Gawker
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deathwatch
The End of Second Life
Those who can't do, teach. Second Life, the most overhyped virtual world, has been abandoned even by its most fervent journalistic promoters, like Reuters and Wired. It's now pitching itself as an online schoolhouse.
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By Owen ThomasComment by SidAndFinancy: I have to agree that "getting into random conversations with strangers from around the world" is "boring or creepy." Am... 8 Responses | Other threads
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war is hell
War Hits Second Life!
Why doesn't anyone ever write about the real victims of the current war in Gaza? That's right, the losers and freaks of Second Life. More »
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By PareeneComment by saythatscool: "I had to be careful not to boot people who didn't actually do anything wrong" Can someone please tell me what... 7 Responses | Other threads
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hollywood
"Second Life: The Movie" the next Hollywood disaster
The director of Pirates of the Caribbean is planning Second Life: The Movie. Too late! The lonely virtual world lost its buzz two years ago. Why is Hollywood always so behind the times?
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By Owen ThomasComment by OMG! Ponies!: This just occurred to me - if this movie is going to be based on Second Life, then it's going... 3 Responses | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Second Life's death knell
Google has shut down Lively, a service where people log on to chat and explore 3D virtual spaces, after a few short months. The MBAs of Silicon Valley have a pat phrase for the arrival of a competitor on the scene: They say it "validates their space." What does it say, then, that Lively is gone? It means that Second Life, the best known of these unreal universes, is doomed, too. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by That-Username-is-Already-Taken: If Google shut down Knol, Would Wikipedia need to worry? What about their social network (whose name I can't even remember)... 6 Responses | Other threads
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confirmed
After firing, Second Life maker insists they're hiring
A boilerplate statement from Linden Lab confirms yesterday's rumor: "We've had to make some hard decisions about resources and as a result we eliminated four positions out of our headcount of nearly 300." That's not as bad as the "9 or 10" we'd been told were cut. In a statement sent to Silicon Alley Insider, Linden says they're still hiring. There are 45 job listings on the company's employment page. Are they all still open? Huh, maybe Second Life really is an alternate reality. What temperature does water boil at in SL? -
rumormonger
Second Life maker swings layoff ax
A tipster reports that Linden Lab, the maker of virtual world Second Life, is laying off its business-development department, which had cultivated ties with software makers. The move affects "9 or 10" employees," he says. A wise move, if tardy: Don't you need to have a business worth developing before hiring someone in business development? -
sex trade
Virtual hookers to help us get laid off
Now that they've fired Melissa Gira Grant, I've got my first Sex Trade assignment! Owen told me to post about Slate's new clip on the escort business in Second Life. Easy: "This is Samantha Henning with Slate V. Now, some vices are socially acceptable. But prostitution, that's not one I was gonna try out in the real world." Back button. Next on Slate: More Sarah Palin sentence diagrams.
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By Paul BoutinComment by tawni: Sorry but for once Slate has no clue at all. She looked terrible and was never going to the correct... more » | Other threads
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advertising
Investment In Bullshit Ads Plummets
When times were good and the economy was strong, you could sell companies any old kind of patently ridiculous ad. Did marketing savants really believe that spending wildly to place their brands inside "The Sims" was going to pay off in money that is made out of paper, and spendable here on Earth? It's doubtful. They just got caught up in the sheer newness of plastering their logo anywhere and everywhere, and then made up some bullshit about "branding" to explain the expense. Well that shit is over now, suckas! More »
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Comment by uninspired: With this news, the last remaining nerd advertising vehicle is online porn product placement. 3 Responses | Other threads
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Sophie Vandebroek
Xerox tech boss's virtual math
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Does Xerox CTO Sophie Vandebroek have trouble with basic numberwork? At MIT's EmTech conference, she asked the audience how many people had "avatars" — digital characters for virtual worlds like Linden Lab's Second Life. From what I saw, half a dozen people out of some 300 attendees raised their hands. "Perhaps 25 percent!" she said, as she played a video showing off Xerox's presence in Second Life. I am not sure what is more disturbing: Vandebroek's miscounting, which one might blame on the bright stage lights, or her inability to calculate the lack of a return on investment in Second Life, which has no such excuse. Here's a clip of Vandebroek talking in Second Life: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Owen Thomas: Fascinating: Twitter user poinky, apparently a Xerox employee, claims I somehow found "nonpublic screenshots." Right: Nonpublic screenshots. On Google Images... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
There.com hopes Second Life hasn't ruined virtual worlds for everybody
With support for Mac users, a new Facebook widget and an instant messaging application, There.com is hoping to breathe some life into its 3D virtual world which has gone largely unnoticed for years since its launch in 2003. If publicity could support a business model, Second Life might not be the largely empty libertarian paradise it is today. Google's new entry Lively, on the other hand, has also struggled with adopting users — possibly because it refuses to cater to any interests that aren't G-rated. The question remains as to whether any 3D simulacrum that isn't explicitly for gaming has much attraction to all but introverted shut-ins and avant kinksters. With family-friendly rules to keep the virtual pimps and hustlers off the polygonal streets, There.com might just succeed in finally reaching a broadening demographic: Parents so scared, they'd rather keep their teens cooped up at home and nervously trying to interact with crushes online when not reading the Twilight series of chaste teen romance novels featuring abstinent vampires or getting dragged to dad's Promise Keepers meetings.
