The Metaverse

Oscar Niemeyer in Second Life

Go beyond the mundane in Second Life, and you can find some really interesting work.

The above is a demo of some work which a team at Tokyo Metropolitan University have done, developing a 3D image database of the work of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

You can read a little more about the project here.

(Via The Arch)

Talking trademarks in Second Life

Massively notes that United States attorney Frank Taney of Philadelphia law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC will be giving a talk and Q&A session in Second Life on Trademarks for Virtual World Related Businesses on 6 June from 2:30PM to 4PM SLT. With all the recent controversy over trademarks, this promises to be an interesting session.

Second Life - FriendFeed

I've started up a room in FriendFeed devoted to Second Life. It's public, so feel free to come along, join, and post anything you fancy.

Exclusive slum dwelling - designed for you

If you've ever had a dream of living in your own trailer, now's your chance. Sarah Nerd has released a a few exclusive plots of land in the Slums of Nerdville:

"The Slums of Nerdville is a low prim, low rent, themed residential sim with lots from $275L a week to $550l a week. All builds here need to be run down trailers, mobile homes, shacks, or similar. We want to keep the classy folk out of our slums."

I'm almost tempted myself...

Orange Island: Announcing Games Week on Orange Island

Orange has been doing some really interesting things based on and around their Second Life island.

Over the next week, they're running Games Week on Orange Island, which includes talks on games in Second Life from the likes of Onder Skall, Valentine Janus, and many others. It sounds well worth a visit, and I'll try and get over when I can.

Company touts potential of Second Life to Filipinos

Hackenslash has a post up about metaversal development studio Avatrian encouraging Filipino companies to tap the potential of virtual worlds like Second Life and Entropia. Avatrian has a production office in Cebu City.

First full movie made in Second Life

In brief: Fraggles to invade Outer Space | News | guardian.co.uk Film:

"The first movie made entirely in Second Life, has been completed. Molotov Alva and his Search for the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey tells the story of a man who vanishes from the real world to live in the virtual one. The movie has been bought by a US TV channel for a six-figure sum. "

I'm not actually sure that this is the first film to be made entirely in Second Life - surely, there's a load of machinima that takes precedence - but this still looks interesting.

Spain Opens STD Clinic On Second Life on PSFK

Spain Opens STD Clinic On Second Life on PSFK:

"Spanish-speaking teens can virtually visit a health clinic anonymously on Second Life to ask doctors embarrassing questions that may be left unasked face-to-face. Incorporating instant messaging and video chatting, the clinic will allow teens to privately address pubescent-issues like STDs, dermatological and emotional issues."

It's all too easy to joke about this, but I think it's actually rather a good idea.

Swedish course in Second Life architecture

Sweden: Second Life course at the Royal Institute of Technology:

"Students at KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology, have done everything from lighting up the Ice Hotel to creating architecture in the virtual world of Second Life.

One course in the track, entitled ‘Unreal central perspective,’ looked at the representation of architecture in Second Life, a 3D virtual world. The 3D tools used by Second Life developers are similar to those used by architects, and Lindstrand wanted to explore the relationship between computer gaming and architecture, as well as between design tools and production.

In Second Life, architectural design is not constrained by the physical constraints of the material environment. This allows students to stretch their thinking about the possibilities of architecture, as well as to try to critically imagine their own future. ‘In Second Life, as an architect, you can build almost anything. And that’s challenging – and thrilling – to think about,’ says Lindstrand."

Two sites I'd like to see for Second Life

In all the controversy over the changes that Linden Lab is making to the in-world search feature, it's often forgotten that for most things to do with Second Life, Google is a better place to search anyway. The Second Life online community is incredibly vibrant, and there are hundreds of blogs, news sources, and discussion groups around it. However, there are two areas where I think there's a gap. So, if there's any enterprising coders out there - here's two business ideas for you! Men's clothing While there are countless fashion-related sites for female avatars, I can find absolutely nothing reviewing male clothing. This is something I find really surprising: there are a lot of male avatars out there. Do none of them give a stuff for how they look? Events The in-world events listing is absolutely useless. What's needed is something like Upcoming.org for in-world. This will become even more important as corporates start to realise that simply building an island isn't enough, and they need to create events to make the most of Second Life.