Rezzable Introduces a Pay-to-Use Service

Gosh, this is the longest I've gone without posting to this blog - and on this occasion, you don't even get any pictures. Instead you get a long rambling prose piece - so good luck getting through it. Here we go....

Thanks to my chum Xantherus Halberd for letting me know via Twitter of this interesting blog post, concerning those inscrutable souls at Rezzable. Who? Oh come on... where have you been for the last year? Rezzable is a UK-based virtual world design and build company, who have brought us - or perhaps "have curated" would be more accurate - some of the most interesting sims on the Second Life grid. Their best-known sim remains Greenies, with its brilliant concept of a truly immense room infested by aliens. In fact, the company owns a large number of imaginative sims, many of which I have featured in this blog.

Anyway, it seems that they have grown tired of providing us ramblers, tourists and other freeloaders with free access to another of their great sims: Black Swan. Henceforth, visitors will need to stump up nearly 200L$ (about 40p or 80 cents) to acquire a HUD that will grant them entry. Anyone refusing to buy and wear the HUD will be ejected forthwith.

So why are they doing this? Their blog offers the following explanation:

"We are still exploring the right revenue model for virtual world content. We have merchandise that contributes some revenues. However,we have seen the interest in corporate sponsors (like L'Oreal Paris) evaporate. We think the best way to go forward is to charge for an object that can then be used many times for admissions. We realize that this may limit the number of visitors to the sim, but hope that high-quality areas are considered worth paying a little to see, explore and hang-out with friends."

(Thinks: But doesn't Kzero usually reference L'Oreal Paris as a success?)

When Rezzable first appeared there was a lot of conjecture about their business plan. There were making a significant investment in virtual real estate - and undertaking a lot of high quality (read: expensive) construction. Yet they didn't seem to be promoting or selling anything. My thought at the time - and I still think it valid now - is that they were looking to make A Big Splash and establish themselves, almost overnight, as a viable alternative to the established Big Boys of Second Life like, say, Electric Sheep and Millions of Us. But the L'Oreal Paris campaign aside (and that was never intended as a long term commitment, or so I understood), they have not exactly grabbed the corporate world by the lapels, spun it upside-down, and shaken the change from its collective pockets.

I am curious to know why not. At one time, say around 6 to 9 months ago, it looked like they might be getting into some commercial building work. But latterly Rezzable has resembled more of a "vanity project" than anything else. A harsh view perhaps, given that there are people whose livelihoods depend on it. But it seems Rezzable has not capitalised on that first eruption into Second Life, and has instead continued to spawn many interesting and arty sims that do nothing apart from (hopefully) putting the word "Rezzable" in people's minds.

So what about this new "money-maker"? If the sole reason for doing this was to try and get some money back to cover the outlay then I'd be inclined to question the sanity of the decision. But then, I'm a rambler and general freeloader, so I am bound to think that. There are so many amazing sims in SL that I'd sooner not pay for Rezzable ones, thanks, when I can enter the others Free Of Charge. I can get the gist of their exclusive, deluxe sims from Flickr and other bloggers, so I am struggling to see why I might then want to part with hard currency just to walk around them. This is not like RL, where I might spend half a day or more, wandering around a museum, gallery or historic site. In SL I am looking to be there for perhaps 15 minutes... and probably less.

But I don't think this is the sole reason why the HUD has been rolled out. I wonder if it is also a way of introducing a new pay-to-use solution that other SL entrepreneurs can buy off the virtual shelf. It's not a marketplace I've looked at, so I don't know if there is already a welter of such tools out there. But while the Rezzable HUD is currently set to be pay-to-use, based on a one-off payment, it would not take much further development to convert it to a one-off pay-per-use device instead. And there are many opportunities for such pay-per-use services.

Forgive my grubby mind, but for example a concept like this could work admirably for the... ahem... "Adult" market - a sizeable market in Second Life, let's face it. You can figure out how that might work, I'm sure. Similarly, you could use it as the basis for any ticketed event in Second Life - where the HUD = the ticket. Then you might have something...

But no doubt I've got it all wrong, and it's something totally different again. Let's see, eh?

Something Wrong with the State of Texas Instruments

Tonight I thought I would take one of my periodic peeks at the sims dotted around those belonging to Millions of Us. I have been aware of a Texas Instruments sim for many months, but on all previous occasions it has been closed. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find it open this time, and popped in for a look around.

