Caleb Booker

Business in Virtual Worlds

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Archive for futurism

The World Needs A Metcalfe

I tend to shy away from linking Terra Nova articles. They’re like flame-bait for intellectuals, and who really has the time for that? This latest from Bruce Damer (pictured, right), entitled Virtually Eternal: A Positive Pathway to a Healthy and Sustainable Virtual Worlds Industry?, is a real gem. It starts off as a general overview […]

Virtual World (In)Security

I happened across a Wired article yesterday entitled “Spies Want a Second Life of Their Own“. Long story short: some intelligence agencies (which seem to be multiplying; a new one is mentioned in the article) want a virtual world but can’t use Second Life because it’s insecure, and because they want to be able to […]

Second Life vs. Unreal 2004

MellaniuM is a small company that’s representative of a few hundred unsung hero companies of the metaverse, in my opinion. They fill a niche with virtual worlds technology in a way that can have a serious return on investment.
In their case, they create renderings of real-world constructions. You can walk around them, see how they […]

50 Invitations for 3D onlineworld Twinity

A moment of irony: watching Second Life video tutorials from Twinity.
I have a present for you. Twinity has given me 50 invites for their beta. Click here, and you’ll be there. Er… in Twinity I mean, not There.com… uh…
Virtual worlds ARE confusing, aren’t they? All the more reason to try one out I suppose! Come, […]

Spark on CBC Radio

Alright, I’m a very bad Canadian. I’m only just now discovering this incredible series. So sue me. Well… ok don’t sue me even though I’ve created this almost-logo above from some image snatched randomly on Google Image search, thus committing many an old-media faux-pas.
Spark is a radio show / podcast from the CBC, hosted by […]

Twinity’s Beta

Click for the full-screen version
I was reminded recently that Twinity was in open beta, so I signed up and took another look. For those of you not familiar it’s a Second Life competitor that has some real potential.
You customize your avatar in much the same way (except that you can upload a picture of […]

vBusiness Expo April 2008 - A Quick Look Back

Last night to my absolute joy I discovered that Draxtor Despres covered the vBusiness Expo:

More business than the Draxtor thinks - there is more business success in SL than the mainstream media thinks, heck, even premiere virtual journalist Draxtor Despres got it wrong last week with asserting non-profits are the only ones to gain traction […]

Global Justice - SL Style!

Draxtor Despres serves up yet another brilliant report, this time on The International Justice Center.

Video description: The International Justice Center opened recently in Second Life with a panel discussion featuring International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. What will the SL community do to further the cause of the forgotten and helpless of the world? Draxtor […]

The Pandora’s Box Of Voice In Second Life

Harper’s voice carries across worlds.
When Linden Lab was first announcing that they were bringing voice to Second Life, it bothered me. Actually, I was ticked right off.
For the most part I was just sick of the grid crashing, massive lag, and an overall disappointing experience around the grid. We kept complaining, and they kept rolling […]

Eight Metaverse Predictions For 2008

Here are my eight predictions for 2008. I’ve refrained from saying anything too vague or making the obvious “things will get faster/cheaper/better” predictions, but I left in one or two things that, while obvious to people “in the industry”, may not be completely obvious to those on the outside.
I’m pretty confident about the list. Hold […]