I try to avoid hyperbole with new product announcements but it's hard to avoid at least some excitement over today's Google announcement of Lively, its virtual worlds product. A Second Life killer it's not, but at the very least Lively is likely to be a key driving force towards mainstreaming virtual worlds. You can view the demo here: Is it original? No - there's dozens of … [Read more...] about Google Lively – be excited?
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IBM and Linden Lab take the next big step for (virtual) mankind
As announced on the Linden Lab blog today, IBM and Linden Lab have successfully teleported avatars from the Second Life preview grid to an OpenSim virtual world. Some video of the event below or read the FAQ for future plans: It's another noteworthy step toward the holy grail of virtual world interoperability. Linden Lab state they'll have their own Open Grid beta this … [Read more...] about IBM and Linden Lab take the next big step for (virtual) mankind
Aqros: virtual worlds on your mobile phone
I received a note today from Dr. Yesha Sivan, founder of Metaverse Labs. He pointed me to some progress made on a mobile client for virtual worlds - Aqros (across). Second Life is the focus of the initial development, with Aqros up to its first beta version. This slideshow summarises how it works nicely: Dr Sivan blogs further on the development here. Although there's no … [Read more...] about Aqros: virtual worlds on your mobile phone
Twinity – what is it good for?
“Twinity – the virtual world that mashes up the real with the virtual world”, proclaims their website. However, Twinity is no more of a mashup of the real and virtual worlds than any other virtual world. It's a world of real people meeting other real people, filled with real digital content, all set against a backdrop of digital representations of real places and places that … [Read more...] about Twinity – what is it good for?
World of Warcraft to be overtaken as largest world?
Wagner James Au, writing for GigaOM, gives some interesting details on teen virtual world Habbo Hotel's ongoing growth. With 9.5 million active users it's sneaking up on WoW's more than ten million. Any Habbo users out there that want to talk about its appeal? … [Read more...] about World of Warcraft to be overtaken as largest world?