Opinion

Mon, Oct 17 2011

Neighbor me!

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Today’s OpenSim grids all have a static idea of a world map. So does Second Life. There’s nothing wrong with that — I love having a virtual environment that I can navigate, that makes...

8 Comments | Read More »

Mon, Oct 17 2011

The premise: I believe that we’re about to see the massive growth of a metaverse in which people can easily travel from one public world to another. Over time, the technology will become increasingly...

1 Comment | Read More »

Sat, Oct 15 2011

HG Biz Plan: Event calendar

Also in: Biz Plans, Maria's Worlds

No Comments | Read More »

Thu, Oct 13 2011

What kind of entrepreneur are you?

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Back when I incorporated my first company a few years ago, I tried to learn as much as I could about the entrepreneurial process and mind set. I joined entrepreneurial organizations and attended events...

11 Comments | Read More »

Thu, Oct 13 2011

HG Biz Plan: Hyperport

Also in: Biz Plans, Maria's Worlds

2 Comments | Read More »

Sun, Oct 9 2011

HG Biz Plan: Virtual fishing

Also in: Biz Plans, Maria's Worlds

3 Comments | Read More »

Fri, Oct 7 2011

HG Biz Plan: Virtual book world

Also in: Biz Plans, Maria's Worlds

No Comments | Read More »

Wed, Oct 5 2011

HG Biz Plan: Virtual psychics

Also in: Biz Plans, Maria's Worlds

1 Comment | Read More »

Mon, Oct 3 2011

HG Biz Plan: Virtual gym

Also in: Biz Plans, Maria's Worlds

7 Comments | Read More »

Sun, Oct 2 2011

The coming sim-com boom

Also in: Maria's Worlds

We are going to have a metaverse of interconnected virtual worlds. Whether it evolves out from the current OpenSim and the hypergrid, or from the new crop of Web-based virtual platforms, or some combination,...

10 Comments | Read More »

Sat, Oct 1 2011

I’m building a virtual memory palace

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Back before I became a business journalist, I was a war correspondent. And I accumulated a few psychological scars as a result. In the past, I deal with some of my ghosts by lighting candles in church...

6 Comments | Read More »

Thu, Sep 29 2011

How real is real enough?

Also in: Columns

How real does a virtual environment need to be for users to feel presence? This is a question educators have been researching in the attempt to implement virtual spaces to expand the classroom. For those...

4 Comments | Read More »

Wed, Sep 28 2011

Unity a road to un-united worlds

Also in: Maria's Worlds

As the number of Unity-based virtual platforms proliferates, and a decent viewer for OpenSim and Second Life still remains a pipe dream, we’re getting close to the point where the center of gravity...

6 Comments | Read More »

Tue, Sep 27 2011

What I look for in an OpenSim host

Also in: Maria's Worlds

The OpenSim hosting industry is still young, and, though it is developing quickly, still lacking in experience and maturity. But it doesn’t mean that customers have to settle for substandard service. I’ve...

4 Comments | Read More »

Mon, Sep 26 2011

The hypergrid is not the next Web

Also in: Maria's Worlds

I am a big fan of the hypergrid. I love logging into my personal grid. Then teleporting to my company grid, or visit friends on OSGrid, or go shopping on GermanGrid. But I don’t have any illusion...

6 Comments | Read More »

Sun, Sep 25 2011

Five ways make money with a viewer

Also in: Maria's Worlds

All existing OpenSim viewers are based on the GPL-licensed open source version of the Second Life viewer. All derivative viewers also have to be open source — which makes it hard to build a business...

11 Comments | Read More »

Wed, Sep 21 2011

Virtual Events: The New Marketing Frontier

Also in: Columns

The economic downturn has put a damper on tradeshow activities worldwide. Travel budgets have been tightened across the board. Attendees are less willing to hop on a plane halfway around the globe for...

2 Comments | Read More »

Fri, Sep 16 2011

How SWIFT reduced virtual world training to 30 minutes

Also in: Columns

An interesting quesion arose from my ALT-C talk last week. It was basically “How can you use Second Life for teaching when it takes two hours to learn how to use it?” Which isn’t really a question,...

4 Comments | Read More »

Tue, Sep 13 2011

Why free land is good for OpenSim

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Will free land destroy grids? There will probably a winnowing out of grids that continue to charge for residential land without offering enough additional perceived value. But the end result will, I believe,...

41 Comments | Read More »

Mon, Sep 12 2011

Getting attention in a virtual world

Also in: Maria's Worlds

A few days ago, I heard a brief talk by marketing expert Steve Harrison in which he talked about how to get attention for your message. It turns out he was speaking about how to get the attention of journalists...

3 Comments | Read More »

Sun, Sep 11 2011

A modest proposal for hypergrid security

Also in: Maria's Worlds

As John Rogate pointed out today, the 4096 bug — which limits hypergrid teleports to no more than 4,096 regions in any direction — is a significant impediment to hypergrid travel and to the...

