As the Electric Sheep Company continues to assimilate everyone cool in Second Life, they recently added the machinima juggernaut The Ill Clan to their already impressive flock. As you may know, Ill Clan has been part of the machinima scene for many years and is responsible for the popular Tra5hTa1k with ILL Will machinima talk show.
This video is now my favorite Second Life video of all time. You may remember me posting about the Lego Mindstorms project developed by the Electric Sheep Company late last year. This video takes that concept and delivers it in an over the top extreme format that is both authentically sincere and rib shatteringly humorous all at the same time.
My personal favorite part is how amazed the narrator sounds over the event taking place in both Second Life and the real world at the same time. I also found his interest in the robot attached to the guys face great. Oh, and he is proof that that the Mohawk hairstyle is alive and well.
Yesterday I mentioned that an Open Source Second Life server was available. According to Christian Westbrook's Baack to the Future blog you can download it now OpenSecondLife.org. The OpenSL project is looking to provide a single place to find all manner of Open Source Second Life projects, including libsecondlife.
The Source Code for the server is being distributed under the BSD License. However, It does not connect to the Second Life Main Grid in anyway. So, if you were thinking about avoiding the monthly fee and hosting an island in world, it seems you are out of luck.
[UPDATE: We're aware the image is missing; we're tracking it down as we speak and will return it to its proper place as soon as we've found it. Thanks for your patience!] If you haven't had a chance to play it yet, NBC Universal's Second Life Assassin game is still going on. You can still win some daily prizes and win your share of the L$1,000,000 they have been giving away to the winners. If you're not sure if this game is right for you, check out the promotional video above. It mixes shots from the game with the trailer to Smokin' Aces, the film the game promotes.
Check out the official rules on the read link. Also, if you win any money, let us know in the comments.
You may have noticed that CBS is one of the few companies that not only has a place in Second Life, but seems to embrace the culture of Second Life. Their island chain stands as a testament to what can be accomplished in Second Life if a company is willing to do more than just set up an island to use as a billboard style advertisement. That being said, CBS Corporation's President and CEO Leslie Moonves gave a press conference at this years Consumer Electronics Show. The press release, available on Yahoo Finance, states that "CBS's goal is to evolve from a one-way content and distribution company to an interactive audience company focused on Content Communities."
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.
NBC Football is putting on a game tonight between the Cowboys and the Eagles. It should be a good game, and more importantly it is kicking off a new weekly NBC event in Second Life. Tonight starting at 2 PM SLT the NBC Sports headquarters on Second City 3 will host the game in world with the help of the Electric Sheep Company.
The pregame festivities will give you a chance to discuss the match up with other interested parties. Stay around during the game and get a chance to play arm chair quarterback with a game of "Guess the Play." If you're good enough you could win L$25,000 at halftime and another L$25,000 in the end. Tonight is a beta test of this soon to be weekly in world event.
Giff Constable, VP of Business Development for the Electric Sheep Company, has a pretty interesting post on his blog, Out to Pasture. As you may know, MTV just launched Virtual Laguna Beach, running on the same software platform from Forterra Systems that powers There.com a popular competitor alternative to Second Life. What you may not have known is that the Electric Sheep Company worked with MTV and others to bring Virtual Laguna Beach to the computer screen. Also, the Sheep prototyped their There like popular culture mash up of technology and teen angst in Second Life. If you want to see this prototype it is now open to the public.
You can walk the boardwalks, go to the Muse (looks like a shop to me, but I haven't seen the show), watch the trailer, and even link to the final version of Virtual Laguna Beach. This prototype rendition of the virtual world is more of an opportunity to see the development process in action than a fully functional product. If the idea of reliving the experience of the show you're better off checking out the real thing.
By the way, I love the Sheep's blog names. I would call mine Woolly Moley if I had one. What would you call yours?
The next Kuurian Expedition meeting will feature Fred Parnon, CEO of Jnana Technologies. He will tell us all about the Jnana software platform and how it can be used to build and launch interactive expert systems in Second Life. Jnana Software has been around for 10 years and has developed a system to allow non-technical people to develop their own sales systems within Second Life and launch them on Jnana Island. You can check it out now, but there is not much there yet. The event will occur at the amphitheater on Learning.
Also if you show up early there is going to be a Future Salon at 6PM SLT on the 5th floor auditorium of Sheep Tower on Sheep Island. I will be featuring the presentation "balancing the deep creative possibilities of transparency and life logging with issues of privacy and control of person information" by Justin Hall and Mark Barrett. If you want to get some idea of what the talk will be about check out Justin's short, but awesome video about passively multi-player online gaming. Should be a fun night and I hope to see you all there. [thanks: Poinky Malaprop]
I heard about Jeff Pulver from a friend of mine who is ex-Bell Labs during a conversation about the sudden increase of "me too" games conferences popping up around the country. His comment was that lots of telecom conferences would pop up but no one could come close to Pulver. Jeff Pulver is a VoIP pioneer, and obviously a major player in the telecom conference circuit. His latest conferences Video on the Net is being held in Boston, MA this month. This conference is designed to showcase the current and future technologies that enable video on the Internet. Of course some of the most interesting uses of video on the Internet right now are happening in Second Life, so it couldn't be left out of the show. There will be a mixed reality presentation concurrent to the conference in Second Life. You can find it on the Pulveria simulator on September 12th at 6AM SLT.
