One interesting thing that came out of SLCC was the revelation that it appears that Wired was not only trash-talking Second Life, but that the trash-talk was the goal and intent, quite independent of the realities.

Coca Cola's Mike Donnelly, Director of Global Interactive Marketing says that Wired's Frank Rose completely misrepresented his and Coca Cola's position on Second Life. It's a public dustup about lies and distortion in the media. Yummy.

Enjoy the show...

Or so they say. Metaversed's 57 Miles has the podcast up from the panel with Gartner. Attending were 57 Miles, Steve Prentice of Gartner, Robert Bloomfield of Cornell university's Johnson School, Fiona Gallagher, Sun Microsystems' lead in Second Life, and Joel Greenberg, VP marketing and innovation for Electric Sheep Company.

Skype was off for some hours around the time of the event so it was handled in voice. Miles has heroically edited it all together in a 50MB MP3. Go grab the audio file from Metaversed.

Without so much as a word from other Lindens until now, Torley LInden has commented on an earlier entry from today with a blog post. In the blog, they acknowledge that there have been some inventory issues, including the complete newbie wipe I am suffering, while linking to my original post about the issue. They offer some likely scenarios related to inventory issues and the steps to report them. Comments are turned off, which is probably a wise move considering how angry and scared some of the residents are.

Known victims of the wipe at this time are moo Money (me), Jaxi Morrison, wife of SLProfiles creator Yo Brewster, Tatiana Vanguard, and Forseti Svarog, of the Electric Sheep Company. If you are a victim of the newbie inventory wipe, please post a comment here and I will add your name to the list.

Start packing, because SXSW begins tomorrow, Friday, March 9th in Austin! It's going to be an action-packed five days of adventure and excitement, starting off with registration from Noon-8pm CST. Ooh, fun! I was advised to not even get in line for registration until at least 3pm, as it will be packed at first. From what I hear, there will be many parties to attend and lots of free booze, as well as some informational panels for those going to learn.

A whopping eight Lindens and three ex-Lindens will be attending, with some manning booths and others speaking on panels. I just found out that Urizenus Sklar, of the Second Life Herald, will be attending. An interesting tidbit is that his badge lists him as the Corporate Evangelist for Anshe Chung Studios. We also have a late addition to the attendee list. Christian Prior, of the Electric Sheep Company, is going! Are you attending the Interactive section of SXSW? Send me a message in-world and we'll exchange phone numbers! I'll be the short girl with the tall hair. See you there!

As some of you may know, I was involved in a project with Edelman and The Electric Sheep Company that was called The Grid Review. It started in Mid-December and there would be new episodes weekly. Nylon Pinkney was my co-anchor, with her playing the funny role to my serious one. It became apparent soon after that it was just impossible for one person to do the writing, filming, narrating, and editing work for a project of this size.

That is why I'm happy to announce that is now in the talented hands of the ILL Clan, which recently merged with ESC. With Trent Hedges writing and filming, the ILL Clan managing and editing, and Johnny Ming narrating, they're producing more than I would ever be capable of doing. In its new format, there will be one longer episode every Wednesday, where they'll feature regular segments.

While I am no longer involved in the project (I chose to take a break from opening an editing program), I look forward to seeing what they have up their sleeves. They've already released two episodes with more on the way! Check out their pilot episode and if you like it, don't forget to visit their site!

Cory Edo will be known to many of you. If she isn't her work surely is. As a member of the MDC Electric Sheep Company, Cory has worked on many public projects, and has also been interviewed on Secondcast. Even though she was officially on vacation, she generously gave me a little of her time to answer some burning questions. More after the jump!

How did you come to be with [ESC]?

Cory Edo: Well Makaio and I had our own development company back at the end of '05 called Tiny Seadog. We did mostly inworld stuff but a few RL projects as well. When ESC approached us about joining up, it was just getting to that put up or shut up point where I'd have to set up a business license, taxes, all that stuff, which I dreaded doing. So this seemed like a good way to be able to just concentrate on building and texturing and letting someone else handle the administrative aspects ... plus tracking down the jobs.

