By Stone Culdesac

Update on mainland supply and auctions I just wanted to take the opportunity to update everyone on mainland supply and the new auction system.

Those that have taken a look at the new auction site will have noticed that there hasn’t been much land up for sale since it was launched late last month; there are two reasons for the modest level of supply.

Second Nature Events: Creating an Artificial Ecosystem in Second Life Moving swiftly on from last week’s trials, next week in the Second Nature events series, our attention turns to Second Life itself as we welcome Luciftias Neurocam, the head of the Ecosystem Working Group

Luciftias (Dr Corey Hart, a neurobiologist from Drexel University in his spare time) is the founder of the EWG, who created the content of the popular sim Terminus. On Terminus, a group of scientists and programmers created a series of “living” creatures which survive, reproduce and interact according to defined rules. The result is a fully functioning ecosystem, which has recently moved to a new home on Second Nature.

Emetrics Summit Presentations on Second Life Finally, Emetrics Summit is over; this morning I attended the Web Analytics Association Board of Directors’ face to face meeting we have 2 of these each year) and it was very productive.

I also presented yesterday on Second Life Analytics at IBM along with Jared Freedman of Code4software.com on Second Life Advertising and metrics.

Second Life and education The Chronicle of Higher Education published a Live Discussion on Getting an Academic Life in Second Life.

“Colleges around the world are opening virtual campuses in Second Life, a three-dimensional, colorful environment that can be accessed via a computer. One of those campuses is New Orleans Island, which was built by Merrill L. Johnson, an administrator at the University of New Orleans. What is the appeal of Second Life, and what kind of classes does the university hold there?

Takahashi: Tracking criminals in virtual worlds I’ve been wondering what would happen if there were drug dealers or terrorists lurking in virtual worlds such as Second Life. If the FBI or National Security Agency wanted to place wiretaps on conversations in those worlds, would they be able to do it? And if they did record conversations in virtual worlds, could the people spied upon escape prosecution by saying that they were only pretending to be terrorists or drug dealers?

My interest is theoretical at the moment. Interpol has said there are criminal elements operating in virtual worlds, but let’s not panic. There is enough fear-mongering out there about all the trouble we can get into online.

Xbox 360 gamers to get virtual world? Microsoft could be working on a PS3 Home style virtual world for its Xbox 360 console. Our gaming cohorts over at CVG cite an Xbox website which says that a member of Microsoft’s Xbox team was attending the Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo in San Jose.

Daniel Schiappa, general manager of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft, was on stage at the Expo. He said: “… by this time next year, you’ll probably know more about why I’m up here.”

Free Tours in Second Life In October, STA Travel began sponsoring free weekly tours of Second Life in partnership with Landmark Island. Every Wednesday at 7pm SLT, Sean Voss takes SL residents on an hour free tour. Using a metahud, Sean is able to give everyone on the tour an itinerary beforehand, which keeps the group relatively intact as they teleport about SL (Sean did lose a few folks in Greenie’s, but who hasn’t?).

CIoT enters ‘Second Life’ online world The Chartered Institute of Taxation will send ‘Tax Anderton’ into the online virtual world Second Life this morning.

As part of the CIoT’s Tax Advice Week, Anderton will be available to other Second Life members to discuss tax issues for people in an online environment.

Lost & Found - Asset server gives wrong snapshot Dear Second Life Resident,
While out and about shopping today, I came upon a product that I wanted to show my friend. Unfortunately, they were unable to come to the store at that very moment. Thinking quickly, I took a photo of the ad and fired it off to them. Imagine my surprise when it loaded and it wasn’t mine at all!

Added:

Telstra/BigPond responds on Second Life bandwidth metering Yesterday, some discussion sprang up on the metered vs unmetered status of Second Life bandwidth to Big Pond users. Telstra/BigPond is Australia’s largest ISP, and for a variety of largely historical and political reasons, bandwidth in Australia is metered - essentially charged by the number of bytes received (this is the case in more countries than not). That makes any site or service that is unmetered unbearably attractive to local Internet users.

Second Life Architecture Awards: Vote Now! The selected projects are presented online where the public are invited to vote for their favourite project (until October 23). The winner receives a 1,000-euro grand prize.

The wood between the worlds Virtual worlds have been attracting a huge amount of interest this year, driven by the success of Second Life, World of Warcraft, Habbo Hotel, Club Penguin and a host of others that have hit the headlines.

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