The conferences are designed for people interested in the future of video on the Internet. Expect an interesting time (if you can get up early enough) as Jeff Pulver will be delivering the Keynote himself. Also, this appears to be only the tip of the iceberg. Look for future events in Second Life from Pulver because this event marks the opening of Pulveria, Pulver's new Second Life Conference Space. The Electric Sheep Company is also involved in the planning and execution of this event. Thanks: Hank Hoodoo / Jonah Gold.
If you missed the Second Life Home Run Derby that MLB.com did in conjunction with the Electric Sheep Company there is another chance to enjoy the thrill of going to ball game while sitting in a strangely uncomfortable office chair (that might just be me) than here is your chance. MLB.com and ESC are doing two more games later this month. Both games will reenact two real world games featuring The Boston Red Sox vs. The New York Yankees on Friday September 15th and again on Saturday September 16th.
The games will take place in a virtual Yankee Stadium and will have what I am assuming are the same tiny bobble headed players featured in the derby running, batting, pitching, and catching. Unfortunately the event will be limited to only 45 seats per game, and the tickets are not yet available. If you want to be one of the first to hear when the tickets go on sale, for the low price of L$500, join the group "Counting Sheep" in world. Thanks Hank Hoodoo / Jonah Gold.
Starwood Hotels, the parent company of Sheraton and Westin Hotels, is launching a new brand under the moniker Aloft. The new hotels hope to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack by providing loft like rooms with high ceilings, advanced technology offerings (MP3 docks, flat panel TVs, etc.), and a lounge scene designed to bring guests out of their rooms. To showcase this new hotel format Starwood partnered with the Electric Sheep Company to build a Second Life based preview hotel on Aloft Island. While you can't stay in the hotel, you can see what your room would look like, and determine the best seating location in the lounges for scoping out potential dates.
They are also blogging the build process as it progresses. It looks like a top notch build, but I am not sure I fully get it. How often do you shop around for a hotel beyond checking hotels.com or expedia.com? I never do. Unfortunately, this got me stuck in a horrible slum at last year's E3, but this was one bad experience in a life time of cheap uncaring hotel bookings. Is there really a market for hotel previews? I guess we will find out.
Last night I was surprised by a nice little three minute piece discussing Second Life on CBS. The story covered a large swath of ground from old standards like sky diving to more recent developments like Regina Spektor's in world location for promoting her music. While still providing the dark side with images of a stern Philip Rosedale threatening to call the FBI, as well as bringing up the RL murder in China over a virtual sword (which didn't take place in Second Life).
Jerry Bowen of CBS news put himself in the action with a virtual evening news desk to close up the piece. I was half expecting a virtual Katie to come Grief him, but it never happened. This morning I saw on Giff Constable's blog, Out to Pasture, that the ending machinima was put together by the Electric Sheep Company. The Electric Sheep Company is seemingly everywhere lately, but they are proving they have a right to be with the quality of the work they produce.
In the aftermath of last weeks Big Robot on Campus Lego event, The Electric Sheep Company announced one more official chance to enjoy your Alpha Rex Kit. Do to the short time frame building up to the event the Sheep decided to create a gallery on Sheep Island for all you stragglers who couldn't get done in time. To get your creation into the gallery submit by IMing Hank Hoodoo in world.
They are looking for a description, screen shot, and prim count, but also reserve the right to only display an image of your project. The best part is even if you don't get your creation fully displayed in the gallery they are going to send everyone who submits a free Alpha Rex key chain. (I love free stuff.) This all needs to get done by the morning of August 9th, so you better hurry. Oh, and if you don't have an Alpha Rex Kit, you can get one by joining the Big Robot on Campus Group.
I have recently been agonizing over how to afford my very own set of Lego Mindstorms. The new NXT version was just released and with the software being open source and the fact that Lego is the techie geek speak for crack, I can not help but stair longingly at the picture of the humanoid NXT robot wishing I had the 250 bones (USD not L$) to pony up. Well this upcoming event may put me over the top. On July 20th there will be an in world sneak preview run by the Lego Mindstorms' Big Robot on Campus program.
The event will take place on the Supernova Sim at 3:00 PM SLT. Expect to see video. have the chance to win RL Mindstroms T-Shirts, even participate in virtual Lego building, and connect with people at a live event as well. In fact, join the Big Robot on Campus SL group and get your own set of in world Lego blocks to build your own SL Lego inventions.
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As the Electric Sheep Company continues to assimilate everyone cool in Second Life, they recently added the machinima juggernaut The Ill Clan to their already impressive flock. As you may know, Ill Clan has been part of the machinima scene for many years and is responsible for the popular Tra5hTa1k with ILL Will machinima talk show. 