Following on the heels of their SL-driven commercial for Two and a Half Men, CBS Reuters announces that the broadcast company will participate in a $7 million dollar round of financing for the Electric Sheep Company, which has created builds for AOL, General Electric, NBC, and Viacom, as well as CBS itself.

While this is great news for ESC, it does make me feel a little leery that SL, already touted as the next iteration of the Web, is still following the pattern of the boom and bust of the late 90's. While it could be argued that there is more efficacy to supporting MDCs at this stage of SL's growth than there was in VC funding early websites with no real sustainable business model, the parallels are a little too close for comfort. Let's hope this doesn't turn into a 'CBS is doing it, so let's do it too' from other companies, only to have the whole thing fall apart like a badly-baked soufflé.

Apologies for the clunky title, but it says it all: I had the honor of being given a tour of the Rod Laver Arena build in SL, home to the Australian Open event, though closed to the general public. The lovely and witty Gizzy Electricteeth guided me around the substantial build, which she reveals was modeled as closely as possible after the RL Arena. It's a Great Build, so have a look at the results!

I wanted to do a year in review post, but I found another one that had everything I would have mentioned and more. Giff Constable (AKA Forseti Svarog) of the Electric Sheep Company has a very well done 2006 year in review post on his blog "Out to Pasture." He starts out with some good information on the incredible growth in 2006 and then follows with a month by month rundown. He even remembered to mention the launch of the Second Life Insider by AOL/Weblogs Inc. (Thanks for remembering us Giff).

Looking back it has been a great year in Second Life. Getting a cover story in Business week, reaching over a million residents (and then over 2 million), and the opening of Reuters in world are high points for me (I also like the addition of SLURLs). While the CopyBot incident and the website hack were definite lows. I look forward to next year and everything Second Life has in store.

Cory Edo of the Electric Sheep Company posted a fun tutorial on how to create ice textures. These textures are the perfect way to put those finishing touches on that holiday build you have been slaving over. I spent a lot of time in recent years living in the Midwest where scenes with ice and snow were a general mainstay and also a road hazard. I didn't think I would miss it when moving to Florida, but it is nice to get away in Second Life to see the snow covered plains and iced over lakes. While of course relaxing by the pool under a palm tree.

It is also nice to see companies like the Electric Sheep Company always giving a little something to the community. Actually building the texture is relatively simple if you have Photoshop. So, I don't want to spoil it here, but head on over to Cory's I work with Sheep and Pixels blog and check it out for yourself.

Tonight from 5-7 PM SLT or 8-10 PM EST NBC will host "Sessions Live from the Peacock Room," featuring Marc Roberge of O.A.R. and Robert Randolph of Robert Randolph & The Family Band. This live jam session will take place on NBC's Headquarters in Second Life on NBC 1 through NBC 10. The Electric Sheep Company is organizing the event, so you know it will be high quality. Also, if all else fails the event will be broadcast on www.VirtualNBC.com.

I have yet to head over to NBC's Island chain, but I am looking forward to seeing it. My understanding is that the show will be held live on one of their islands and fed through video to the others. Unfortunately, I am unsure which island will be holding the show live. If you find it, post it in the comments for others. Otherwise, come on out and enjoy the music, participate in live Q&A, and possibly even win a signed CD from the artists.

Yay! Having posted about this previously, I'm happy it finally came to fruition. Four Eyed Monsters looked like an interesting film, but it seemed like I wouldn't ever get a chance to see it, as it was only being screened in selected areas, depending upon written-in requests for showings. While this allowed the film's creators to keep their costs to a minimum, it also meant that you had to travel to one of the screening cities to see it, thus reducing the best form of advertising: word-of-mouth.

