Category Archives: connecting
Human Lobotomy — from Foureyedmonsters.com – itSreal
Filed under advertising, AsiaOne, business, collaboration, connecting, entertainment, executive, internet, marketing, PR, Public Relations
Who is behind THERE.COM & MTV’s Virtual LUGUNA Beach – itSreal
Source: OCRegister
Michael K. Wilson Video
He left retirement and created a virtual Laguna Beach
When MTV and its popular reality show came calling, Michael Wilson’s Makena Technologies had the answer.
By TAMARA CHUANG
The Orange County Register
The first time Michael K. Wilson came out of retirement, it was to help his old friend Pierre Omidyar on a little startup called eBay. Wilson was its fourth employee. He retired again in 2001.
The second time Wilson left retirement, he bought the rights to There.com, a virtual world where people become cartoon avatars and socialize online. As a founding investor, he believed in the social-networking aspect and took over as the company changed focus to government applications.
The Laguna Beach resident, who turns 50 this year, has no plans to retire again soon. His company, Makena Technologies, operates There.com and produced a virtual Laguna Beach for the MTV Networks series “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,” where the typical resident is young and female. The job keeps him young and he spends hours a day inside the worlds.
“Everybody in there looks better than they do in real life,” Wilson said.
Virtual worlds have existed for decades in science-fiction novels, such as 1982′s “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson, a book that inspired Wilson. These online communities were relegated to sci-fi lovers but paved the way for the popular online game World of Warcraft, population 8 million, and social networking sites like Second Life, which has 3.7 million residents. There.com now has about 750,000 members. Virtual Laguna Beach has around 360,000 registered users.
But it has only been the past year that virtual worlds have attracted a wider audience. New York Law School holds classes inside There.com. The Sundance Film Festival held its first virtual screening inside Second Life in January. Episodes of MTV’s “The Hills” and “The Real Orange County” are screened inside the virtual Laguna Beach a day before airing on TV.
“I credit the guys at MTV for this. Before we did Laguna Beach, if I went to any member in There and asked what kind of computer they had, they’d tell me about the BIOS. But in Laguna Beach, we’ve turned this from a techie site to something all people use,” Wilson said.
How the dream began
The Norfolk, Va., native was a smart kid. He took college classes in high school, got good grades. But maybe he was too smart for school. He got a job in Macy’s technical department instead of going to college. And because he knew more about technology than others, he moved far and fast through the tech world, working at Chevron, Oracle and The Well. In the mid-1990s, he was hired as an engineer at eShop, a software company.
That’s where Wilson met Omidyar, who would later ask twice to join him at eBay. Wilson relented in January 1997 and helped build the company’s technology. He retired four years later as eBay’s senior vice president of product development and site operations and moved to Laguna Beach.
In 2005, There.com’s board began talking about shutting down the unprofitable consumer portion to focus on military use. Wilson, an investor since the beginning, wanted to make sure the consumer world lived on. He started Makena, named after a beach in Hawaii, and bought the exclusive license to There.com.
Then, last February, MTV Networks came knocking. They were interested in creating a virtual world of their own. In April, MTV placed its order.
“MTV said we want to build an entire world, and we want to build it by August,” Wilson said.
Wilson’s team of developers, artists and designers worked overtime to get the world running by opening week. They designed clothing and characters to look more “California” than There.com’s world. They added details, like the movie theater on the main drag and the lighthouse on the beach. They added video inside the virtual world to screen episodes a day before the TV broadcast. It was a lot of work, but employees didn’t mind too much, said Stefan Dorsett, a software engineer.
Wilson handed out weekly bonuses and hired a masseuse to help the staff relax. But, mostly, Wilson made it exciting to work there.
“He’s like a mentor. We learn so much through him,” said Dorsett, 25. “He’s interested in the same stuff we are.”
Makena delivered the Virtual Laguna Beach in four months, just in time for the new season.
“We think Mike is a visionary, no question about it.” said Jeff Yapp, executive vice president of program development for MTV Networks.
Yapp said MTV Networks is pleased with the results and hopes to continue adding more virtual neighborhoods. Makena supplies the technical and social support by hiring people to organize events in the virtual worlds.
“The target audience we’re going after are viewers of the show. They don’t spend a lot of time in virtual games or Second Life. Now the goal is to get them to want to stay. That’s where Mike’s team does such a great job,” Yapp said. “Once it becomes a community, it begins to develop on its own. There are 1,200 social clubs in Laguna Beach.”
Wilson spends hours each day in the virtual worlds, and if you want an update, he’s easy to reach. Just ask his avatar, listed as “Michael” or “Michael Wilson.”