The sim is actually advertising the company's DLP high-definition screen technology, and features a number of examples where you would see the benefits. There's also an attractive auditorium. As all of this is the work of MOU, the build quality is as you'd expect. And all of it is placed on a fairly small island in the middle of the sim. So far, so good.

Now for the not-so-good. I don't know when the plan is to open this island to the public - maybe it already is - but someone seems to have made a blunder with permissions. Right now, the island appears to be a Griefers Paradise. There seems to be no build restrictions at all, as far as I could tell, and all manner of oddities are already appearing... a helicopter, a luxury yacht, a few extraneous islands, a number of "money pyramids" and at higher altitudes there is more construction work underway. OK, to be fair, most of the "defacing" to date seems to be people treating the place like a perpetual sandbox. However, there are signs that less innocent souls are at work.

While I have had suspicions in the past about companies using "free to build" as a mechanism for driving footfall (I won't mention the events in question), I don't think that this is the case here. Besides, despite my cynicism and paranoia, I still err on the side of 'cock-up over conspiracy'. I will be mildly intrigued to see how this pans out.

Here's a few snaps (you might just make out the dodgy pyramids in the first picture):

Virtual Healthcare and Hospitals

I dunno... you wait months for a virtual health service, then 2 come along at once. In the space of only a couple of days we witnessed press announcements from both IBM and Cisco/Millions of Us, launching healthcare-related sims in Second Life.

I will deal with the IBM one first - since I am clearly not ill enough to gain access to the site in question: IBM Healthcare Island. The island, which debuted at HIMMS'08 healthcare conference, is described in the press release as "a unique, three-dimensional representation of the challenges facing today’s healthcare industry and the role information technology will play in transforming global healthcare-delivery to meet patient needs." It is split into a number of locations, ranging from the patient's home, to clinics, laboratories, hospital and the ER. The main aim is to show the use of Personal Health Records (PHRs), the interactions with Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems and the development of an Electronic Health Record (EHR). I am slashing the description to the bone here - read the extensive press release for more.

Perhaps ironically, given the currently closed status of the island, Dan Pelino, General Manager, IBM Global Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry says: "The island allows each healthcare stakeholder to envision how the total system can be affected by intercession at each juncture of the healthcare delivery process.” As a 'patient' I'd like to think I count as a 'healthcare stakeholder'. Oh well, in the meantime I will continue to take aspirin and plenty of liquids, while giving some consideration to...

PalomarWest Hospital. Where IBM appear to be using the 3D world to walk us through medical processes and information flows, MOU are using it as a visualisation tool, modelling a hospital that is not due to open in the atomic world until 2011. They have developed the visualisation on behalf of Palomar Pomerado Health and Cisco Systems who, between them, are developing a "hospital of the future" in which state-of-the-art ICT networks and systems will help deliver premium levels of patient care. You can read the press release to glean the features they seek to demonstrate in the virtual world, including "telepresence", robotics and 3D imaging.

The sim itself looks very impressive - though I could not quite get a handle on the scale. Nor could I get a reliable fix on the level of detail. Arriving in the car park, you are presented with the medical centre in all its proposed finery. As this is about visualisation, it should not have surprised me to find that so much of the centre was effectively shut. In large areas I could admire the outside, but not wander around the inside. In fact, I found my route heavily constrained. I could get into the ground floor lobby, and after picking up a RFID tag I should have been able to access treatment facilities. However, it told me these were in use (though I seemed to be the only person on the sim) so I can't comment on these. I may try another time. Incidentally, I was a bit surprised to be told that I needed to have my gall bladder removed - I certainly did not have that in mind when I came to the sim!

There's a couple of movies that talk you through some of the concepts of the hospital, while also promoting the joys of Cisco wifi access. Maybe it was my inability to actually obtain treatment, but I saw none of the features listed in the press release. Perhaps they are still being worked on, since I did notice a basic cube prim on the stairs leading up from the lobby. Oh... it would be nice if the wheelchairs worked too. Overall I liked the sim, and can see that it is a big step ahead of 2D presentations when trying to imagine how the place will look and operate. However, I'm not sure that the press release bears much resemblance. I suppose I'd better go back and get that gall bladder whipped out.

Here's some views of the outside:


The lobby and the basic, cube prim:


A Cisco wifi access point - and and infomercial:


You can find out more about the proposed Palomar Medical Center West here.
You can download a .WMV format video for the virtual hospital here.

Oh...and finally - I couldn't help but notice, in checking through press releases, that Cisco has just established the rather wonderfully entitled Academy of Digital Signage. I dunno... it tickled me, anyway.