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By Jackson WestComment by macbeach: Of course the alternative to acting out their fantasies in one of these things can often be primping for the... 1 Responses | Other threads
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virtual worlds
The reinvention of Second Life
Virtual worlds are endlessly mutable. As are the wildly implausible schemes their boosters concoct for making money off them. The latest idea Linden Lab has for Second Life: Profit, in some vague, unspecified way, from the world's free 3D design tools. The perpetually gullible BusinessWeek bought this story, pointing to examples of toy designers and architects building digital models and showing them off to customers in Second Life. There's a certain beauty to it: An entrepreneur's fantasy, used to peddle other entrepreneurs' fantasies. Not that there's much of a business here, since Linden Lab gives away its design software. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by glu: SecondLife has been one of the most pleasing failures of the past several years. more » | Other threads
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crime
Second Life romance gone wrong ends in stalker's arrest
A 52-year old man from Claymont, DE was surprised in his home by a taser-wielding Kimberly Jernigan, whom he had dumped months before shortly after they first meet in an attempt to flesh out a Second Life love affair. Jernigan fled, leaving her dog Gogi gagged with duct tape in the bathroom, but was arrested shortly thereafter by officers in Maryland. It isn't great publicity for Linden Labs, the company behind Second Life, but when you cater to making one's solipsistic delusions manifest, what can you expect? [CNET]
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By Jackson WestComment by kimbjo: "solipsistic"? easy Valleywag, you're punching above your weight with these fancy schmancy words! more » | Other threads
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second life
Obama, McCain fail to curry furry favor
Like every other brand seemingly desperate to court the dressing-up-as-animals-to-have-sex market, the Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns have purchased lots in Second Life. The virtual world's few active users aren't bothering to visit. Which is probably a blessing, because the best chance for the projects to gain publicity is for griefers to show up with pooping cats and flying penises. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by raincoaster: Where would you find stats on actual usage? That would be the kind if thing I imagine they keep pretty... more » | Other threads
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second life
BusinessWeek Still Wants You In A Second Life Workplace
Has Second Life, the weird, clunky virtual world, ever been good for anything except strange computer sex and time-wasting? For about a year there, you couldn't pick up a magazine without seeing 2L touted as the next big thing for business. For business! Yes, why wouldn't an imaginary land packed with flying monsters and huge selections of virtual penises become corporate America's preferred communications medium? Christ. Lots of the hype was the fault of BusinessWeek, which bought into it with wide-eyed enthusiasm. And the magazine is still trying to get your employer to drag you off to a fantasy computer island for fun team-building exercises: More »
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Comment by raincoaster: Okay, I love to snark on the zeta males, but I also am making some serious coin out of SL,... more » | Other threads
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google
New 3D virtual world Lively launches
Lively from Google is yet another 3D virtual world, kind of like Second Life but as yet unpopulated by furries or Goreans — completely virgin virtual land for griefers from like the clever goons at Something Awful to terrorize! But rather than an expansive, open-ended universe, Lively is a collection of individual "rooms" which you can then embed on third-party Web sites. Though it's not a browser-based application but a Windows-only download — so you'll have to wait just a bit before I can confirm whether or not you can "cyber," gamble or run ponzi schemes. You can, at least, feel up other users: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by macbeach: @vulture: Noooo I'm not in SV. Other end of the country. I do remember rumors about turning Google Earth into... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
If Second Life throws a fifth anniversary party and no avatars are there to hear it, does it make that annoying typing sound?
