An Introduction To Open Sim: the “Apache of Virtual Worlds” | OStatic

“You’ve probably read a bit about Open Sim, the BSD-licensed virtual world server, and recent news that IBM and Linden Lab are working to make Second Life and Open Sim interoperable. Besides that project, what’s Open Sim about, who’s working on it, what are they doing with it, and how do you get involved as a developer and participant? Here’s a starter’s guide, created with the help of Tish Shute, whose virtual world blog UgoTrade is an indispensable resource on the latest in Open Sim news.”

tags: OB, NP, OpenSim, virtual worlds

slpromusician.com • Index page

“Professional Musicians in Second Life“

tags: SL, NP, Second Life, music

Some of von johin’s blues

Heard him last night during the opening of Gibson Island. Excellent.

tags: OB, NP, music, blues

Gibson Guitar Enters Into Virtual World of 3-D With Launch of Gibson Island on Second Life.com, an Industry First - MarketWatch

“Gibson is the first major music manufacturer to establish an official island in Second Life and has advanced the opportunity for consumers to participate in an exciting virtual world complete with digital luthiers, instruments and guest stars. The Gibson Island will officially launch at 8am SL Time on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 with an exclusive live music performance at 6pm SL Time. In tribute to the legendary Gibson Les Paul guitar and the musician, the Gibson Island is in the shape of the famous guitar body and rises up from the ocean in Second Life. The “island” will feature humbucker mountains, full theatres, mini-theatres and other areas resembling pick ups and other aspects of a Gibson guitar.”

tags: OB, NP, guitar, Gibson, Second Life, virtual worlds

Rough Type: Nicholas Carr’s Blog: Can I bring my flame thrower into Second Life?

“I’m not sure that IBM and Linden have fully thought through the consequences of bringing the globalization ethic to the virtual realm. About five minutes after the gates come down, all the residents of Second Life will have been made the slaves of powerful Warcraft clans. Peace-loving cyber-utopias will see their unnatural resources strip-mined by invading tribes.”

tags: OB, NP, Second Life, War of Warcraft

New Statesman - Second Life teleporting

“The real challenges of course lie not just in technically moving data between worlds, but with import / export legislation, relative exchange rates and virtual immigration policies.”

tags: OB, NP, Second Life, IBM, teleportation, virtual worlds

A ‘Second’ chance to study abroad | News - Digital Media - CNET News.com

“According to an article in The Christian Science Monitor, several universities and even the U.S. Department of State are using Second Life to spread culture and experience to people who can’t afford pricey semesters overseas. This year, Ohio University noticed that its virtual campus was party to many visitors from around the world. The foreign students interacted with the campus’ avatars in an attempt to learn more about American culture.”

tags: OB, NP, Second Life, virtual worlds, education

Virtual world tipping point: Is there an enterprise use? | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

“Google has entered the virtual world game with a project called Lively and Second Life and IBM have pulled off a few interoperability experiments. Add it up and we may be seeing a little tipping point for virtual worlds. There may be even a few corporate uses in the future.”

tags: OB, NP, virtual worlds, Second Life, Google, IBM

Hands-on: Google’s Lively social 3D world is 20 percent done

“If Lively grows some legs during its Google Labs beta phase, the company can monetize it in obvious ways down the road by embedding text and video advertising in the rooms. Site owners can probably get a slice of the pie as well, giving them an incentive to try the platform. For now, however, Lively is a clunky beta.”

tags: OB, NP, Google, Lively, virtual worlds

With Lively, Google tries its own ‘Second Life’ | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

“Google on Tuesday plans to unveil an online 3D social arena called Lively, the Internet giant’s take on Second Life. But Google wants it to be part of your first life. Second Life requires users to download and install a separate “client” software package that taps into the online world. Lively also requires a download and installation–Windows only for now–but then people can use Internet Explorer or Firefox to enter the virtual world.”

tags: OB, NP, Google, Lively, virtual worlds

Vivaty Brings The 3D Web to Your Browser, Starting With AIM and Facebook

“Move over Second Life. The 3D Web is starting to make inroads into the plain old browser. By “plain,” I mean only Internet Explorer on Windows machines—which for now is what you need to experience Vivaty Scenes. But at least it’s a start. (Firefox support on PCs is coming in a few weeks, but Mac support is being pushed off further).”

