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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