Dutch research shows strategic advantage for businesses Recent research of the University of Utrecht on why companies establish in virtual worlds showed that Dutch companies feel they have a strategic advantage on competitors. Also they find themselves innovative and feel it gives them a better insight in the behavior and preferences of tomorrow’s customers.

The L$150,000 lindens that were taken by Jasper Tizzy, of the Atlas Venture Capital (AVC), has been returned, at least according to a comment from Cocky Dagger on this ISE press release.

cocky dagger
The issue with the money has been resolved. Jasper has paid the money that was deposited by the ISE.

Second Life Developer Out sources Accounting Linden Labs, creator of the online virtual world Second Life, has begun outsourcing its finance and accounting work to Consero Global Solutions.

Linden expects to save over $1 million over the next three years from the arrangement. The company’s Second Life online world has attracted more than 8 million registered users in 100 countries.

Virtual speakeasies defy Second Life gambling ban Last month, Linden Lab banned gambling in Second Life, bringing a thriving casino industry to an abrupt end. But while the old casinos have shut down, a vast network of illicit speakeasies have sprung up in their place, providing gamblers with new places to play.

Poker players in Second Life say anyone looking for a game can easily find one.

In Reality, Virtual Marketplace Falls Short The virtual world of Second Life is taking a media beating. What was recently touted as the next great frontier for advertisers and tech-savvy companies is now experiencing a backlash of negative feedback. For every successful company in Second Life, there seems to be countless others abandoning the virtual world in favor of other, more controllable worlds.

Cyber Boom With just the click of a mouse, virtual land barons are making a small fortune in real-world money. David Adams reports.

The new gold rush is on, but it’s no longer to the hills of Ballarat or California that people are flocking. Instead, it’s to the new frontiers of virtual cyberspace worlds where people are heading in their droves, eager to be among the first to snag themselves some land and set up shop.

What Second Life business exodus? Earlier in the summer, Second Life took several hits in the mainstream business press, which just last year was ga-ga over the virtual world and the potential for business activities. Pointing to negative articles in Forbes and Fortune, I concluded that “the honeymoon is over.”

A few readers agreed. One, identifying herself has “Shannon,” proclaimed that the “Second Life bubble has burst,” and described what she said was her own company’s experience.

People Don’t Like Marketing and Advertising Yeah, I know, if you’re here wondering what kind of obvious headline that is, you’re in the choir. I’m just translating.

When John Connell mentions this bit of Wired’s vanilla reinvention of what was predicted, I had to chuckle. People have shouted, they have screamed, and given the opportunity they will avoid marketing and advertising unless they like the product enough to get past the gimmicks.

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