“Yes, sure, if they run into me in the world, I am happy to talk to them,” he said.
Mobiles to FUEL Internet growth…itSreal
I read today that Mobiles are making a return to the market as a new driver for Internet growth.
Surprisingly this came as a surprise to me especially with all my concentration of late being on SecondLife.
The simple mobile phone in fact could be the Internet’s greatest hero. As reported in Bangalore, Google vice-president and chief Internet evangelist Vinton G Cerf, at a vintage age of 63 appears to see what is clearly in front of everyone’s eyes and ears. The growth of mobile purchases in countries like China and India is growing rapidly and mobile manusfacturers are building in cute applications like BILL paying and the like so billions of mobile users can connect to the NET.
Hmmm, billions is far greater than millions, so where should all our efforts be placed ?
Filed under business, connecting, consumer tech, executive, gadgets, internet, mobile, PR, Public Relations, secondlife, virtual worlds
Its Happening Again, Singapore’s Largest IT Show | 8 – 11th March 2007
Its Happening Again, Singapore’s Largest IT Show 8 – 11th March 2007 – IT Show 2007
The Show Singaporean’s and Asia has been waiting for ! IT SHOW 2007 returns as the No.1 Largest Exhibition ever held in Singapore occupying the entire Suntec City Exhibition Centre, sprawling over 300,000 Sqft.
IT SHOW 2007 is the ONLY I.T EXHIBITION that provides THE WIDEST WALKWAY OF 4M IN EACH HALL so that visitors can comfortably breeze through the Latest Digital Gadgets, Tech Gizmos and EXCLUSIVE SHOW BARGAINS from over 780 LEADING MANUFACTURERS and IT Suppliers ALL UNDER ONE ROOF at the very heart of Singapore.
IT SHOW 2007 will unleash the LATEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE range of exhibits from Digital & amp; Video Cameras, Desktops, Notebooks, MP3 / MP4 Players, LCD TVs, Plasmas, Printers, Games & amp; Consoles, PDAs and Smart Phone, Wireless Broadband, Projectors, Networking Products, Handphones, Toners/Cartridges, Media, Home and mobile Entertainment, Digital Lifestyle Products, Multimedia, Peripherals, Storage Solutions, Surveillance & amp; Security Solutions, Software, Bluetooth Products, Educational Software, IT Training Courses, Business Applications, Enterprise Solutions, Consumer Electronics to a plethora of accessories. There is definitely something for everyone, be it for business, home or personal entertainment.
IT SHOW 2007 is all geared to provide a one-stop solution for everyones needs where consumers will definitely be spoilt for choices given the most comprehensive array of exhibits ever before from CONFIRMED LEADING MANUFACTURERS such as Acer Computer (Singapore) Pte Ltd | Apple Computer South Asia Pte Ltd | Asus Technology Pte Ltd | Benq (South East Asia) Pte Ltd | Brother International Singapore Pte Ltd | Canon Singapore Pte Ltd | Casio Singapore Pte Ltd o Cisco Systems – Linksys (Asia) Pte Ltd | Compaq Singapore o Courts (Singapore) Ltd | Creative Technology Ltd | D-link International Pte Ltd | Dell Singapore Pte Ltd | Epson Singapore Pte Ltd o Fuji Photo Film (Singapore) Pte Ltd | Fuji Xerox Printers Pte Ltd | Fujitsu PC – AsiaPac Distribution Pte Ltd | Harvey Norman Pte Ltd | Hewlett Packard Singapore(Sales) Pte Ltd | Hitachi oInfocus Systems Asia Pte Ltd | JVC Asia Pte Ltd | Kodak (Singapore) Pte Ltd | Kyocera-Yashica | Lenovo Singapore Pte Ltd | LG Electronics (Singapore) Pte Ltd | Microsoft (Singapore) Pte Ltd | NEC Computers(S) Pte Ltd | Netgear South East Asia Pte Ltd | Nikon Singapore Pte Ltd | 02 (Online) Ltd | Olympus Imaging Singapore Pte Ltd | Panasonic Singapore Pte Ltd | Palm Singapore | Pentax | Pioneer Electronics Asia Centre Pte Ltd | Ricoh | Sandisk | Samsung Asia Pte Ltd | Seagate Technology International Pte Ltd | Singnet Pte Ltd | Sony Singapore Pte Ltd | Starhub Ltd | Symantec Singapore Pte Ltd | Toshiba (Singapore) Pte Ltd | Viewsonic Singapore Pte Ltd and many more……….