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UPDATE: I am given to understand that the IBM Healthcare island should be opening to the general public in a few weeks. So just wrap up warm and avoid chills until then.

Al at Alcatel Lucent

Not far from the Splenda island I featured in the last post, you will find Alcatel-Lucent. Given that both companies are clients of MillionsofUs, this is hardly surprising; MOU seem to want to keep their clients close in Second Life, and their own islands are within a virtual stone's throw.

As usual, before I cover the island,I should give you a potted description of the company. Alcatel-Lucent "provides hardware, software, and services to telecommunications service providers and enterprises" worldwide. Though originating in France, and still headquartered in Paris, the company is truly multinational, employing around 80000 people in 132 different countries and raking in over 18billion Euro a year. While I was there a visitor from US rivals, Cisco, popped in for a look.

As is often the case with MOU islands, I seem to spend ages trying to get into them, give up for a while and then come back to find they've been open for weeks, or even months. Alcatel-Lucent island fits this model perfectly. I finally went back there last night, only to find it has been open to the public for well over a month. In fact, I've nearly missed the opportunity to take part in their competion - but more of this anon.

The island itself is divided into a number of pods, linked by walkways to a central tower, in which you will find an auditorium. The intention is to highlight the role of the company in various circumstances: home; office; partnerships. There's a lot of nice furniture and lighting, and a variety of displays, telling you about how important you are to the company and blah. A nice touch is the presence of a small public sandbox. Freebies come in the form of a T-shirt (meh) and a folder containing I don't-know-what, since I didn't pick it up.

While I can't claim to be bowled over by the island, it is well built - as you would expect. I don't know whether there is a schedule of events for the auditorium, so perhaps the "social stickiness" of the island relies on the presence of a sandbox, and the aforementioned competition - but more of this anon. I must have got something from the site, since I did take a sheaf of photos:



The pods:


Indoors:


So what about this competition, then? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here is the basic info from the notecard available on the island:

Imagine it is the year 2017 and you have the power to create the ideal technology and devices that would fit your lifestyle in your virtual and real-world lives. Technology that would allow you to socialize, communicate, entertain yourself and your friends, get and share information and content, and/or manage appliances and devices in your home.

The Alcatel-Lucent Second Life Island is all about imagining the future and making it happen now. We are opening up our sandbox to the residents of Second Life to inspire them to come up with the future of what the next generation of wireless can bring. This is a call for Xtreme innovation!

Imagine:

• Latency (lag) problems are a thing of the past (wireless and wireline)
• Devices are creative flexible and can be designed to meet your needs (oh, and they are affordable too)
• Wireless streaming of audio and video in real time for unlimited time periods with quality levels equal to the best HDTV
• Always-on wireless connection with simultaneous use of both voice and data
• Or how about having your household appliances, car, laptop, and mobile devices have the ability to talk to each other and send data remotely (and yes, this is all really easy to do)

We want you to submit your ideas! Show us the awesome device or technology that would just make your Second Life…or real life, so much better.

If your killer idea wins, you will get 50,000 L$ (about 200 USD or £100), while Alcatel-Lucent get the IPR on your idea, from which they hope to make millions. Good, eh? You have until December 1st to submit your ideas. Personally, I'm keeping mine to myself.

Splenda

In the main, Second Life is peopled by a disconcertingly large number of gorgeous avatars - male and female, human and non-human. However, behind each avatar there is a person, sitting in front of a computer screen, somewhere in the real world - and, I am sorry to say, almost certainly not as gorgeous as their avatar. The average SL user, if such a beast truly exists, is usually defined as a tech-savvy, nerdy 30-something with high disposable income. In fact, just the sort of person to have an office job and a generally sedentary lifestyle - with the attendant expansion of waistline that tends to imply. And hence just the sort of person at whom the artificial sweetener Splenda might be targeted.

California-based virtual worlds agency, MillionsofUs, are responsible for bringing the synthetic sugar to our synthetic world a month or so back. They have taken the "cartoony" option in building the Splenda sim, a route that has already been used (not by them) for Vodafone, Ben&Jerry's ice cream and Nestlé's Nesquik. The island has 3 primary structures: a tall glass of something pink and gloppy, topped off with lemon slices; a tall glass of something pale yellow and semi-transparent and a large coffee cup, tipped on its side. Should the fancy take you, there are giant straws down which you can slide, or you can take a ride on a giant lemon ferris wheel. Scattered between the structures are brightly coloured flowers, fruit and assorted confections. The tipped-up coffee cup contains a cafe, with indoor and outdoor seating.

