Those of you who have heard me on SecondCast know that my voice sounds very similar to the voice of James Earl Jones. So here goes ... *AHEM* ...

THIS ... Is SLNN.

Ok, I guess I sound more like a pixie on helium than Darth Vader, but you get my drift. SLNN is the work (in progress) of resident Doeko Cassidy who is promising "... breaking news reports and timely, unbiased information on events in SL."

So it's just like CNN, only with furries, robots, and blingers.

The site will be organized much like RL news pages with some virtual twists. Readers can expect to find sections for World, Politics, Economics/Business, Education, Content, Entertainment, and Sports.

Currently, the only source of Second Life news reported in a journalistic (rather than blogtastic) format is the Metaverse Messenger (full disclosure, i'm a MM advertiser.) The arrival of the Messenger was a welcome relief from spotty and highly biased reporting available in blogs and forums. But The Messenger was not without detractors. Some felt the Messenger's newspaper-style PDF format was cumbersome and difficult to read. Others felt the Messenger's monopoly on news could result in bias or skewed reporting.

It's doubtful that SLNN will compete directly with Metaverse Messenger as the two formats are completely different and will likely carry different audiences. But SLNN does promise to break the news monopoly and bring readers more choices. That's always a win-win.

SLNN is expected to go live near the end of October.