Here's a nifty thing, a breakdown of some major RL companies in SL, and their takes on how they're doing so far. Beware: Linkfest follows!

It covers Sky News, The Weather Channel, BBC Radio 1, Channel 4 Radio, Ben & Jerry's (???), Coca-Cola, the Avastar, CNet, Reuters, and Wired.

Ben & Jerry's is in-world? Have they created Virtual Vanilla? If not, hands off, it's mine! The best part of this article is that there's a quote from someone representing each company, and they're all pretty positive. I like things to be happy, don't you?

(Via theindependent.co.uk)

Remember how, back in April, I wrote about Coke's launch event, and we've also reported on how Coke is leaving according to Business Week? We must have reported on this Wired article too, but I can't find it.

Tateru wrote a short piece about Mike Donnelly's talk at SLCC as blogged by ESC's Joel Greenburg (remember ESC didn't do the work on this one, Crayon did) in which Donnelly states, as far as we can tell from the quotes given he regards the campaign as:

1. Not over
2. Already a success

But, the naysayers are out already... Tony Walsh on his blog is unimpressed by Coke's claim of a success, and has some numbers he regards as less impressive to back his ideas up.
Who do you trust here? Greenburg doesn't have a direct interest - he's not getting more business out of Coke, because he's not getting any at the moment and you'd have thought Coke would probably stay with Crayon if they really like what's going on. Donnelly doesn't need to say the campaign is a success if it's not - although no-one's mentioned an exact amount less than US$0.5M (as quoted from the talk) on an experimental campaign that fails isn't going to get him fired and Coke could just pull out. A little comment from reading both articles back-to-back had me thinking. Walsh criticises the campaign on the metrics he chooses "because activity around these Virtual Thirst web destinations has barely increased since I last checked back in early June" but Donnelly says "We rented space on Crayon Island for the duration of the campaign. There's no reason to build an island without a long term plan" and the analysis is about an event based campaign: "Like the real world, there are a variety of events marketers can sponsor in Second Life; they do not need to build a sim. It all depends on the marketing problem you need to solve and the strategies for solving it."

So, shortly after an event there's a rush of signing up to the various aspects of it, which then tails off - but I'm sure Coke will hope with their launch of the competition winner event there will be another rush of new material and interest. With this being their strategy, why is seeing this pattern of engagement indicative of failure? Or is there an axe to grind on one part?

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...

What do the wiimote and Second Life have to do with each-other? MIT research fellow David E. Stone thinks they're a match made in heaven. The wiimote's sheer obviousness and human usability is helping him build training simulations in Second Life for things like power plant operation, pest control and medicine.

While furniture, props, buildings and tools are relatively easy to make, the tools are just props unless you can use them. The wiimote is the key to doing that.

The advantage of the Wiimote is that it's a "human-centric device," says Eric Klopfer, a professor at MIT. A gyroscopic mouse, by contrast, "maps well onto the computer's interface, but not to the person's. The Wiimote fits the user. ... People know intuitively what to do with it when they pick it up because we use it like devices we are familiar with -- bats, rackets, wands, etc." -- Wired.

Pick up the full story at Wired.

According to this Wired article, Robert Schingler and Jessy Cowan-Sharp of NASA's Ames Research Center, will soon be opening up their CosmosCode project to SL residents. The CosmosCode project is a way for NASA to get people more involved in its projects than ever before, in what's being called 'Radical Transparency' -- where companies expose their inner workings to the public.

The article has more details, but I'll admit my first thought was 'This is a way to spread the blame when their next project fails'. I wanna be bullish on NASA, but they've been losing steam for a few years now. Maybe this will help provide the boost their rockets need to catapult their station into orbit!

That's quite enough space metaphor, and I apologize.

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.

Last night I posted about the Wired article, A Second Life for MTV, being available online now. If you haven't read it yet, you should. However, you should also keep in mind that MTV's Virtual Worlds are not actually implemented in Second Life. They are stand alone worlds that run on the same technology that powers There.com.

While this may appear self evident after reading the article, or visiting the official website for Virtual Laguna Beach, the article has left at least one reporter confused. Joe Lewis or Webpronews.com writes, "Avatars representing lead characters from the hit MTV series 'Laguna Beach' can now be found within the virtual world of Second Life." While the Virtual Laguna Beach prototype can still be found in Second Life it seems that the title of A Second Life for MTV does not tell the whole story.