I rather liked the look and feel of the place, and took far too many photos, which I will inflict on you now. I would also like to thank my friend, Lem Skall, for his photos - but more of this in a moment.



Assorted confections:


Lem and the lemon ferris wheel...


Lem's photos:


In terms of functionality there appear to be a few glitches. The "straw slides" did not not work too well, particularly the curly one. I followed instructions to switch off animation overrides, but the slide seemed to stick half-way down. Also, the seating inside the cafe gave me a problem - on standing up I was unable to move (see the last photo above), and had to TP out and back.

Initially, I was struck by the pleasantly cartoon-y nature of the island, but the more I looked, the more baffled I became. Just what is the point of it? There isn't a great deal to see or do here - one visit and you're done. OK, it makes you aware that Splenda exists, but as this sim did not leave me with a burning desire to return, I am not sure that is enough (I knew Splenda existed already, thanks).

The proposition for keeping your attention, and encouraging you to engage with the site, is a competition. You can find out all the details here, but the gist is: you have until 30th November to "create something for all Second Life residents" - a wide brief indeed! The winner gets a 3-night stay at Canyon Ranch in Tucson. A team of judges will select a shortlist, but the actual winner will seemingly be determined by Second Life residents through an open vote. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Whether this has justified the cost I don't know, and I guess I never will find out.

Virtual Worlds in the Far East

2007 has been a busy year for virtual world announcements in the Far East, so I thought I would take this opportunity to give you a quick roundup of some of the more recent ones that nearly managed to slip through my net. As usual, big thanks to Virtual World News for putting me on their trail. I don't pretend that this is, in any way, a complete list - but it is a start.

Second Life in Korea
First, let's step back a month, to October, during which Linden Lab announced that, as part of their Global Provider programme, T-Entertainment would be providing Second Life services in Korea. I can't find out much about this, but I assume that the large cluster of "sera Korea" sims in Second Life, which depict a map of Korea, are being constructed to tie in with this. According to Noneget Barnes, head of Korean Second Life build company Acid Crebiz, "sera" translates as "sl", so these sims therefore come out as "SL Korea." Y'see? It all seems to fit!

If you are not familiar with it, "the Second Life Grid Global Provider program is designed to assist international online communities in creating their own presence on the Second Life Grid. This program has significant requirements, obligations, and programme fees. It is only available to operators of existing online communities outside the United States. The Second Life Grid offers many international experiences outside of the Global Provider program, which anyone can support or join... The Global Provider program assembles custom resources, support lines, and localizable content for these operators to help them establish a unique presence on the Second Life Grid." I don't have a clear view of how many such providers already exist, but I did post some months ago about Kaizen Games in Brazil, which I believe was the first.

Incidentally, whether this is a coincidence or not, Cyworld have announded that they will be going 3D in 2008. An amusing volte face following their recent dissing of 3D virtual worlds as requiring too much computer grunt and bandwidth. Now, showing a somewhat remarkable absence of comprehension, SK Communications CEO,Shin Cho, has added: "The key difference between Cyworld 3D and Second Life is that... Second Life mostly provides ready-made content, while Cyworld 3D will focus on providing user-created content."

Second Life in China
You may recall there was some concern in SL circles earlier in the year, when Linden Lab failed to secure the Chinese state-sponsored contract to deliver a massive virtual world. The contract went to Mindark and their Entropia Universe, instead. However, during November, Virtual World News revealed that Linden Lab are, nevertheless, actively engaged in China, through the services of RTMAsia, a firm specialising in "Asian business acceleration to global technology companies." After a little digging I found that the announcement of this relationship dates back to August 2nd. Under the terms of the agreement, RTMAsia will act as direct representatives for Linden Lab in China, responsible for the development of business partnerships, management of business operations and liaison with media and industry bodies. On this basis, it seems that RTMAsia are acting more like local agents than a full-blown global provider partner. Several people have tried (and failed) to get Linden Lab to come clean about a possible office in China. However, given the nature of the relationship with RTMAsia I can see that such a step may not be necessary at this time. As Redline China put it: "Linden Lab is likely to face various difficulties in China such as government regulation, low user awareness and lack of marketing and distribution channels." It strikes me that RTMAsia is the company they have chosen to help steer a safe route through the pitfalls of working in China.