PLUS ! For every $100 paid or deposit placed during the show, you may stand a chance to win:
1st Prize: S$20,000
2nd Prize: S$ 3,000
3rd Prize: S$ 2,000
And other attractive prizes
If you are interested to find out more email me apglobal@gmail.com 
Filed under asia, business, connecting, consumer tech, Events, executive, internet, marketing, Networking, PR, Public Relations, singapore, tech
First Virtual World Conference Announced
First Virtual World Conference Announced
Dana Massey 17 Jan 2007, 01:06 PM
The people at “Vritual Worlds Management”, who previously hosted AGC under the name Games Initiative, have announced a new conference for “virtual worlds” and companies looking to create them. The event takes place in New York City this March.
FIRST ANNUAL VIRTUAL WORLDS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCED FOR MARCH 28-29, 2007 IN NEW YORK CITY
New Event for Fortune 500 Companies Seeking to Create Virtual Worlds, Marketing, Entertainment and Business Strategies
NEW YORK, New York – January 17, 2006 – Virtual Worlds Management today announced the first annual Virtual Worlds Conference to take place March 28 – 29, 2007 in New York City. Virtual Worlds 2007 – http://www.virtualworlds2007.com/ – is the leading event for Fortune 500 companies seeking to understand and maximize marketing, entertainment and business strategies within virtual worlds. Virtual Worlds 2007 provides attendees with focused, practical and valuable industry insight that can be immediately utilized in developing a virtual world strategy.
“Virtual Worlds 2007 separates the buzz from successes, allowing attendees to hear from companies who’ve made the journey and learn from their experiences and activities,” said Christopher Sherman, Virtual Worlds Conference Executive Director. “Virtual Worlds 2007 is a social networking paradise, bringing together for the first time all the knowledgeable experts in virtual worlds, giving attendees ample opportunity to learn the latest techniques and technologies and build relationships with peers and industry leaders.”
Companies considering creating the following virtual worlds applications should attend Virtual Worlds 2007: marketing, branding, entertainment, interactive television, social networking, promotional, educational, ecommerce, employee collaboration, test-marketing, content generation, training, recruiting, new product development and more.
Virtual Worlds Conference takes place March 28 – 29, 2007 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. Online registration is open and attendees can save $400 by taking advantage of the earlybird registration – only $595 – until February 23, 2007. Registration information and conference details are available at http://www.VirtualWorlds2007.com
Virtual Worlds Conference 2007 is sponsored by Linden Lab, creator of 3D virtual world Second Life and Makena Technologies, the parent company of There.com.
Attendees will gain expert knowledge on these topics and more:
– What are popular virtual world activities and destinations
– Are virtual worlds the future of interactive television
– Understand consumer behavior patterns inside virtual worlds
– Learn from fellow marketers, brands and agencies
– Hear exclusive case studies from major corporations
– How to create a successful strategy
– Measure real results and campaign metrics
– Tech and design issues and how to leverage assets
– IP issues as they pertain to established brands
– What are ecommerce options inside virtual worlds
– Design secrets from innovative virtual world startups
– VW Roadmap – where are virtual worlds technologies heading next
– How to go big – or go small.
– Tie your virtual presence into the real world
– Secrets on working with the right developer/agency
– Standalone immersive corporate worlds vs Second Life
About Virtual Worlds Management
Virtual Worlds 2007 is produced by Virtual Worlds Management, a division of Show Initiative, LLC (formerly The Game Initiative), a leading producer of focused tech-media conferences. In 2006 Show Initiative sold its portfolio of 10 game industry events, including the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) focused Austin Game Conference to CMP Technology. Show Initiative launched its Virtual Worlds Management division in November 2006 to focus on the emerging market of Virtual Worlds. Virtual Worlds Management, Virtual Worlds 2007 and Virtual Worlds Conference are trademarks of Show Initiative. More information about Show Initiative can be found at http://www.ShowInitiative.com.
Filed under Blogroll, business, collaboration, connecting, designer, education, executive, experience, gadgets, internet, marketing, multiverse.com, Public Relations, second life, secondlife, secondlife.com, singapore, social networking, social networks, tech, there.com, virtual commerce, virtual worlds, web
SINGAPORE: BNI Big Breakfasts International Networking Week
BNI Big Breakfasts International Networking Week
BNI is pleased to announce the launch of International Networking Week™ during 5th – 9th Feb 2007.
6th Feb 2007 Tuesday, 7.30am
BNI Big Breakfast @ Hill Street
BNI Big Breakfast @ Queen’s Street
BNI Big Breakfast @ Peninsula.Excelsior Hotel 5 Coleman Street
BNI Big Breakfast @ Havelock Road
International Networking Week ™ is an intitiative of BNI ! International Networking Week™ will feature a number of networking events across the world!