Second Life, the 3D virtual world favored by furries and the digital departments of ad agencies desperate to convince clients how cutting-edge they are, is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. In that time, little has changed — the same poorly-rendered polygons and textures move through the same largely empty world, where quite honestly the most innovative users have been the griefers who turn up at any of the arranged publicity events featuring corporate shills and politicians desperate to convince anyone how cutting-edge they are. Linden Lab may shuffle on like a zombie, but that doesn't change the fact that it's time for a post-mortem. More » -
sex trade
Israel to jail online brothel owners in actual prisons
Good news for Second Life! Israeli legislator Zahava Gal-On has been so taken in by the illusion of sex offered in fake online worlds that she's proposing mandatory five-year jail terms for the operators of "virtual brothels" — websites "offering women for sale," she says. If only! Sites like Craigslist, The Eros Guide, MyRedBook, and The Erotic Review advertise real sex for hire, but law enforcers prefer to log on to track down working girls, rather than take the sites offline for pimping. If Gal-On took a moment to understand the economics of virtual vajayjay, she'd see her concerns were misplaced. More » -
virtual worlds
The flying penis menace moves offline in Russia
In a stunt reminiscent of something from Second Life, an unknown perpetrator let loose a remote-controlled flying dildo at a speech yesterday by Garry Kasparov, the famed chess champion defeated by IBM's Deep Blue who now heads up Other Russia, an opposition party that seeks to wrest power from the Kremlin government dominated by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. As Andy Baio at Waxy points out, it's unclear if the pranksters knew about the infamous interview between Second Life baron Anshe Chung and CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman, video from which is embedded after the jump. More » -
virtual worlds
Congressman Mark Kirk, a Second Life critic, employed Julia Allison
Mark Kirk, the Illinois Congressman who wants Second Life banned from schools and libraries, has more than a passing familiarity with virtual reality, illusion, and the construction of self. In 2000, Star magazine editor-at-large Julia Allison, then known as Julia Baugher, worked for Kirk, a family friend, as a legislative aide, and was maid of honor at his wedding.
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By Jackson WestComment by EnerHax: crapola, sorry about the now triple post, the lame joke was not any funnier the second (life) time =D more » | Other threads
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mark kirk
Congressman gets in on Second Life's "rape rooms"
Taking a page from Nebraska's Internet cops, U.S. Representative Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.) has created a fake teen of his own in order to protect real ones. While promoting a bill to restrict access to social networking sites in public schools and libraries, Kirk and Illinois law enforcement detailed the solicitations received by the imaginary 15-year-old female they played in Second Life — to enter "rape rooms," among others. Acknowledging that there were no known cases of sexual assault on underage users at Second Life, Rep. Kirk still called the site an "emerging danger." Now with the addition of his fictional sex-seeking teenage avatar, of course. (Photo by Daily Herald)
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Comment by raincoaster: @tootingbec: Obviously you need to work on your dexterity, my friend. more » | Other threads
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hires
Second Life maker finds second CEO in adland
Linden Lab, which operates the Second Life virtual world, has found a new CEO: Mark Kingdon, the longtime chief of Organic, an online ad agency. A bizarre move for Linden, and seemingly for Kingdon. Sophisticated marketers, having toyed with Second Life, agree that it's a nonstarter as an advertising medium. Linden Lab makes its money from serving as a virtual central bank and a taxing authority. IBM is interested in it largely as a substitute for teleconferencing. Philip Rosedale, the founder and outgoing CEO, is a dreamy technologist, but replacing him with an adman makes no sense. An enterprise-software salesman would have made more sense. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Eric Rice: @Rachel probably the same losers who run around saving fantastical worlds (and earth, too!) from forces of darkness, making that... more » | Other threads
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politics
Jon Stewart mocks Congress for discussing Second Life
Pictured is a screen capture of the avatars assembled in Second Life foryesterday'slast week's congressional hearing about virtual worlds. Why is congress giving Linden Lab the time of day? Terrorists, silly! According to Jane Harman, D-California, "Islamic militants are suspected of using Second Life, the Internet virtual world, to hunt for recruits and mimic real life terrorism." That's quite the bait to dangle in front of congress for free publicity, Linden Lab PR team! Full clip from the Daily Show after the jump. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by patrickbkelly: You thought Congress could not top the waste of time grilling Roger Clemens. When will you stop underestimating... more » | Other threads
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caption contest
One more reason not to wear your avatar outfit in First Life
At right, Everett Harper, Stanford MBA and director of community initiatives for Second Life operator Linden Lab, models his Carnaval-winning dance outfit. Harper was crowned King Everett this weekend. Suggest a caption in the comments. (Photo by CM C.)