HiPiHi Partnerships
HiPiHi have announced that Intel will be launching an island in their virtual world today, 22nd November. Apparently the HiPiHi grid runs on systems powered by Intel Xeon processors. In addition, Worlds in Motion informs us of two more partnerships for the Chinese virtual world: Centric, an agency specialising in social media and virtual worlds, and 3Di, a Japanese virtual world content and service provider. The successful virtual worlds build and consultancy company MillionsofUs announced their partnership with HiPiHi back in October. Both MOU and Centric are expected to pull their impressive client lists into the virtual world, while 3Di will be offering building services. Incidentally, you may recognise 3Di as the authors of the Movable Life browser-based, text interface for Second Life.

That's enough for this post... but I know I've barely scratched the surface. Updates on the plethora of Chinese virtual worlds will need to wait for another day, as will consideration of what is happening in Japan. Roll on, 2008!

Leo Burnett - They're Grrrreat

Leo Burnett is one of the biggest names in advertising, famous for devising such icons as Tony the Tiger, the Jolly Green Giant and (ahem) Marlboro Man. Although the man himself died in 1971, the company that bears his name has continued to thrive, spreading from its headquarters in Chicago to become a worldwide company.

I've known there was a Leo Burnett island in Second Life for almost as long as I've been a resident. It nestles within the embrace of the Millions of Us archipelago, but has always been off-limits to outsiders. Or at least that is what I had assumed. After many failed attempts to gain access, I gave up trying months ago. But it seems that something has changed in the intervening period, and the island is now open to visitors - and I can wholeheartedly recommend the trip.

First inklings of a Second Life presence came in September 2006, with the announcement that the company was setting up an "info hub" for its 2400 "creative staff." Whether it has been successful in this, I have no idea. My guess is that it may well have fallen short of early expectations, since a Second Life presence needs a regular injection of activity to keep it lively - and I have seen and read nothing to indicate that this has happened.

The build itself is strange and wonderful. At its heart is a truly stupendous tree, in and around which the human elements of the build are arrayed. I can't even guess at the purpose of some of the features, while others are more straightforward, with cosy meeting areas dotted around the site and a large auditorium located in the centre of the tree itself. There is an extensive (if slightly confusing) teleport system to take you between locations. There is something oddly - and pleasingly - "cartoony" about some parts of the site, and there is a strong sense of play at work. Having spoken with friends about it, it is clear that there are many hidden gems to discover. Anyway, here is a large set of pictures for you to peruse, and hopefully get some sense of the place:

The Tree House


Inside the Tree House


Ummm... yeah


Peering into round things


Unless the message is so subtle I missed it, I don't see this place as promoting Leo Burnett. I found no in-yer-face advertising material, or links to their website. In fact, it does look like it was designed for internal company use only. Which begs the question: "why is it open now?"

I would like to think that the company wants to share its clever and witty site with the rest of Second Life. However, I also aware that the site is coming up to its first anniversary, and there is a nagging thought in my mind that perhaps this opening to the public is actually its swansong. Will it still be here in 2 or 3 months time? I hope so.

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UPDATE: I take it all back. Looks like I've not been trying hard enough as this place has been open for ages (thanks Grace). Which makes it even more interesting to determine why it is so under-promoted, and this from an advertising agency! Ideas on a digital postcard, please.

Cieffe are Watching You

It seems like ages since I've swung by the Millions of Us cluster of islands, so I have been unaware of the build for Cieffe, whose strapline: "We power your eyes" initially struck me as somewhat surreal. When I Googled for information about Cieffe in Second Life I found precious little - no press releases or, indeed, little in the way of blogposts. So I will have to fly blind on this one.

Cieffe's line of business is "the design and implementation of digital technologies in Integrated Security Systems." They seem to have a particular focus on CCTV, hence the strapline. Headquartered in Italy, they now have offices in a number of countries, including Benelux, New Zealand, Australia and Dubai. Of particular relevance to me, as a Brit, is the fact that they also have UK offices. For those who don't know - the UK allegedly has the World's highest ratio of CCTV cameras to people. In November 2006 the BBC reported that the number stood at 4.2 million, or 1 for every 14 people. The number will have increased since then. And does all of this make me feel more secure? haha... if only.

The Cieffe build is in 2 parts. The first part happens at ground level, where you will find the presentation area: a number of rather elegant buildings, each dedicated to one aspect of their product portfolio. The second part happens at around 300 metres up. A teleport takes you to a "city scene." It's a rather odd city, since about 25% of it is airport, and it also has some kind of petrochemical works stuck in there too.