However, the Sundance Channel, with the help of the Electric Sheep Company, will create a screening room in SL to premiere the film to residents. For more information on the movie, go to the Four Eyed Monsters site. For more information on the build itself, go check out the Sundance Channel's blog.

(Via elitestv.com)

There's a new player in town, brushing up against Metaverse Development Companies like Electric Sheep Company and Rivers Run Red: Metaversatility! I'll let the press release speak for itself:

San Antonio, Texas, December 11, 2006 – As virtual worlds receive more and more serious media attention, it has become apparent that development and service companies are needed to build virtual spaces and brands. Metaversatility, Inc. was formed to meet this need. With five founding shareholders, Metaversatility brings a unique blend of skills and experience to the virtual world development sphere.

Metaversatility founders Adrienne Haik (known as Adri Saarinen in Second Life), Dr. Aaron Delwiche, Peter Haik (known as Peter Newell in Second Life), Dr. John Plevyak, and Matt Daly represent a combination of creativity, experience, and academic credentials. Other team members include Rebecca Small (known in Second Life as Haver Cole) as client liaison, Brian Hayes as sales and business development, and Inga Munsinger Cotton as general counsel. They are well prepared to serve the needs of both traditional and exclusively-virtual clients.

Metaversatility offers a full range of metaverse services that spans multiple virtual worlds. Equipped to work in Second Life, There.com, Multiverse, and Open Croquet, Metaversatility also keeps a close watch on developments in other virtual worlds as they emerge. Metaversatility specializes in promotions, branding, and application development as well as metaverse orientation and business strategy consulting. Recent clients include Creative Commons, PopSci.com, the Metaverse Messenger, ICANN, SL Bank, and Dublin in SL.

While excited about the possibilities of the broadening metaverse, the Metaversatility team is also concerned with the social and cultural implications of this expansion. As long-time metaverse residents, they feel it is vitally important to maintain the freedom of imagination and intellectual development virtual spaces often represent.

Metaversatility Inc. is incorporated and headquartered in the state of Texas. For more information about Metaversatility, the team, services offered, and a portfolio of work, visit http://www.metaversatility.com.

Congratulations, Adri and Peter! This couldn't have happened to nicer folks, and I look forward to seeing what you bring to SL!

The Electric Sheep Company have launched the Nissan Sentra car, along with four sims for driving in, and it is a triumph. Thought, time, effort, organization have gone into this project, and it shows.

If you are in the Counting Sheep group for Electric Sheep events, you will have received a copy of the car to try. If you are not, you simply have to IM Toast Alicious for a key, which will enable you to go to the vendor on the Nissan sims to get your own. The cars are customizable through a menu system, and so you can change the colour by clicking on the car.

There are four sims to try your driving skills at, with different terrains, with a linking bridge on one to help keep the speed up even when your draw distance is high. I know that vehicles have the reputation for being difficult to control and not much fun in SL, but these are different. Believe me!

October 19th will see the grand opening of Starwood Hotel's Aloft Island, previously posted here. In conjunction with Starwood Hotels, Sony BMG Music Entertainment will be holding a launch party at Aloft Island from 4 - 6 PM, SL Time. As a special bonus, Ben Folds (formerly of the Ben Folds Five) will play new material from his upcoming release, supersunnyspeedgraphic, at 5:40.

At 6 PM, Ben will greet residents at Sony's new space on The Electric Sheep Company's Media Island, which will feature Sony merchandise and streaming media from some of Sony's musicians. Residents are encouraged to preregister for the event to ensure a space by sending an email of their avatar's name to helpdesk @ virtualoft.com.

More and more RL recording artists coming to SL seems like a good thing. I wonder whose idea it was to bring in Ben Folds? I'm a fan, but know nothing about the man himself, or whether this sort of thing would be of interest to him. I won't be able to make it, but if someone reading this post does, do me a favor and ask him!

(Via Electric Sheep Company)