Monthly Archives: August 2009

Mon, Aug 31 2009
The Virtual Event Debrief

The Virtual Event Debrief

Philosopher and essayist George Santayana was quoted as saying: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  With virtual events, the “past” is fairly recent.  However, the... 

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Sun, Aug 30 2009
Business and education: virtual connections

Business and education: virtual connections

From the very start of my educational consultancy over seven years ago, I have always trusted my gut instinct in business. I have always worked in the innovation field, often years before others, trialling... 

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Sun, Aug 30 2009
Race for a Web viewer is on

Race for a Web viewer is on

A Web-based viewer for OpenSim and Second Life is a Holy Grail for business users: it would make it easier for employees, customers and business partners to access virtual platforms. That would make for... 

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Sat, Aug 29 2009
Virtual Events: Available In Many Flavors

Virtual Events: Available In Many Flavors

In Virtual Events Year In Review: 2009, I summarized key trends that I witnessed in the virtual events industry this year. The trends for 2009 included global adoption, emergence of new industries (as... 

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Sat, Aug 29 2009
Manpower Convenes Avatar Thought Leaders

Manpower Convenes Avatar Thought Leaders

Manpower Inc. Convenes Avatar Thought Leaders in Second Life to Discuss Virtual Workforce of the Future “Grown Up Digital” author Don Tapscott; Manpower Inc. Chairman and CEO Jeff Joerres; and Linden... 

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Sat, Aug 29 2009
Virtual Gender: Q&A with Jamison Green

Virtual Gender: Q&A with Jamison Green

Ever more frequently, companies looking to save money are moving meetings and training into virtual environments such as Second Life, OpenSim, Forterra, and Qwac. In some cases, the company fully controls... 

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Fri, Aug 28 2009
Virtual drag a thorny issue for employers

Virtual drag a thorny issue for employers

In recent years, companies have begun using virtual worlds such as Second Life, OpenSim, Forterra and Qwaq to hold virtual meetings — and employees have begun using avatars, or cartoonish animated... 

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Thu, Aug 27 2009
Virtual Events: Year In Review 2009

Virtual Events: Year In Review 2009

(Image courtesy InXpo.) Coming into this year, I considered 2009 a taking-off point for the virtual events industry.  Sure, virtual events and virtual tradeshows have been around for some time, but I... 

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Thu, Aug 27 2009
Invisible prims are not security

Invisible prims are not security

ReactionGrid CEO Kyle Gomboy Guess what, the below is not security! “If we want to put a life-size prototype of our super-secret product in Second Life, then there are many creative ways we implement... 

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Wed, Aug 26 2009
The ‘Pablo Picasso’ of virtual meetings

The ‘Pablo Picasso’ of virtual meetings

Corporate Planners Unlimited, Inc. is not only a meeting and events company – it is also a travel agency. So it might be strange that president Dan Parks is promoting a way to hold meetings and conferences... 

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Wed, Aug 26 2009
Virtual events need traditional planning

Virtual events need traditional planning

Though virtual events enable organizers to avoid travel and facilities expenses, in many respects they are no different from real world events in their marketing, according to the Event Marketing Institute. While... 

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Wed, Aug 26 2009
The CTO wore drag

The CTO wore drag

Whenever I interview a Wall Street executive, or a technology expert, I have to ask for a photograph.  I often joke that we already have a lot of headshots of guys in suits — what I really want... 

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Tue, Aug 25 2009
Boston considering mixed reality high school

Boston considering mixed reality high school

Boston students may be able to attend a virtual high school in September 2010, if Roxbury Institute of Technology‘s plans for a charter high school are approved by the Massachusetts Department of... 

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Sat, Aug 22 2009
Berlin startup focuses on fashion, architecture, and market research

Berlin startup focuses on fashion, architecture, and market research

Berlin’s virtyou GmbH officially launched its virtual world hosting services this week, and outlined its business strategy to Hypergrid Business during a grid tour today. The company hosts OpenSim... 

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Sat, Aug 22 2009
ReactionGrid launches OpenSim e-commerce site

ReactionGrid launches OpenSim e-commerce site

ReactionGrid has joined a very short list of OpenSim grids offering online shopping, with an e-commerce site open to all OpenSim users, not just ReactionGrid members. Two other grids have online commerce... 

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Fri, Aug 21 2009
August Hypergrid List

August Hypergrid List

[Update: You can browse all hypergrid-enabled public OpenSim grids with Hyperica, the directory of hypergrid destinations. Directory indexes more than 100 shopping and freebie store locations. Updated... 

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Fri, Aug 21 2009
Private grids, public grids, and intragrids

Private grids, public grids, and intragrids

I occasionally get announcements or news from new grids running on the OpenSim platform, but they require the creation of a new avatar to visit. I don’t personally have anything against these kinds... 

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Thu, Aug 20 2009
Reminder that virtual worlds start with community not technology

Reminder that virtual worlds start with community not technology

Many friends have asked me recently if I’ve seen Ameba? Apparently it’s a virtual world for older teenagers and young adults in Japan. Other than maybe it’s Japanese cute it isn’t much different... 

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Thu, Aug 20 2009
ThinkBalm’s 3D Reception Area

ThinkBalm’s 3D Reception Area

Analyst firm ThinkBalm has created a virtual reception room for Web site visitors, using the 3DXplorer virtual worlds platform. ThinkBalm is  an independent industry analyst firm focused on work-related... 

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Wed, Aug 19 2009
3DXplorer: an enterprise virtual world with Web access

3DXplorer: an enterprise virtual world with Web access

Companies looking to have a virtual world running behind a firewall now have another option – today, Altadyn Corp. released its  3DXplorer enterprise platform. A web-based version of the product, hosted... 

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Fri, Aug 14 2009
Startup demos virtual therapy platform

Startup demos virtual therapy platform

InWorld Solutions has premiered the world’s first virtual behavioral therapy product, based on Forterra’s Olive virtual worlds platform, Forterra announced today. Olive — or On-Line Interactive... 

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Wed, Aug 12 2009
Purdue University profs: virtual reality a valuable teaching tool

Purdue University profs: virtual reality a valuable teaching tool

Professors at Purdue University, Indiana, say their year-long presence in Second Life has made their teaching more engaging by giving students face-to-face interaction, preparing them to use virtual... 

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Wed, Aug 5 2009
Virtual simulcast wins national training award

Virtual simulcast wins national training award

A California chapter of the American Society for Training & Development won the society’s national “Sharing Our Success” award for its use of Second Life for a virtual training simulcast,... 

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