Author: Stuart Dredge
Dilbert creator Scott Adams appears in Second Life for nut-kicking extravaganza
The latest celebrity to venture into Second Life is Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoon strip. He was promoting his new book by fielding questions from SL users (including one Dogbert avatar), and allowing guests to, er, kick him in the nuts. You wouldn’t get that at a Waterstones signing.
What's that coming over the hill? Is it a Monster Laptop Sleeve?
Why, it surely is. Made by Barry’s Farm, this Monster Laptop Sleeve blends boggly eyes and teeth with colourful fur and foam padding to give your laptop suitably scary protection from bumps and scrapes.
The best baby dummy you'll ever see. Ever.
Dummies (or pacifiers, if you’re from the US) are a controversial subject. For every parent who thinks they’re the devil’s babygadgets, there’s another who swears by them as a way to get some peace and quiet. Who’s right? Who knows.
However, everyone should agree that if you are going to stick a dummy in your toddler’s mouth, it needs to be this one.
Wake up with a BOOM with the Hand Grenade Alarm Clock
Explosives have no place in the modern bedroom. You can tempt someone back to your place by telling them you’re dynamite in the sack, but if that turns out to be actual TNT, you’ll be sleeping alone.
However, the Hand Grenade Alarm Clock is just about acceptable, seeing as it doesn’t actually wake you up by exploding in your face.
Nokia Music Store launching this Thursday
That’s right, Nokia’s wannabe iTunes-killer is set to go live this Thursday morning (7am GMT to be precise). It was revealed at a launch event for the Nokia Music Store tonight in London, where the company was offering hands-on demos.
Analysis: First thoughts on the 3 Skypephone
Today’s announcement of the 3 Skypephone wasn’t a huge surprise, given that rumours have been swirling round the blogosphere for a week or so. But now it’s all confirmed: a handset with Skype properly built in, complete with its own dedicated button.
20 trends defining virtual worlds in 2007
So, I spent two days soaking up presentations, viewing demos and talking to people at the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference in London last week. I’d label myself as an interested participant – I’m enthusiastic about the potential of virtual worlds – but nowhere near as steeped in their culture as most of the other attendees.
With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of 20 trends and ideas that I picked up at the conference, which seem to be the most important and/or interesting ones affecting the development of virtual worlds right now. They’re entirely subjective, of course, but I think they’re all valid points. See what you think…
1. Shedloads of virtual worlds will be launched in 2008. Although the conference saw a lot of discussion about Second Life, Habbo Hotel, Club Penguin and other existing virtual worlds, there’s clearly more where they came from. There’s a number of virtual worlds in closed beta, or still effectively technological demos, but they all seem to be targeting next year for launch.
Second Life is coming to your phone… in Japan
I tried to run the Second Life application on my much-loved Mac Mini the other day: you could practically hear its gears grinding. And I didn’t even know it had gears. It’s fair to say that you need a fairly ninja computer to get the most out of Linden Lab’s virtual world.
However, not for much longer: it appears someone’s working on a mobile phone SL browser. Check this on the TokyoZERO website. Yes, it’s entirely in Japanese, but you should be able to make out that a.) it concerns Second Life running on a phone, b.) Sun is involved (the people behind J2ME), and c.) it’s got something to do with mobile operator NTT DoCoMo too.
VWFE: What's the future for virtual worlds?
Phew. We’re at the final session of the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference, and my head is spinning from all the ideas buzzing around from the last two days. The final panel should provide a few more, since it’s focused on The Future. Where is all this going, and what will it mean for us punters?
We’re just getting the first William Gibson quote of the session. Who had 5.6 seconds in the sweepstake? Marvellous. First up, the panellists are going to introduce themselves. Professor Richard Bartle from the University of Essex says he co-wrote the first virtual world in 1978. “That’s all I need to say really.”
VWFE: The legal pitfalls of virtual worlds
Oh my. I’m at the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe still, and it’s about to get hardcore in a legal eagly way. The next panel session is ‘Legal and regulatory issues relating to virtual worlds’. In other words, can you get your avatar arse sued or arrested for something you do in virtualand?
First up is David Naylor, partner in the technology law group at Field Fisher Waterhouse, which actually has a Second Life office. He says the legal issues range from what exactly an in-world asset is, and who actually owns it (you, or the company that runs the virtual world).
