Linden Lab, the company behind 'Second Life,' says it is implementing voice-over-Internet software that will let the thousands of people online at any given moment talk to each other over their computers' microphones and speakers.
An obese 26-year-old man in northeastern China died after a 'marathon' online gaming session over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said on Wednesday.Online addict dies after "marathon" session - Yahoo! News
Ning, the latest startup of Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, is looking to get a jump ahead of MySpace and Facebook by giving consumers free tools to create and operate specialized online social networks of their own...Build your own social sites"Other social network sites ask you to join their world. We are about people creating their own worlds," said Ning Chief Executive Gina Bianchini, who co-founded Ning with Andreessen.
"Can’t find it on Google? There are many alternatives to the world’s most popular search tool, but a newly created Web site called Jyve offers an approach that acts like an online chat room instead of a typical search engine.
Jyve users ask questions and receive answers from other users, usually within seconds. It’s like a cross between Wikipedia and Ask Jeeves (now known simply as Ask.com)."
Why are companies like Toyota (NYSE:TM) and Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) and Starwood Hotels (NYSE:HOT) getting immersed in this pixilated fairyland? Why did IBM (NYSE:IBM) announce it was going to spend $10 million developing a presence in Second Life and other virtual worlds? One word: research...Does Your Business Need a Second Life?, Inc. Article
Rob Seaver, Vivox's CEO, says he has every intention of making real money in Second Life. But mostly, he thinks Second Life lets him explore the future of the Internet and think about what that might mean for his business. "A lot of what Second Life portrays is the future," Seaver says. "This 3-D virtual realm is a significant part of the evolution of the Internet and more and more activities will be presented in the virtual world."
"Second Life was just unfundable," says the man who dreamed up this virtual world. Funny how things change when you give people the ability to fly. Now everyone, including businesses of all sizes, wants a piece.
Forget daily status reports. Set up a wiki to collaborate more effectively with your project teams.
In the beginning, there was MP3 sharing. Then came friend sharing (MySpace), photo sharing (Flickr), and video sharing (YouTube). Now it has come to this: PowerPoint slide sharing.
SlideShare.net offers a place to upload, view, and search for PowerPoint presentations. And since opening up its beta site in October, it has received tens of thousands of files.
Want to try podcasting on the cheap? Gcast offers the chance to try basic podcasting free, by letting you record your podcast over the phone.
The line between video games and advertisements is blurring. Just as savvy marketers are bringing Batman billboards and Powerade vending machines to greater numbers of games, those at the bleeding edge continue to find new ways to get advertisers in touch with players. Their latest trick? Three-dimensional branded content.
The deal reflects interest among traditional distributors and the technology industry to make Internet videos easier to watch on television and follows similar offerings from other companies.Revver video clips to be on Verizon's FiOS - Yahoo! News
Comcast Corp., the top U.S. cable operator, last November said it would make select Internet videos from Ziddio.com available on its on-demand TV service.
Digital video recorder technology company TiVo Inc. landed a deal with online retailer Amazon.com to make movies and shows purchased online viewable on TVs connected to TiVo set-top boxes.
Adobe and Photobucket announced a partnership to integrate Adobe web-based video remix and editing technology directly into the Photobucket user experience, giving 35 million Photobucket users direct, free access to world-class digital video editing tools.TecKMagazine - Adobe Brings Video Editing Tools Online
A blog is a window into your business's people, culture and values. You want your customers to connect to your brand in a way that encourages community, trust, and, of course, repeat sales. In today's crowded marketplace, you should embrace any opportunity to win consumer loyalty.Business Blogging
On a more technical level, a blog is a form of online diary, often focused on a particular topic or theme. For your small business, your blog could cover company culture, industry trends, or even items you find interesting. A blog can also serve as a crisis communications tool, providing your customers with your opinion or defense—instantly.
One of the best ways to increase your readership is to link to other blogs. This enables you to build a community of like-minded people who could be potential customers quickly. You could, for example, use the Web site Technorati to find similar businesses or industry blogs. This site will also show you how many blogs are linking to a particular entry—another way of measuring popularity. But make sure you have something intelligent to say when commenting on other blogs. By contributing thoughtfully, you can create respect for yourself and encourage a community to form around you.
The blog phenomenon is following a familiar cycle, according to Gartner: We're in the midst of the hype phase, but soon bloggers (and readers) will pass into what Sarner calls a 'trough of disillusionment, where they'll realize that blogging isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread.'Bloggers: All Typed Out?
Not everyone agrees with Gartner's prediction. 'I find it hard to fathom that blogging will peak only a few years into this phenomenon, while the technology for creating and aggregating blogs is still the domain of the early adopters,' says Larry Genkin, publisher of the soon-to-be-launched Blogger & Podcaster magazine (coming in March).
In the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, Jedi master Yoda uses the mysterious Force to lift Luke Skywalker's star fighter from a swamp by simply thinking about it. But when it comes to playing Star Wars computer games, gamers have to use a clumsier method to move the ship: pushing buttons on a control pad.Next Wave: Brainy Stuff
San Francisco-based Emotiv wants to give gamers Yoda-like powers. The startup, founded in 2003, is developing a technology that monitors a user's brain activity and interprets it to manipulate a game environment, such as lifting an object and spinning it around...
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"Most people think that tagging on the Web is pretty easy and fun. Give 'em a blog or a Web page and a field named 'tags,' and they'll start stuffing in text with wild abandon in the hopes that their content will be easily found by people who are desperately searching for information and opinion on feline hairball cures or cycling in the Ozarks or whatever their particular hobby is. Alas, all these folks are doing is polluting the Web."Tagging, no longer fun and easy - Network World
