• virtual worlds

    Second Life's death knell

    Google has shut down Lively, a service where people log on to chat and explore 3D virtual spaces, after a few short months. The MBAs of Silicon Valley have a pat phrase for the arrival of a competitor on the scene: They say it "validates their space." What does it say, then, that Lively is gone? It means that Second Life, the best known of these unreal universes, is doomed, too. More »

    10:40 AM on Thu Nov 20 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    8,775 views, 46 comments

    Most discussed That-Username-is-Already-Taken: If Google shut down Knol, Would Wikipedia need to worry? What about their social network (whose name I can't even remember) more »

  • confirmed

    After firing, Second Life maker insists they're hiring

    A boilerplate statement from Linden Lab confirms yesterday's rumor: "We've had to make some hard decisions about resources and as a result we eliminated four positions out of our headcount of nearly 300." That's not as bad as the "9 or 10" we'd been told were cut. In a statement sent to Silicon Alley Insider, Linden says they're still hiring. There are 45 job listings on the company's employment page. Are they all still open? Huh, maybe Second Life really is an alternate reality. What temperature does water boil at in SL?

    2:40 PM on Wed Nov 5 2008
    By Paul Boutin
    823 views, Comment

  • Sophie Vandebroek

    Xerox tech boss's virtual math

    CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Does Xerox CTO Sophie Vandebroek have trouble with basic numberwork? At MIT's EmTech conference, she asked the audience how many people had "avatars" — digital characters for virtual worlds like Linden Lab's Second Life. From what I saw, half a dozen people out of some 300 attendees raised their hands. "Perhaps 25 percent!" she said, as she played a video showing off Xerox's presence in Second Life. I am not sure what is more disturbing: Vandebroek's miscounting, which one might blame on the bright stage lights, or her inability to calculate the lack of a return on investment in Second Life, which has no such excuse. Here's a clip of Vandebroek talking in Second Life: More »

    9:40 AM on Thu Sep 25 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    544 views, 3 comments

    Latest by Owen Thomas: Fascinating: Twitter user poinky, apparently a Xerox employee, claims I somehow found "nonpublic screenshots." Right: Nonpublic screenshots. On Google Images more »

  • virtual worlds

    The reinvention of Second Life

    Virtual worlds are endlessly mutable. As are the wildly implausible schemes their boosters concoct for making money off them. The latest idea Linden Lab has for Second Life: Profit, in some vague, unspecified way, from the world's free 3D design tools. The perpetually gullible BusinessWeek bought this story, pointing to examples of toy designers and architects building digital models and showing them off to customers in Second Life. There's a certain beauty to it: An entrepreneur's fantasy, used to peddle other entrepreneurs' fantasies. Not that there's much of a business here, since Linden Lab gives away its design software. More »

    10:40 AM on Wed Aug 27 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    1,227 views, 4 comments

    Latest by glu: SecondLife has been one of the most pleasing failures of the past several years. more »

  • mark kirk

    Congressman gets in on Second Life's "rape rooms"

    Taking a page from Nebraska's Internet cops, U.S. Representative Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.) has created a fake teen of his own in order to protect real ones. While promoting a bill to restrict access to social networking sites in public schools and libraries, Kirk and Illinois law enforcement detailed the solicitations received by the imaginary 15-year-old female they played in Second Life — to enter "rape rooms," among others. Acknowledging that there were no known cases of sexual assault on underage users at Second Life, Rep. Kirk still called the site an "emerging danger." Now with the addition of his fictional sex-seeking teenage avatar, of course. (Photo by Daily Herald)

    5:00 PM on Tue May 6 2008
    By Melissa Gira Grant
    3,215 views, 7 comments

    Latest by raincoaster: @tootingbec: Obviously you need to work on your dexterity, my friend. more »

  • hires

    Second Life maker finds second CEO in adland

    Linden Lab, which operates the Second Life virtual world, has found a new CEO: Mark Kingdon, the longtime chief of Organic, an online ad agency. A bizarre move for Linden, and seemingly for Kingdon. Sophisticated marketers, having toyed with Second Life, agree that it's a nonstarter as an advertising medium. Linden Lab makes its money from serving as a virtual central bank and a taxing authority. IBM is interested in it largely as a substitute for teleconferencing. Philip Rosedale, the founder and outgoing CEO, is a dreamy technologist, but replacing him with an adman makes no sense. An enterprise-software salesman would have made more sense. More »

    3:40 PM on Tue Apr 22 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    603 views, 10 comments

    Latest by Eric Rice: @Rachel probably the same losers who run around saving fantastical worlds (and earth, too!) from forces of darkness, making that more »

  • politics

    Jon Stewart mocks Congress for discussing Second Life

    Pictured is a screen capture of the avatars assembled in Second Life for yesterday's last week's congressional hearing about virtual worlds. Why is congress giving Linden Lab the time of day? Terrorists, silly! According to Jane Harman, D-California, "Islamic militants are suspected of using Second Life, the Internet virtual world, to hunt for recruits and mimic real life terrorism." That's quite the bait to dangle in front of congress for free publicity, Linden Lab PR team! Full clip from the Daily Show after the jump.
    More »

    6:00 PM on Tue Apr 8 2008
    By Jackson West
    3,110 views, 8 comments

    Latest by patrickbkelly: You thought Congress could not top the waste of time grilling Roger Clemens. When will you stop underestimating more »

  • caption contest

    One more reason not to wear your avatar outfit in First Life

    At right, Everett Harper, Stanford MBA and director of community initiatives for Second Life operator Linden Lab, models his Carnaval-winning dance outfit. Harper was crowned King Everett this weekend. Suggest a caption in the comments. (Photo by CM C.)

    4:00 PM on Mon Mar 31 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    1,724 views, 8 comments

  • virtual worlds

    Are Second Life users on drugs?

    As a business, Second Life is a bust. As a technology, the virtual world is a joke. Using snake-oil metaphors to describe it would seem an injustice against toxic cure-alls — were that not Second Life's new marketing peg. The autistic and near-autistic with Asperger's syndrome are flocking to Second Life to learn how to interact with other human beings, CNN reports. This follows Newsweek's discovery last July of Second Life as therapy for the housebound. A suggestion for Benchmark Capital and the other VCs who sank money into this boondoggle: Why not market it as the next Prozac, and sell it to Eli Lilly? That seem easier.

    4:00 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    1,166 views, 11 comments

    Latest by microserfin: Short answer: Yes they are more »