In Davos today, during an interview simulcast in the virtual world of Second Life, CEO of the easyGroup Stelios Haji-Ioannou announced that his consortium would soon be launching a new product line to reach out to the expanding market of massively-multiplayer online gamers and virtual worlders. Entitled "easyLife," Mr. Haji-Ioannou described it as a virtual…
Davos in Second Life: public engagement, Flavor of the Week or damage control?
Coming out of the first of many in-world interviews with some of the major personages attending this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, I am left with the question, What’s the point? The WEF is an annual gathering of 2,000 of the most influential business and political leaders in the world to discuss important…
Davos in Second Life: Arianna Huffington today
Reuters is organizing a series of in-world interviews over the next few days with major personalities attending this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, including today’s interview with prominent political blogger and journalist Arianna Huffington. This is part of the elite forum’s efforts to broaden the reach of the high-powered gathering in Switerland every year. …
Rik Riel: world’s worst swordsman
After salivating for months over these beautiful katanas being sold in Samurai Island, I finally decided tonight to get one. 800 Linden Dollars later, I was a happy owner of a Musashi Eternal sword, swinging it around like the Star Wars kid, when I ran into several swordfighters who proceeded to cut me to ribbons….
The sad state of real world politics in Second Life
My buddy Hamlet over at New World Notes blogged today about the explosion in French political activity in Second Life over the past month, with not one but TWO political parties setting up headquarters in the virtual world. Both the far-far right Front National and the Socialist Party have pitched their pixelated tents in SL,…
Diversity festival coming to SL in March!
Verum Vacirca and a cast of volunteers are throwing a Second Life festival to celebrate diversity in all its forms in March in Han Loso (teleport SLURL.) "Diversity 2007 – Wandering the World" is a project to promote diversity, inspire discussion and educate. A series of classes on various diversity issues has already kicked off…
Beyond Gangsta Rap: Reforming black-owned media
The Black Agenda Report has an insightful and well-rounded article by Bruce Dixon that gives an African-American perspective on media reform. Dixon notes it’s important for blacks to support the diversification of media ownership from radio to television to newspapers, beyond white male dominance of these markets. However, he comments that "media reform will have…
ABC News on US Congress in Second Life
I got a teeny-tiny quote in an ABCnews.com article on the opening of the 110th Congress in Second Life by Steve Grove : "It was kind of surreal," says Rik Panganiban, a blogger who was in the audience. That’s 1 second out of my 15 minutes of fame, I guess. Not a bad piece on…
Pioneering legal scholar Jerome Barron on the First Amendment and the Internet
“Ideas matter and they have enduring power.” – Jerome Barron Today, Jerome A. Barron, legal scholar at the George Washington University School of Law, delivered a lecture to mark the 40th anniversary of a groundbreaking Harvard Law Review article he wrote in 1967 entitled “Access to the Press – A New First Amendment Right.” In…
ARIN: you read the RFC, now read the comic book
In Memphis I chatted with Richard Jimmerson of the American Registry for Internet Numbers . ARIN is a Virginia-based non-profit that "allocates Internet Protocol resources; develops consensus-based policies; and facilitates the advancement of the Internet through information and educational outreach" for the US, Canada and parts of the Caribbean. I already knew a bit about…