To run the risk of alienating my readers, I'm going to provide you with this link, and tell you that the first thing I thought of was teledildonics.

Even if you've never heard that word before, you know what it is. Honestly, is it just me, or is the first application of a virtual-to-real appliance interface NOT going to be a way to stimulate a partner over the Internet? Oh, sure, I suppose you could get excited by the thought of turning your homes' lights on and off remotely from work. It might be thrilling to think of turning on your air conditioner from your cubicle so that things are nice and cool by the time you get home. Or even, I suppose, manually engaging your security system to scare off that intruder you see lurking around your outdoors webcam.

But c'mon ... with the right rig, one-handed cybering could be a thing of the past. You will go to bed tonight thinking about it.

(Via domain-b.com)

Virtual worlds division of Dutch media company Boom BV, 3Dutch.com, have announced that they have purchased Amsterdam from Stroker Serpentine.

Stefan Waydelich, an avatar of a Boom BV representative said "We acquired Amsterdam to gain experience with the virtual 3D environment on the internet which is a completely new addition to our existing internet activities. With the acquisition of Amsterdam, we can expand and built[sic] further one of the most exciting and entertaining platforms already out there on Second Life."

The sale of sim Amsterdam by Stroker Serpentine to would-be new owners the Nedstede Groep, has fallen through due to differences over intellectual property rights and obligations in the contractual stage. The new buyers apparently did not fully understand the intellectual property rights situation with the established tenants.

Serpentine told us, "Basically the buyer's attorneys thought they could get full exploit rights to all the content on the sim ... animations, textures and scripts ... we said no ... every Merchant/Builder/Scriptor will retain their own rights." The buyers wanted yet more surety from tenant-renters in the Amsterdam sim which impressed nobody, "They also wanted contractual agreements from the Merchants that they would remain after the sale."

Serpentine feels that this is Nedstede Groep's loss, and will be offering Amsterdam for sale again quite soon. Stay tuned.

And I don't mean with a talking penis, either. Wired Magazine's sex columnist Regina Lynn had the opportunity to speak with Stroker and ask him something that we talk about in the podcast: who bought Amsterdam?

Stroker also talks a bit about his other work: Eros, and Strokerz Toys. I'm really interested in what's going to happen with Amsterdam now that it's been sold, and I hope to talk with Stroker myself and delve a little bit more into what went into his offering it for sale.

This will be a recurring feature, every couple of weeks at first, featuring an interview with a prominent resident or associated media figure, and discussion of recent news stories. For our inaugural 'cast, we spoke with Nethermind Bliss, one of the coordinators of the upcoming SLCC 2007. I'm joined by Aimee Weber and moo money, and a blast was had by all!

Please feel free to drop your comments and questions; if we like them, they could get a mention on our next episode! Enjoy!

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Today in Second Life we had:

• 26,899 new signups bringing us to 4,896,019 signups total. The five millionth signup is expected in 2 days, 19 hours at the current rate of signups.
• A peak concurrency of 36,214 at 3:13PM, and a minimum concurrency of 17,486 at 1:16AM. Average concurrency for the day was 25,937.
• A rack of 160 simulators was taken offline for an unexplained network upgrade, from 4pm to 6:30pm. We don't know if the matter was cabling, network cards, router, switches or other. Residents report generally improved performance in those sims subsequently.
• A rolling restart deployed simulator bugfixes from 10:50am to 2:20pm
• The sim Amsterdam, belonging to sex-industry entrepreneur Stroker Serpentine went up on the eBay auction block, bids starting at US $20,000.
• The Reebok sim re-opens after being mysteriously closed for two weeks, with a brand new clothing line.

The sim of Amsterdam has come up for sale on the auction block at eBay. Starting bid, 20,000 US Dollars, or for 50,000 USD you can own it outright, this second. I wouldn't wait though. Sim Amsterdam is the very definition of hot property, in more than one sense.

The whole move comes as a bit of a surprise, so the first thing we did was grab the legendary Stroker Serpentine for a quick chat, and to make sure that it was a legitimate sale, rather than a fake or a prank. Serpentine confirmed that it was indeed on the level.

If you're an Australian, you know the ABC's (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) program, Four Corners. You probably nod and look thoughtful thinking of the in-depth coverage of important and sensitive issues covered by this long-running Australian icon.

If you're anything like me, though, that's probably tempered by some cringing at the pieces by Ticky Fullerton -- to be honest, I mostly laugh, but I do rather feel sorry for the people and organisations she covers. Four Corners is airing a piece by Fullerton on Second Life this coming Monday.

Created by Stroker Serpentine, and his able partner Fyre Raine, sim Amsterdam started out as a single sim, that has since grown into a network of 11 sims, with no apparent end in sight. One of the first things that really stands out about Amsterdam is the attention-to-detail. It feels very much like a real place, with signage, advertising, imperfections and litter.

Benja Soon said it made him miss the real Amsterdam, and lauded the accuracy of the design, "If the map went two more blocks to my right, I could visit my old apartment."

Within a week of it opening the stores were already beginning to fill up with hopeful sellers, and the streets and skies started to fill up with visiting avatars. Throughout 2006 the inhabitants, visitors and vendors of Amsterdam have refit and reinvented themselves again, and again. Amsterdam is always busy. In fact it is one of the busiest places in Second Life. Not just because of the realistic feel, but because of the undeniably mature atmosphere.
(Mature content below the fold)

Stroker Serpentine has started a group to represent creators in Second Life. It's free to join, use search/groups/sellers guild to find it. Read about the aims of the group in Stroker's post to the forum.

One of the astounding things for me, on joining SL, was the idea that I would retain copyright in anything I made in world, and could choose to sell, give away or keep it to myself. I pretty soon started building, and made a candlestick which I still see all over SL. Originally I made it as a freebie and publicity for the game I was making in the Game Development competition, but that was outlawed by a change to the rules, and so I stopped. By then, as it was mod/copy/transfer, it was already propagating all over SL.

However, I have found that same candlestick for sale in innumerable places over the last two years. I have made a lot of freebies in SL, and I have found a lot of them being sold in yard sales and shops all over the world.

Some people -- notably Prokofy Neva -- consider any attempt to prevent people selling freebies as misguided, and doesn't see anything immoral in that. There are some shops which have more or less made it their business to resell freebies to unsuspecting new people. But I see it as tantamount to fraud ... the object can be obtained for free if you know that, but you may be conned into paying 100 lindens for it if you don't know it.