Ok, now this is just getting silly. Second Life’s front page now shows them as having 243,671 residents. As opposed to the 256,336 residents shown proudly on their site yesterday. Clearly all the hub-bub on NWN, the SL Forums, Clickable Culture, and www.raphkoster.com about the fishy statistics have caused the Lindens to start purging old…
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Vegas, Baby, Virtual Vegas!
I finally got a chance to visit the Second Life Las Vegas sim last night, launched not long ago. It’s a fun simulation of the real thing, at least in its current family-friendly incarnation. I.e. lots of opportunities for shopping, theme park rides, and photo ops rather than drinking, whoring and gambling. My first stop…
Convenient simulation of an Inconvenient Truth?
Just checked out the Second Life island of Svarga, lovingly designed by Laukosargas Svarog with its own virtual ecosystem. Laukosargas not only created virtual flowers and trees that grow, she also populated the island with bees that pollinate the flowers, clouds that bring rain, and sun-lit and shady areas with different growth patterns. It’s the…
Pics from Tech & Mech Fashion Show
Just got back from a sweet "tech and mech" fashion show in Second Life. Organized by Adri Saarinen and sponsored by Emerald Gardens Fashion Center, the runway show featured cyberpunk, steampunk, and futuristic tech created by B. Cyberpunk, Quixotic Trance, C-Tech, Szentasha Fashions, Dead Punk, YadNi Monde, and Goblin Industries. Click here to see my…
Actual real-live working we’re-serious-this-time but-still-sorta-in-beta $100 laptop photos
New pics of the first working prototype of the $100 laptop have been posted by Pete Barr-Watson on Flickr. These laptops, produced under the coordination of the non-profit One Laptop Per Child, are designed to help kids in the developing world bridge the digital divide. There appear to be at least three flavors: orange creamsickle,…
How to put on an event for students, activists and talking bears
I have started a wiki page on the Second Life Education wiki to encourage folks who know better than me to share their thoughts and suggestions on how to organize “multi-verse” events. I.e. events that take place simultaneously in virtual space and in real space. My contention is that there must be a growing body…
Virtual laptops for real world kids
I have previously blogged about MIT’s “One Laptop Per Child” project. Spearheaded by Nicholas Negroponte, the project aims to develop a small, linux-based laptop costed at less than $100 for use by students in schools in the developing world. I am interested in seeing if the Second Life metaverse is a useful space to develop…
Kofi Annan calls for cyber-security on World Info Society Day
Yesterday, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan issued a statement on the first World Information Society Day, May 17th. His short speech centered on the importance of "cyber-security": In an increasingly interconnected and networked world, it has become critically important to safeguard our vital systems and infrastructures against attack by cybercriminals, while instilling confidence in…
Dancing with myself… with other people
Lots of the social activity in Second Life takes place at parties, with the usual things that go on at parties — drinking, chatting, people being silly. The thing that usually signals that a party is going on is music and dancing. I recently have been to a number of different Second Life clubs, live…
Virtual Darfur: Civic Engagement or Fake Activism?
There has been an interesting debate going on between Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices and Hamlet at New World Notes. It’s a discussion centered around the Second Life virtual Darfur Camp built by several activists to highlight the plight of refugees from the conflict in the Sudan. Ethan’s contention is essentially that while it might…