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By Owen ThomasComment by princesscrap: soooo glad these are not my coworkers more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Are Second Life users on drugs?
As a business, Second Life is a bust. As a technology, the virtual world is a joke. Using snake-oil metaphors to describe it would seem an injustice against toxic cure-alls — were that not Second Life's new marketing peg. The autistic and near-autistic with Asperger's syndrome are flocking to Second Life to learn how to interact with other human beings, CNN reports. This follows Newsweek's discovery last July of Second Life as therapy for the housebound. A suggestion for Benchmark Capital and the other VCs who sank money into this boondoggle: Why not market it as the next Prozac, and sell it to Eli Lilly? That seem easier. -
second life
The 5 real blunders of Philip Rosedale's virtual career
Despite a silver-tongued PR team capable of spinning any irrelevant Second Life happening into a New York Times story, former Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale couldn't save himself from the downside of the virtual hype cycle. His "life's work" has become a punchline. Here are the five mistakes that added up to cost Rosedale his job. More »
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Comment by EnerHax: and so arrogance negates his passion? 1 in 1,000 make 5 figures, that sounds better that World of Warcraft,... more » | Other threads
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second life
Linden Lab CEO stepping down
Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale is stepping down as CEO. The Benchmark Capital-backed company is looking for a new chief with more operational and management experience. "This is my life's work. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm still full-time on this, probably for the rest of my life," says Rosedale, shown here as his Second Life alter ego. The story was broken by the Reuters Second Life news center within Second Life. This is likely the only news ever broken by the bureau that you'll care about.
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Comment by Davion: Attention Benchmark Capital: former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta is looking for a CEO position! Perfect fit! more » | Other threads
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quotable
"Second Life is slowing down and taking investors with it." — Blogger Adrian Crook during his "Free to Play" panel at the Game Developer's Conference. He says businesses in the virtual world are being forced to shut down because there isn't the population to support them.
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Comment by BobDope: I have it on good authority that investing works out in your favor less than 100% of the time. more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Four words: Hello Kitty virtual world.
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trendsquatting
Okay, Which Second Life Employee Is Sleeping With The Entire NYT Tech Section?
Jesus, it feels like every week the New York Times finds a new "trend" involving Second Life, the virtual world that lets people interact with avatars to blah blah blah ugh. In the 65th Times story about SL, it's virtual job interviews, which even the Times knows are nearly non-existent, admitting that Second Life owner Linden Labs "doesn't keep statistics" but "says the number has grown exponentially" in the world's five-year history. Which could mean, since we're given no parameters, that there are all of thirty-two employers using a technology half as useful as AIM and a webcam. Also, the Wall Street Journal did this story, but better, last June. Bad enough, but here's what makes the Times's coverage of Second Life such an epic failure. More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by cbernard: People who make money in Second Life are independent. Most are agnostic to Second Life itself, knowing that virtual... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
"Second Skin" sheds light on virtual-worlds addiction
A new documentary, Second Skin, promises to reveal why people are so obsessed with massively multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft and Everquest, as well as even more pointless environments like Second Life. By capturing the online lives of seven devoted gamers, the film captures love, greed, addiction, and depression — all spurred by something that's not even real. Second Skin premieres at the South By Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas this March.
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Comment by team-dale: I'm doing research on second life addiciton, it would be a great help if people would take a survey I... more » | Other threads
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second life
IBM ad mocks IBM strategy
A new IBM TV ad mocks the make-a-wish economics of virtual-world purveyors like Linden Lab. Perhaps Big Blue's ad agency didn't get the memo: In India, IBM is expanding its ranks of Second Life salespeople.