tags: OB, NP, Vivaty, virtual worlds

Virtual Worlds Review: Virtual Worlds List By Category

“So many worlds, so little time. Not sure where to start? Here are a few recommendations”

tags: OB, NP, virtual worlds

FT.com | Tech Blog | Second Life’s maiden voyage across the metaverse

“One small teleport for avatars, one giant leap for virtual worlds is how Second Life is viewing the first crossing of its members between platforms. While not quite the equivalent of finding a parallel universe or landing on the moon, the achievement is a significant one for Linden Lab’s partnership with IBM.”

tags: NP, Second Lide, OpenSim

IBM and Linden Lab Interoperability Announcement « Official Second Life Blog

“This is a historic day for Second Life, and for virtual worlds in general. IBM and Linden Lab have announced that research teams from the two companies successfully teleported avatars from the Second Life Preview Grid into a virtual world running on an OpenSim server, marking the first time an avatar has moved from one virtual world to another.”

tags: OB, NP, SecondLife, OpenSim

Bob Sutor: Open Blog | Hopping from one virtual world to another

“Today IBM and Linden Lab are announcing basic avatar teleportability across the Second Life Preview Grid and an OpenSim virtual world server.”

tags: NP, Second Life, OpenSim

Museum of Robots in Second Life Announces Competition Winners at Event on July 19, 2008 - Pop Culture and Cool Stuff News from Send2Press Newswire Jul 7, 2008

“The competition’s goal is to explore what a robot is, how it can be expressed within the parameters of Second Life, and to encourage creativity and originality. With almost 50 entries received, creativity is indeed on display.”

tags: OB, NP, robot, Second Life

Video Game Review - Conan’s Back, at Play in a World of Savagery - Review - NYTimes.com

“By contrast, a massively multiplayer game like Age of Conan or World of Warcraft is an immense round-the-clock online environment where thousands of players simultaneously go about their virtual lives, exploring, fulfilling quests or just making friends.”

tags: OB, NP, Conan, MMORPG

How Second Life Affects Real Life - TIME

“What’s more, Bailenson’s research suggests that the qualities you acquire online — whether it’s confidence or insecurity — can spill over and change your conduct in the real world, often without your awareness. Bailenson has found that even 90 seconds spent chatting it up with avatars is enough to elicit behavioral changes offline — at least in the short-term.”

tags: Second Life, virtual worlds, OB, NP

Second Life - Bay City

It’s worth checking out the layout, architecture, and landscaping of this new area.

tags: Second Life, OB, NP

Are we closer to a ‘Matrix’-style world? - Frontiers- msnbc.com

“Advances in computing, graphics are creating a more realistic virtual reality”

tags: virtual world, OB, NP

DAZ Productions - 3D Models, 3D Content, and 3D Software - Hexagon 2.5

“The new Sculpted Primitive tool allows users to model special primitive objects in Hexagon that can be exported in TGA format, then imported and used in Linden Labs’ popular 3D virtual world, Second Life. In Second Life, these sculpted primitives can be used to create more complex, organic shapes that were not previously possible with the Second Life primitive system.”

tags: Second Life, Hexagon, 3D, NP, OB

Lego’s Latest Brick Trick: A Virtual World

“Millions of children pick up Lego bricks each year to spend hours — 5 billion, in fact — creating their own imaginary worlds. Now the manufacturer of the little plastic playing blocks wants to take them online to “Lego Universe,” a virtual world for fans of the ubiquitous toy.”

tags: virtual world, NP, OB, Lego

Lost Fans Find Internet Thrills Via Wikis, Games, Second Life — InformationWeek

“Fans and producers of the hit TV show Lost are taking to the Internet, building a wiki, alternate reality games, communities, and a virtual island in Second Life to explore the world of the ABC show”

tags: Second Life, LOST, tv, OB, NP

Ubuntu Linux Virtual World

“This site is created to offer a platform for the Ubuntu Linux group in Second Life. The purpose of this group is to contact with Ubuntu Linux users in Second Life and to promote Ubuntu Linux in this virtual world.”

tags: Second Life, Ubuntu, Linux, OB, NP

Free Preview - WSJ.com

“The 3-D service called Home, which originally was expected to be sold starting last year, now is expected to be available in the fall, the company said. The service will let users create avatar characters, decorate homes and interact with other users in a virtual world.”

tags: virtual world, SONY, OB, NP, WSJ

Linden Lab selects Mark Kingdon as new CEO | The Social - CNET News.com

“Second Life creator Linden Lab has selected digital-strategy veteran Mark Kingdon as its new CEO, following Philip Rosedale’s resignation from the post last month. Rosedale will remain chairman of the company’s board.”

tags: Second Life, OB, NP