1. VentureBeat (USA) – Intel and Nokia launch joint research on mobile 3D virtual worlds. “Smartphones have barely entered the 3D age, but Nokia and Intel are already racing ahead to do research on enabling 3D virtual worlds on mobile computing platforms. The two companies are announcing today a research center (pictured below) at the University of Oulu in Oulu, Finland, that will work on the technology required to make the mobile 3D virtual world possible.”
2. CNET (USA) – Virtual farm games absorb real money, real lives. “Last century’s cash crops included tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane. Now we have magic cauliflower and super berries, too–and even though they can’t be sold at market, some people still toil from dawn to dusk cultivating them. People spend not just real time but also real money growing these crops in virtual farming games that combine the allure of both games and social networking in what is usually a cute and deceptively simple package. They can be addictive: many users come back at least once a day to micromanage their farms and deal with other users’ requests. On average, the users of these types of games are spending anywhere from a few minutes a game to the greater part of an hour. Indeed, one individual who CNET spoke with said that it’s all she does between waking up and going to bed–and that’s every every day of the week.”
3. Huffington Post (USA) – Getting Physical in a Virtual World. “We’ve been talking about the ability to bring physical objects into the virtual (internet) world for quite a while now. Discussions have ranged from simply tagging physical objects and allowing humans to then attach metadata (something similar to what StickyBits does), to allowing objects the ability to be automatically tracked and to subconsciously attach and transmit metadata based on usage, location etc. There has been some speculation around Facebook’s dive (possibly called ‘Presence’) into this largely untamed world especially with reports of tests done during its F8 conference. As a marketer and a part-time anthropologist, I want to bring a cultural perspective into understanding what it might take for this marriage between the physical and virtual worlds to become a reality in our everyday lives.”
4. MediaPost (USA) – Virtual Goods Worth More than Real News: Curmudgeon. “I usually try to avoid making any statement involving the words “society,” “values,” or “priorities” — nouns which are all so vague as to be almost meaningless. I also usually don’t see any point in judging what other people do with their time or money, as long as they accord me the same indifference. But a recent realization has prompted me to (oh no, here it comes) question society’s values and priorities. Basically, it dawned on me that Americans will soon be spending more money on imaginary objects than the news. In fact, they already do. According to various estimates and forecasts, Americans spent $500 million on virtual goods in 2008, rising to $1 billion in 2009 and $1.6 billion this year. Fueled by the rise of social games like Farmville and Mafia Wars (and virtual worlds like Second Life, where sales continue to grow) U.S. spending on virtual goods may jump to $5 billion by 2014.”
5. American Medical News (USA) – Med students open to learning via new media. “Having been raised in an age of ubiquitous technology, medical students are game to using new media and virtual reality as part of their education, according to a new survey. However, students’ varied opinions about what games they would like to use, and the unresolved question of whether they would be effective, are barriers to overcome before medical schools add video games to the curriculum. Ninety percent of the 217 participants in the study — medical students at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and the University of Michigan Medical School — said they would be inclined to use new media technologies if they helped to develop skills in patient interactions. Meanwhile, 98% said they think education should make better use of new media, according to the study, published online June 24 in BioMed Central.”
6. San Francisco Business Times (USA) – Fate Fickle In Second Life Too. “arely three years ago, the virtual world Second Life was all the rage, with exploding traffic numbers, eager investors, tons of news coverage and lots of interest from big corporations looking for ways to make money in the immersive online social world.
Today, the roughly 250-person San Francisco company that operates Second Life, Linden Lab, is getting a different kind of attention following a 30 percent layoff – some 90 people out of 300 – in June, the resignation of former CEO Mark Kingdon a few weeks later, and a current report from private shares trading company SharesPost showing that Linden Lab’s value plunged by 21.4 percent – or $100 million – in just the last five months. What went wrong, and how dire is the situation?”
7. The Guardian (UK) – It’s dodgems on the streets with everyone gazing at mobile devices. “I don’t walk down the street any more: these days I swerve, bob and veer my way past most of the other people occupying it. Why don’t they look where they’re going? Or is it just me? A current TV ad imagines how funny it would be if car-driving behaviour were adopted by pedestrians. Sorry, bright adperson, but your fantasy is no fantasy: I already experience pavement rage, because traversing it has become a species of dodgems. The street has become an extension of the living-room, used for so much more than walking – lighting up, for example. Smokers, ejected from public buildings, labour under the delusion that outdoors is a giant extractor hood, discharging smells directly into the heavens. They niftily forget that minor natural element known as wind, which can blow with such precision that, without swift evasive action, we passersby can feel like those notorious beagles compelled to puff smoke not of our own producing.”
8. Financial Post (Canada) – Tweens & Technology: The tiny power shoppers. “Meet Andrew. At age nine, the sandy-haired boy from Markham, Ont., is already a savvy shopper of electronics. When his mother told him the Nintendo DSi game he wanted was too expensive, he pursued a new strategy. He told family and friends to forgo birthday and Christmas presents and buy him gift cards to put toward the new device. Now he saves for the accompanying games — most recently Super Mario Galaxy 2. Next on his wish list: the iPod Touch. “My aunt has one and let’s me play with it when she visits,” he says. Jackie Macdonald-Bartkiw, Andrew’s mom, figures that by Christmastime, he will be lobbying for more gift cards to buy his own touch technology. “I’m amazed at his patience … and persistence.”
9. Big Think (USA) – Can Hollywood Redesign Humanity. “Most people do not come to Hollywood for deep conversation, but as we explained with respect to “serious games,” the entertainment universe is producing an impressive array of products that can educate youth to think more constructively about real-world problems through experimenting with solutions in online environments. There is also a new breed of film-makers who are advancing the cause of techno-optimism in ways that contradict the dystopian visions of robots taking over the earth. When we convened a salon of film-makers, online game designers, branding executives, and media personalities to discuss this construction of ever more immersive realities, they provided not only deep conversation, but also a sophisticated and controversial view of how Hollywood has moved beyond vanity and celebrity worship towards “world-building” that can inspire progressive behavioral change.”
10. Computerworld (USA) – Rocker raises money for first album in Second Life. “Keiko Takamura, a San Francisco indie rocker, raised some of the money to record her album and built a following by playing concerts in Second Life. She uses a broad array of other social media to find listeners and sell her music. Keiko and other indie musicians are worth watching by businesspeople as well as music fans. The music business model has been turned upside down by the Internet, and indie musicians are leaders at using the net to build new ways of finding customers. Their techniques are often applicable to traditional business.”
Speak Your Mind