The Ground Level:


The City Level:


I like the architecture on the Ground Level - clean, simple and, as I said earlier, elegant. The site is not going to win any awards for innovation - but it does tell you all you need to know about Cieffe products, and I guess that meets the client's brief. For me the City Level is less satisfactory. At first sight it looks quite cool, with a well-constructed city street scene. However, the petrochemical works and airport seem shoe-horned in, and there is a general lack of information to explain why this whole level exists. It doesn't seem to serve any obvious social function, while if the intention is to show off the use of the products, I think it falls short in this department too. Maybe it is not yet completed - in which case I would expect a lot more information to be provided here.

New York and Virtual Entertainment - it's a Meme Thing

Every so often I pick up on a common theme running across Second Life. In the past it's included "German cities" and "virtual recruitment". These themes or memes (as I prefer to misuse the term), though no doubt long in the conceptualising, seem to burst forth in a spookily synchronous fashion at a number of locations. Perhaps the hottest meme of Autumn 2007 is also the most complex that I've seen to date: New York and Virtual Entertainment.

Within the space of only a few weeks, 2 of Second Life's major construction and consulting companies - Electric Sheep Company (ESC) and Millions of Us(MOU) - will have launched 3 different models of New York to vie for your attention. Furthermore, each of these is tied in with the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry.

So let's consider the options:

New York #1
First up, we have ESC's "I Am Legend" site, designed to tie in with a movie of the same name, that is due for release by Warner Bros in mid-December. The movie trailer suggests to me a remake of the old Charlton Heston sci-fi classic(?) "The Omega Man," though it seems both are derived from a 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson. In the new movie, Will Smith plays the last surviving human in New York following the release of a rather nasty man-made virus. His only companion is his faithful pooch. Unfortunately for him, the city is also populated by mutants, who are not that keen on him having the run of the town. It's a classic "man vs mutant" tale.

As part of the marketing for the movie, ESC and Warner Bros have launched the biggest (movie tie-in) game yet seen in Second Life. It has its own orientation zone for newcomers, together with a game orientation zone where you can opt to play human, dog, mutant or mutant mutt. You should then undergo a set of training exercises before you reach the bridge that takes you over into the game zone of New York itself. Being a self-confessed coward I made my excuses and left at this point. No SLURL for this - but if you use MAP SEARCH and look for "IAL" you won't go far wrong. Oh... nice textures by the way... if a bit laggy.



New York #2
Next, and also from ESC comes the interworld game / programme / entertainment behemoth of CSI:NY. This was blasted all over the recent Virtual Worlds 2007 Conference, and launches in Second Life on 24th October. Bookies are still taking bets on the exact moment that the grid will crash. In an Omega Man kind of way, I may be the only person left on the planet who has not seen, and is not particularly interested in, CSI:NY. However, this is ground-breaking stuff for virtual worlds, where the linear narrative of the Real Life TV show intermingles with the gameplay and narrative in Second Life to produce some kind of Ultimedia extravaganza.

If you want a more complete story about this, you are best off popping along to Ugotrade, which has reams of top notch info for you.

Not only will there be orientation zones and game sims, but to make life easier for newcomers to Second Life, the Sheep are also launching their own, browser-based viewer: OnRez. Personally, I might give CSI:NY a miss - but I'm looking forward to trying the new viewer. For many of us this might solve some of issues we have with the standard Second Life viewer. A number of my colleagues, for example, are unable to run SL on their work-supplied laptops owing to issues of memory and, more often, graphics driver compatibility. This might be the solution.

New York #3
The third version of New York comes courtesy of MOU. This is a virtual version of 7 square blocks of the Upper East Side, and has been built as a tie-in with "Gossip Girls" on behalf Warner Brothers and the CW Network. This is described as a teen drama, based on a novel series of the same name. An article in wikipedia describes it thus: "Gossip Girl revolves around the lives of socialite young adults growing up on New York's Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions while dealing with sex, drugs, and other teenage issues." Yeah...well... whatever. I did visit the site a few weeks ago, but didn't take any pictures. So I am afraid you've had to put up with this rambling narrative instead have been back and snapped these:



The show first aired in the USA on 19th September, 2007 - followed a day later by its launch in Second Life. In a blog post dated 20th September, MOU boss, Reuben Steiger, said: "[soon] we will start a very interesting social game that will take place in the city." More recently MOU announced The Gossip mobile, a heads up display that lets you to see the style, coolness rating and status of the people around you. Here's a video tutorial if you find this to be this season's must-have accessory. Hmmm...

So there you go... 3 New Yorks for you to explore, play in and reach your own conclusions.