Wired is now carrying its A Second Life for MTV article on its website. I posted about this article last week, as I felt it was worth picking up a copy of the magazine to read. I think it shows some real insight into MTV's online strategy while not sugar coating the follies the company has made along the way.

If you haven't already read the print version and you have a free moment head on over to wired and check out the article. It is another very interesting read from Mark Wallace.

You have probably already heard about MTV's new entries into the Virtual World space. With Virtual Laguna Beach, and Virtual The Hills already available, and more MTV show tie ins on the way, the popularity of MTV Virtual World endeavors is building quickly. As such, the latest issue of Wired Magazine (Feb 2007) has an article covering MTV's "Leapfrog" division, which is responsible for the creation of their Virtual Worlds.

While the article is titled, "A Second Life for MTV" the underlying technology is not Second Life, it is actually the same technology behind There.com. Mark Wallace, of 3PointD and the author of the article, states, "Compared to unfettered, user-generated worlds like Second Life, There.com gives users much less leeway to create their own objects, but it runs more smoothly, looks prettier, and gives developers tighter control over the economy and behavior of visitors - it was a perfect fit for MTV."

Wired reports on Second Life's must-have stuff. Hah! Sorry I am going to insist you go read it and then point and laugh like a schoolyard bully at the attempt. Obviously the drawing up of a top ten may lead to a few fist fights between bloggers, but I would say there are some significant omissions from the list -- which cheats anyway by trying to encompass "freebies" as one all-encompassing category. Freebies are a must-have? Hmmmm.

The fact is, no must-have list is complete without Starax's wand, which is no longer available since his precipitous exit from Second Life after the changes to temp on rez affected his product so badly. No one can pretend to know why he left in the way he did, but I think that had he left feeling good about the world, he'd have left his things on sale in SL. As it is, there is a flourishing second hand market in Starax statues and transferable stuff. They are the new antiques of the virtual world, with art galleries offering to buy them up from the lucky owners. The most coveted item is the wand, which is not available to anyone who doesn't have one already, as it is not transferable. Anyone who wants to see it is welcome to contact me, and we'll have a wand party, as I was fortunate enough to find one in my Christmas stocking last year.

Speaking of Wired, this just came down the pike: Must-have Stuff in SL. This is an impressive list, and does show that Wired seems to be taking SL seriously. First on the list is the incredible Translator HUD by Yossarian Seattle. Each item has a brief description, typically a quote from the creator, and its price.

Another nice thing about this article is that the privacy of the creators has been maintained. Too many RL media magazines require the residents to divulge their RL names or the piece won't be run. This is not only unnecessary, but irritating. I don't know whether Wired doesn't demand this out of respect for the creator's anonymity, or out of simple immersion, but it's a welcome change from the usual fare.

(Thanks, Ryan!)

This will be the online companion piece to our previously posted articles on Wired's recent SL Guide. What's interesting about this, to me at least, is this line: "Today, Second Life is second home to half a million people ... "

This article was just a few weeks ago! And we've hit the million user mark already! I think we can thank both Reuters and the Yahoo! mention for bringing in all the tons of new residents (or should I say 'new users', as they'll only really be residents if they stay). This is unprecedented growth, and LL is going to have to do some pretty quick catching up before the tide of newbies drowns us all! This is not to say that we're not happy to see you all, but quit shovin', wouldja?

Walking through my local Borders Books last night I noticed the October issue of Wired Magazine has just hit the shelves and written right on the cover is "Second Life: Our guide to the Web's coolest destination." Move over MySpace there's a new kid in town. I find this type of recognition to be much better than articles in Business Week because it says Second Life is really starting to seep into popular culture not just an interesting opportunity for entrepreneurs.

The thing is the article is pretty lacking. It had an abnormally large portion dedicated to having sex, and also featured people who have been banned from Second Life. Possibly not painting Second Life in its best light. Of course it did have a stunning picture of our own Aimee Weber (not having sex or being banned), and it is nice to finally see an article that doesn't harp on how great Anche Chung is.