Tuesday - June 30, 2009
There's no doubt some companies have succeeded in using virtual worlds for branding and interaction with their customers, whether through in-world stores, billboards or other means. Wells Fargo, for instance, has been operating its Stagecoach Island aimed at young customers for roughly four years and says it is pleased with the results.
Yet branding and advertising seem to be about as far as externally facing efforts tend to go in virtual worlds; attempts to take the next step into sales -- for the most part -- don't seem to have met with much success.
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Tuesday - June 23, 2009
It wasn't long after the launch of Linden Lab's Second Life back in 2003 that companies and organizations around the globe began to sit up and take notice. The prospect of millions of potential customers -- all flocking to the same destination and congregating there -- is enough to whet the appetite of even the most conservative and change-averse organization, after all.
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Wednesday - April 22, 2009
Second Life is getting a little less steamy for people who want to use the virtual world for a myriad of PG-rated experiences, such as taking classes, prototyping buildings or designing virtual goods. For those who don't, Second Life is moving adult-oriented content to a new, X-rated "continent" so they can continue to frolic as their hearts desire.
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Tuesday - January 20, 2009
In an almost surreal scene, unprecedented numbers of euphoric people are mobbing America's capital city to celebrate a new hope for a beleaguered nation. It is a celebration so huge that the bounds of reality cannot hold it in. For the very first time, the inauguration of a new president will be trumpeted in this world and another; in life and in Second Life.
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Wednesday - December 31, 2008
Universities and government agencies, even a few private corporations, are going all "mad scientist" on us in the realm of virtual worlds. But why are they experimenting there and why are so many drawn to virtual worlds like a dying man to a priest? Virtual worlds are today's answer to utopian communes, says one researcher.
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Tuesday - December 30, 2008
Universities and government agencies are conducting all kinds of research, both scientific and sociological, in virtual worlds -- but is this merely a newfangled boondoggle or is the research really real? "My general perspective is that virtual worlds are at least as real as many parts of the so-called real world," said William Sims Bainbridge, program director in human-centered computing at the National Science Foundation.
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Friday - December 12, 2008
If you want a G1 Android phone but you can't bear the thought of using a carrier with pink logo, help is on the way. You can now get a version of the HTC handset that's both SIM-unlocked and hardware-unlocked. But in order to get one -- and, yes, they really are limiting quantities to one per customer -- you have to jump through some hoops.
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Thursday - December 11, 2008
On Thursday, PlayStation 3 owners will find their new "Home" ready, console maker Sony announced. The company has opened the beta of its much-delayed "PlayStation Home" 3-D virtual gaming community to all PS3 users. The move follows the completion of a closed beta. Announced in March 2007, "Home "is a real-time, networked 3-D community where gamers interact with others, play games and watch streaming video content.
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Wednesday - November 26, 2008
About eight months ago, the owners of a sporting goods company contacted their attorney, Doug Wolf, a partner at Wolf Greenfield. It seemed a company was using the firm's logo and trademark without proper authorization. Setting the matter right should have been a straightforward task for Wolf -- except for the fact that the intellectual property theft was happening online, specifically in Second Life.
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Tuesday - November 25, 2008
Copyrights are perhaps the most common type of intellectual property (along with trademarks), and are the first stop when it comes to protecting software-based products. This is because copyrights, which protect a particular expression of an idea, exist automatically upon fixation of an author's work in a tangible medium of expression.
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