The goal of International Networking Week™ is to celebrate the key role that networking plays in the development and success of businesses across the world.
Simultaneous events will be held globally to celebrate International Networking Week™. The focus of these events will be to bring together representatives of government, businesses and the community to network with each other, to understand the concept of good networking and to listen to talks by key networking specialists from across the world. These speakers will offer advice and information on how businesses can grow and succeed through good networking practices.
Invitations to attend are open to the wider business community, members of other networking organisations, students, press representatives and interested parties from all levels of government and business. The purpose of International Networking Week™ is to raise the profile of networking in the wider community, recognising it as an essential tool for success in today’s business climate.
Your networking group is invited to participate! Email andrew@thepacificwest.com
For event Sponsorship, contact BNI National Office +65 64400343.
Filed under asia, business, collaborate, collaboration, connecting, employees, employers, employment, executive, experience, globe, jobs, life, marketing, Networking, Public Relations, singapore, social networking, social networks, tech, work
Linden Lab To Open Source Second Life Software source: Linden Labs
Creator of Leading 3D Virtual World Releases Source Code To Viewer Software
San Francisco, CA – January 8, 2007 – Linden Lab®, creator of 3D virtual world Second Life® (www.secondlife.com), is releasing the code of its Viewer application to the open source software development community. Developers can now access the source code to the Second Life end-user software in order to make modifications, enhancements and to add new features. The move marks Linden Lab’s continued commitment to building the Second Life Grid as an open, extensible platform for development, rather than a closed proprietary system.
The Second Life Viewer is used by subscribers or ‘Residents’ to access the virtual world’s Grid. Freely-downloadable from the Second Life website, the Viewer software enables Residents to control their in-world avatars, interact with each other via Instant Message, create content, buy and sell objects, access multimedia content and to navigate around the virtual environment. The source code for the sophisticated client software will now be made available to developers who wish to extend and enhance its functionality.
“We feel we have a responsibility to improve and to grow Second Life as rapidly as possible,” said Philip Rosedale, CEO and founder of Linden Lab. “We were the first virtual world to enable content creators to own the rights to the Intellectual Property they create. That sparked exponential growth in the richness of the Second Life environment. Now we’re placing the Viewer’s development into the hands of Residents and developers as well. This extends the control Residents can have over the Second Life experience and allows a worldwide community to examine, validate and improve the software’s sophistication
and capabilities.”
“Open sourcing is the most important decision we’ve made in seven years of Second Life development. While it is clearly a bold step for us to proactively decide to open source our code, it is entirely in keeping with the community-creation approach of Second Life,” said Cory Ondrejka, CTO of Linden Lab. “Second Life has the most creative and talented group of users ever assembled and it is time to allow them to contribute to the Viewer’s development. We will still continue Viewer development ourselves, but now the community can add its contributions, insights, and experiences as well. We don’t know exactly which projects will emerge – but this is part of the vibrancy that makes Second Life
so compelling.”
Linden Lab intends to incorporate certain code changes and enhancements into the official version of the Second Life Viewer, which will only be available from the Second Life website. All code developed outside Linden Lab’s in-house engineering team will be thoroughly reviewed to ensure quality standards, stability and security. Support will continue to be given for the official version of the Viewer only, with third party projects unsupported by Linden Lab.
Initial projects may include: bug fixes; improvements to compatibility with less common hardware configurations; support for additional multimedia types; User Interface changes; and potentially new look and feel ‘skins’ for the Viewer itself. Timeframes for these enhancements will vary depending on the scale of the project and project team.
The source code and additional information will be available from Second Life’s website at http://secondlife.com/developers/opensource.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Second Life and Linden Lab
Second Life is a 3D online world with a rapidly growing population from 100 countries around the globe, in which the Residents themselves create and build the world which includes homes, vehicles, nightclubs, stores, landscapes, clothing, and games.
The Second Life Grid is a sophisticated development platform created by Linden Lab, a company founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale, to create a revolutionary new form of shared 3D experience. The former CTO of RealNetworks, Rosedale pioneered the development of many of today’s streaming media technologies, including RealVideo. In April 2003, noted software pioneer Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation, was named Chairman. In 2006, Philip Rosedale and Linden Lab received WIRED’s Rave Award for Innovation in Business. Based in San Francisco, Linden Lab employs a senior team bringing together deep expertise in physics, 3D graphics and networking.
Note to editors: Second Life® and Linden Lab® are registered trademarks of Linden Research, Inc.
