Master SL builder Hiro Pendragon sends out word about a cool simultaneous "multi-verse" release of Starbase C3. It’s a lot to grok, so pay attention: There’s a ten year old virtual world called "Starbase C3" which exists as kind of a collective fantasy of thousands of fans who perpetuate the world via 3D models, fanfic,…
Correlation between griefing and violent game play?
The excellent Game Politics blog recently did a little investigating of claims by Louisiana attorney general Jack Johnson and other anti-game violence politicians. Apparently Johnson has been touting an American Psychological Association study that he said had found that violent video game play causes real world violent acts. I happen to know the current chair…
I see gray people: second class surfing in Second Life
It hit me tonight what was so deja vu about hanging out in Second Life on my pre-Intel iBook: it’s like surfing the web on dial-up. Tonight I wanted to visit some parties, maybe get some new hair, and change my walking animation. Instead I spent almost the entire time waiting for images to render….
Human Rights Video Hub launches – fighting impunity with technology
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the human rights group WITNESS is piloting a new "Human Rights Video Hub" in association with international blog aggregator Global Voices Online. Their first efforts focus on a police shooting in Malaysia and a series of protests in China. After participating in some of the initial consultations on…
Burning Life turns to ashes tomorrow! Thanks for the paranoia!
Hamlet posted an excellent video of the virtual homage to the Burning Man festival called "Burning Life" in Second Life. Obviously a lot of work by hundreds of builders went into creating the fanciful dreamscapes, strange contraptions and just random silliness. It was like a sandbox with lots of lots of very talented kids building…
Chinese protestors take to YouTube: You can’t stop the signal!
Global Voices Online reports that the Chinese police recently cracked down hard on a large protest in Rui’an, spurred by the mysterious death of a young school teacher ruled a suicide by authorities. Nothing new there: Chinese citizens protest, they get a beat-down. The twist is that now cameraphones are common accessories among Chinese citizens,…
The report the FCC doesn’t want you to read
Four prominent public interest media reform groups — Free Press, Consumers Union, the Consumers Federation of America, and Media Access Project — have issued a letter to FCC Chair Kevin Martin urging him to investigate the allegations that important FCC-sponsored research on media ownership was buried by former FCC chair Michael Powell. BACKGROUND: In 2004…
Adidas comes to Second Life: the a3 Microride
Moo Money sent a link to the new Adidas store in Second Life (SLURL). It’s pretty spare at this point — just a marketing build to highlight their new "a3 Microride" shoe, which apparently makes you jump really really high. I didn’t see any I could try out, which was a bummer. More pics after…
Gift Assistant fraud update
Ben Popken at Gothamist did some additional sleuthing on my e-commerce woes with the Gift Assistant . Ben even managed to track down the cell phones of the proprietors of the business, who he said would refund me the $130 if I called. Well it’s been three weeks since I’ve called and no luck. Back…
China’s broadband soars, America’s sucks
A couple of recent reports from Free Press and Ovum consulting reveal a couple dramatic trends in broadband penetration and access. Ovum issued a report on September 4 which shows that within a year China will soon be the largest broadband market, with 79 million users in 2007 and 179 million in 2010. No wonder…