
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Companies such as IBM and Northrup Grumman have warmed to the idea of holding virtual meetings or training sessions on the web at considerable savings. Even the military and some police use it.
When American soldiers and police officers from across the U.S. want to learn how to operate Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Cutlass bomb disposal robot, they go to the military contractor's secure Space Park installation.
But they don't have to jump in a car or hop on a plane to get there. That's because Space Park exists only in cyberspace, or more specifically, in the computer-generated world called Second Life.
Virtual reality "is not a fly-by-night technology. It's not a passing fad," says Matt Furman, a Northrop Grumman software developer who helped build Space Park, where customers can spend hours training.
Launched in 2003, Second Life burst onto the scene as an escapist's three-dimensional domain where colorful avatars -- digital alter egos that users create -- could travel and socialize with other "residents." But it hasn't lived up to the early hype among consumers and marketers.
IBM is among the corporations that have used Second Life to create venues where employees can gather.
Second Life averages about one million monthly users, a small number compared with other online services like social-networking site Facebook Inc.
But Second Life is getting a renewed lease on life as a setting for trade shows, employee meetings and other corporate events for the likes of Northrop Grumman, Cigna Corp., Intel Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co.
Linden Research Inc., the San Francisco company behind Second Life, is targeting business users with new products and services, including a feature that will let users call into virtual meetings from their cellphones. It is also testing hardware that companies can plug into their computer networks to create private virtual venues.
Such uses are a departure from Second Life's initial corporate appeal. Initially Second Life attracted the likes of Nike Inc. and Coca-Cola Co., which saw the three-dimensional world as a digital marketing test bed.
Nissan Motor Co., for example, built a virtual vending machine that dispensed cars that avatars could test drive, or even fly. But interest began to wane, Nissan says, and it pulled out of Second Life last year. "There were a lot of things competing for our marketing dollars," a spokesman says.
The marketers are being replaced by corporations that are using Second Life to host virtual conferences for employees or business partners.
Few have jumped in as deeply as International Business Machines Corp. Last year, IBM hosted an annual gathering of its leading thinkers in Second Life. The October event would have otherwise been scaled back because of the recession.
The three-day event, which peaked at about 250 concurrent users, helped demonstrate the promise of virtual reality to many IBMers who were still doubtful, says Neil Katz, one of IBM's distinguished engineers.
"We turned hard skeptics into skeptics and skeptics into true believers," he says, noting the venues have since been used for other IBM events....Companies such as IBM and Northrup Grumman have warmed to the idea of holding virtual... more
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"Discover Magazine reports that although medical simulations have been around for a long time, medical schools like Imperial College London are starting to use virtual hospitals in Second Life so students can learn their way around an O.R. before they enter the real thing. The students can also test their knowledge in the Virtual Respiratory Ward by interviewing patient avatars, ordering tests, diagnosing problems, and recommending treatment. 'The real innovation in SL clinical simulations is that they bring people together in a clinical space — you are standing next to an avatar who is a real patient, and the doctor avatar to your right is a resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and the nurse to your left is at the University of Pennsylvania hospital,' says John Lester, the Education and Healthcare Market Developer at Linden Labs. The most significant benefit of SL training may be the cost. Real-life training facilities require thousands, and sometimes millions of dollars to build and maintain, while SL simulation rooms can be created for minimal costs, and accessed from anywhere in the world for the price of an internet connection. SL can also expose students to situations that a standard academic program can't duplicate: 'You can take risks that aren't safe in the real world and teach more complex subjects in three dimensions,' says Colleen Lin. 'When you're resuscitating a dummy in real life, it looks like a dummy. But you can program an avatar to look like it's choking or having a heart attack, and it looks more real to the student responsible for resuscitating it.'""Discover Magazine reports that although medical simulations have been around for... more
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The Relay For Life is an annual fundraiser in support of cancer research. It happens in cyberspace too. The organizer for the Relay in the virtual world Second Life, Fayandria Foley previews the event starting July 18th.The Relay For Life is an annual fundraiser in support of cancer research. It happens... more
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Facing real world debts, a trusted figure in a popular online game stole money from the virtual bank he ran and exchanged it for cash through the black market.
It happened in EVE Online, where more than 300,000 subscribers pay US$15 a month to play. They gain wealth through hard work, manipulating the market, or killing rivals in a distant future where humans have colonized the stars in an online game similar to World of Warcraft and Second Life.Facing real world debts, a trusted figure in a popular online game stole money from... more
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The Australian Minister for Censorship has confirmed that online adult games including Second Life will be banned in Australia under new rules.
No more virtual dingos stealing babies down under then? Streuth!The Australian Minister for Censorship has confirmed that online adult games including... more
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Back in March, Second Life operators Linden Lab announced plans to create a new segregated area for adult content in their popular virtual world.
Later this year they will create a standalone "continent" for adult content, and members who don't purchase private "land" will be asked to migrate there if they wish to partake in adult-related activities. Second Life is an 18+ environment already, but stricter age verification policies will be put in place. You'll need a "verified" account, either through credit card information or through Linden Labs' filtering system, to get into the adult "continent." Linden Lab is still in the process of figuring out specifics for the migration to this porn island of sorts, and will publish guidelines later this quarter.
Users will also be able to filter their in-world search results according to maturity and content preferences; only users with verified accounts will be able to access search listings with adult keywords.
The default rating for all accounts will be mature unless a user takes action to be designated adult or PG. Linden said Second Life "continues to be an 18+ environment."Back in March, Second Life operators Linden Lab announced plans to create a new... more
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