CTO Cory Ondrejka Leaves Second Life – itsReal

Ondrejka was one of the two most indispensable employees of Linden Lab, writes a well-known Second Life resident who goes by the SL name Tateru Nino (like many in the SL community, she keeps her RL identity secret). The other, says Nino, is Robin Harper, vice-president, marketing & community development for Linden Lab.

“That’s not to say neither of them can be replaced, but those two individuals form the fundamental direction of Linden Lab,” Nino wrote. “I’m not going to tell you that Ondrejka’s departure is necessarily a bad one or a good one. Two highly creative and motivated people may produce brilliant work, but simply be unable to do so together. So it seems, with Ondrejka and [Linden Lab founder and CEO Philip] Rosedale.”

More at Information Week

Your Guide to Virtual Worlds – itsReal

Awesome report by:

Mark Glaser, of MEDIASHIFT

Second Life avatars

From time to time, I’ll give an overview of one broad MediaShift topic, annotated with online resources and plenty of tips. The idea is to help you understand the topic, learn the jargon, and take action. I’ve already covered blogs, social networking, widgets and various other topics. This week I’ll look at the growing phenomenon of virtual worlds.

Background and History

Virtual worlds are online three-dimensional spaces where you can interact with other people, collect items and build structures, and communicate via a virtual representative of yourself called an avatar. These worlds have been influenced by various science fiction writers such as William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, along with the movie, “The Matrix.”

Virtual worlds differ from massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs) because they don’t offer battles against monsters or have an overriding mission for players. For example, a resident of the virtual world Second Life might spend time in that space accumulating virtual land, rather than striving to complete quests or conquer levels as one would in many popular MMOGs such as World of Warcraft.

The origin of virtual worlds goes back to early games such as Maze War, which was developed in the early ’70s at NASA. The game included eyeballs as avatars, there were maps showing the levels, and it was one of the first games played on networked computers, and eventually over a precursor to the Internet.

Habitat scene

In 1986, LucasFilm Games developed Habitat, a more two-dimensional environment that included humanoid avatars, and people could access the game through online service Quantum Link on their Commodore 64 computers. Developers Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer, who maintain a blog about their experience with Habitat, say they let Habitat residents generally set their own rules governing the world — as long as they couldn’t hack into the system. In a research paper about their lessons from Habitat, the developers wrote:

READ MORE AT MEDIASHIFT 

state of play – truly an international event for virtual worlds -itsReal

APLINK has sat in singapore reaching out constantly to overseas for those interested in Virtual Worlds and in the last 2 days, i have met people from, Japan, London, Germany, USA, Australia, Korea,  Norway and Singapore at the “state of play” conference where the whole agenda is Virtual Worlds…APLINK is happy

end of work as we know it – itsReal

Increasing connectivity will change how and where we labor—even the very notion of an employer.

You have no idea how you’d get any work done on business trips if you didn’t have a laptop. You can’t remember quite how you lived without your BlackBerry. Your cell phone might as well be surgically attached to your ear, it’s so crucial to your job. Then there’s the Internet. It’s hard to conceive of getting through the day without Google (GOOG )—or, if you’re under 40, text messaging or even joining Facebook to stay in touch with your extended network of colleagues. In just a decade or less, technology sure has done a number on the way you work, hasn’t it?

Well, brace yourself. Over the next decade, the relentless march of computer power and Net connection speeds will bring more profound changes to work than anything we’ve seen so far. Consider just a few of the breakthroughs technology visionaries think we’re likely to see in coming years. Picture Apple’s (AAPL ) slick iPhone shrunk down to the size of a credit card. Then imagine it can connect not only to your contacts on the latest social network but also to billions of pea-sized wireless sensors attached to buildings, streets, retail products, and your co-workers’ and business partners’ clothes—all sending data over the Net to you.

THE RESULT:

Read more at BusinesWeek

Virtual Worlds developers your roller coaster is departing…

Virtual World Developers, your roller coaster is on its slow upward climb getting ready to hurtle is way down steep declines, around tight impossible curves, flipping over upon itself to once again enter another breath taking decent and amongst all the screams of terror, joy, ecstasy the roller coaster continues unmercifully at speeds that can’t be imagined.. how long does the ride go for. Real roller coasters only minutes, but this roller coaster exists in a place called Second Life where you are only limited by your imagination & genius.. developers all over the real world had better engage their safety belts for the longest ride of their human lives…Linden Labs has pressed the start button – itsReal

Newsweek: Why Millions Are Living Virtual Lives Online – itsReal

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Why Millions Are Living Virtual Lives Online

 

Second Life is emerging as a powerful new medium for social interactions of all sorts, from romance to making money. It may be the Internet’s next big thing.

Brave NEW World – Interview with Philip Rosedale CEO Second Life – itsReal

Brave New World

In a few short years, Second Life has grown from an experiment to the world’s largest virtual universe. Inside the mind of its founder.

Web Exclusive Read More HERE

wikipedia in second life & how to create objects – itsReal

Awesum helper in second life if you don’t know everything, call up wikipedia…

Philip Rosedale tells how to create objects in second life

What is Second Life – Philip Rosedale & Cory Onedrejka – itsReal

I came across this video (runs smoothly on my new MacBook) which runs for One Hour so sit back and relax and See what Second Life is all about !

Since its recording, Second Life now runs on 4400 + servers (250,000 sq kilometers) and the economy generates about USD 40 Million + per month.

TIPS on Creating a business in Second Life are a plenty.

I think Cory only wears Stripped Shirts…

The Video contains alot of GEEK talk, sorry but the audience is responsible for the Questions. Search in SL has always been a problem, even today at the latest Nexus 2007 Event (which was awesum) Cory is still looking for a talented search expert, applications are still open for a SEARCH guru, contact Cory direct.

You can be Killed in Second Life…Only virtually…and unlike the Real world you don’t loose everything, now that sounds Awesum. Second Life has stringent Parental Controls, so breath EASY parents. Also try to stay away from the CORNFIELD, it’s SL’s penal colony where u get sent if you misbehave in SL.

For budding singers, Live Music is available in SL every night…via shoutcast technology, singers collect tips and sell CD’s…a homeless person (with friends that have broadband) raised money to get a new apartment…

Final Comment: After viewing the video, any doubts you have about whether SL is here to stay will be completely erased…Second Life is an emerging new WORLD which is setting the landscape for unimaginable opportunities and freedom – itsReal

Video Source: Google Video