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By Owen ThomasComment by seanpercival: New? Playing for weeks if not months now. Owen when are you joining? The avatars have a nice slider for... more » | Other threads
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second life
Depressed, Estranged Spouses Find Stability In Virtual Fantasy World
While they're not the first (or thousandth) couple to marry after meeting online, Kristen Birkin and Steve Sweet sound like the most heartbreakingly redeemed. They met in Second Life, where both had dealt with their loveless marriages and dead-end lives by bravely escaping into a virtual world on the Internet. No, no, they also met in real life, moved in together, and plan to get married, which is actually pretty great! But then they talked to British gossip site Showbiz Spy and gave depressing comments like these: More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by Fuddhist: Cockzilla: Your toddler's bum is too big more » | Other threads
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valleywag calendar
Polish your resume
Tonight's events are great for networkers and job-seeking developers: The San Francisco Business Times is hosting a reception for their 2008 Book of Lists, while Linden Lab (of Second Life fame) is holding a recruiting event at their new Mountain View digs. The Lists party at the Four Seasons in San Francisco is sold out (crash it!), but RSVPs are still available for the Linden Lab event. More » -
virtual economy
Second Life's pending crash
Shame on you, Wall Street Journal, for running a front page exposé on the Second Life bank run. Fair enough to report that its banks are collapsing. But mostly, the article will serve to remind Journal readers that second Life is still a going concern. More »
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Comment by Gwyneth Llewelyn: See, Second Life is able to overcome any economy bubbles that burst... After all, even after the huge dot-com failure, we... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
San Francisco is just like Second Life
Gavin Newsom, San Francisco's freshly reelected god-mayor, descended into the bowels of Second Life for a quaint fireside chat with Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab. What lofty matters could a city mayor and the chieftain of a seamy virtual world possibly have to discuss? Why, the parallels between the "two famously diverse and tech-savvy communities with global profiles," of course. As Newsom said during their discourse, "We're all geeks." But the comparisons don't stop there. San Francisco is exactly like Second Life. More » -
forecasts
Valleywag's 25 predictions for 2008
Valleywag is of course known for its dead-on accuracy, so our predictions for 2008 need no introduction. Inside, my 25 predictions (made without inside information) cover the futures of Facebook, Google, Digg, YouTube, Twitter, the Wall Street Journal, Apple, Yahoo, Gawker Media, AOL, Dell, LOLcats, the president, and more. More » -
linden lab
Is Philip Rosedale a media vampire?
How else to explain the Linden Lab CEO's waxy complexion? He's the unending leader of an unholy company which laughs at death, and sustains itself through artificial means — PR, that is. To maintain that unhealthy glow, he's preying on unsuspecting technology journalists, sucking out all common sense and journalistic curiosity and turning them into willing propaganda puppets. His silver tongue already scored a succulent piece in the BBC, and now David Kirkpatrick of Fortune has fallen under Rosedale's sway. More »
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Comment by Randolf: The architecture of SecondLife is shameful. The fact that Rosedale et. al. refer to their data bloat as a... more » | Other threads
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layoffs
Electric Sheep lays off 22 Second Life developers
The Second Life bubble may be popping. Electric Sheep, the marketing firm which helped CSI's a virtual Gary Sinise parade through Linden Lab's online world, is "rightsizing" the company — or shearing off 30 percent of its staff. A vice president explains that while Electric Sheep has seen tremendous growth and isn't in any financial trouble, it decided to lay off 22 employees — mostly Second Life specialists. With its freshly trimmed staff, Electric Sheep will branch out to other virtual worlds platforms — ones advertisers haven't already identified as unfruitful terrain.
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Comment by Randolf: Absolutely no one saw this coming, or so the experts now claim. Perhaps we should get the Fed to... more » | Other threads
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linden lab
Philip Rosedale, master of damage control
Just when things turn bleak for Second Life maker Linden Lab — CTO Cory Ondrejka recently "left" the company — CEO Philip Rosedale manages to pull a fluff piece out of the BBC. He's previously denied he has anything to do with timing these media wet kisses, but we're skeptical. Perhaps it's his boyish charm and ability to spin numbers — or the fact that these media outlets are easily impressed by the whizzes and bangs of virtual worlds. More »
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Comment by ram.perpe: Sadly this seems to be the last nail in the second life adventure coffin, As much as I grumbled on... more » | Other threads
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second life
Linden Lab fires chief technology officer
Looks like all those problems in the big empty known as Second Life — the virtual world's confounding user interface, poor graphics, and high attrition rate — aren't going to get fixed anytime soon. Word comes via tipster that Linden Lab chief technology officer Cory Ondrejka, the dude who ostensibly runs the virtual world's tech, has left over "differences in opinion." The official line from founder and CEO Philip Rosedale states that Ondrejka is leaving at the end of this year "in order to pursue new professional challenges." As Rosedale poetically put it, their paths lie in different directions. Ah, the road not taken — like a path to a meaningful business. Anyone have more deets?
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Comment by Trackback: Some links to kick off your Wednesday: * Cerberus reportedly has followed J.C. Flowers out of the running for Northern... more » | Other threads
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Fri Jul 10
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