27 Comments | Read More »

Sun, Sep 11 2011

It’s time to move all grids south

Also in: Columns

Hypergrid is probably one of the greatest and unifying features for OpenSim, and virtual worlds in general. Basically, virtual worlds cannot be what they should be without the hypergrid. It is the same...

18 Comments | Read More »

Fri, Sep 9 2011

5 missing pieces in OpenSim

Also in: Maria's Worlds

OpenSim development — like that of any open source project — is very much focused on what developers want to do. They are, after all, volunteers, they don’t take orders. That leaves business...

12 Comments | Read More »

Thu, Sep 8 2011

Medical simulations can benefit healthcare, pharma industries

Also in: Columns

Healthcare and the pharmaceutical industries can benefit from using training simulations and serious games in everything from sales and customer relations to helping medical professionals work with upset...

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Tue, Sep 6 2011

Avaya trains sales reps virtually

Also in: Columns

The flight simulator celebrated its 100s anniversary a couple of years ago. A training rig was developed in 1909 to help pilots operate the control wheels of the early monoplanes in a safe environment...

2 Comments | Read More »

Fri, Sep 2 2011

Whose side am I on?

Also in: Maria's Worlds

I’m regularly asked why I give more coverage to one company or another, or why I’m biased against particular grids or platforms. And, it’s true. I do have a bias. You see, in my day job...

9 Comments | Read More »

Wed, Aug 31 2011

Free land might kill your grid

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Any grid owner that makes a living by renting out premium residential regions should start planning ahead — for a future in which the effective of residential regions drops down to zero. Free is...

36 Comments | Read More »

Fri, Aug 26 2011

5 tips for pro builders moving to OpenSim

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Second Life builders and designers coming over to OpenSim might think that it’s the same thing, except for the lack of support for some high-end vehicle physics scripting commands — and bigger...

5 Comments | Read More »

Fri, Aug 26 2011

OpenSim needs an installer bundle

Also in: Columns

I attended UMass in the early eighties when access to DARPAnet first became available to students. In the beginning, all we had was terminal-based FTP access to download TeX markup documents that we could...

12 Comments | Read More »

Fri, Aug 19 2011

SpotON3D’s five PR mistakes

Also in: Maria's Worlds

SpotON3D is a small commercial grid, with more money and programmers than customers. It has developed three innovative pieces of technology, two of which nobody cares anything about, and one, a browser-based...

22 Comments | Read More »

Thu, Aug 18 2011

11 tips for successful virtual training

Also in: Columns

Over the last three years I’ve planned, designed, and orchestrated a dozen learning events in the virtual world of Second Life. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with extremely experienced and talented...

10 Comments | Read More »

Wed, Aug 17 2011

Five steps to OpenSim at your school

Also in: Columns

I have been using OpenSim since October, 2008. The software is still in an alpha stage of development, but it has come a long way, and its usage has exploded, and will continue to do so. Linden Labs has...

2 Comments | Read More »

Sun, Aug 14 2011

Putting SpotON3D’s patent into perspective

Also in: Columns

The recent furor over patents by SpotON3D is understandable. However, we may be overemphasizing that issue while staying naïve about other formidable developments. Let me begin with a specific illustration. Back...

33 Comments | Read More »

Mon, Aug 8 2011

Why grids should still consider licensing SpotON3D’s plugin

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Despite the patent controversy, and public relations problems that ensued from it, SpotON3D has a good product. It’s viewer plugin wrapper might not be a technological breakthrough, but it feels...

28 Comments | Read More »

Sun, Aug 7 2011

How to lose your copyright in three easy steps

Also in: Maria's Worlds

At a public forum today, an OpenSim grid executive told the audience that creators could lose their intellectual property rights if their work is copied. This is a common — and harmful — myth...

12 Comments | Read More »

Thu, Aug 4 2011

Iggy’s rules for moderating virtual world meetings

Also in: Columns

The good folks at the Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable are training new people to host our meetings, and they’ve asked us veterans to share our ideas. The following principles have worked...

3 Comments | Read More »

Thu, Aug 4 2011

5 reasons why OpenSim is innovating faster than Second Life

Also in: Maria's Worlds

In recent months, the amount of innovation coming out of the OpenSim community has been staggering. Hypergrid travel is not only more secure, but now supports cross-grid friendships, messages, and landmarks....

4 Comments | Read More »

Tue, Aug 2 2011

Katalab’s OurBricks shows 3D with no plugin

Also in: Columns

For years I have been wanting to see 3D on the web become ubiquitous and with Katalabs‘ OurBricks, I am closer than ever to seeing that dream come true. Leveraging the power of WebGL and its supported...

3 Comments | Read More »

Sat, Jul 30 2011

Kudos to SpotON3D for viewer plugin

Also in: Maria's Worlds

A lot of folks sit around complaining about not having a decent Web-based viewer for OpenSim and Second Life. (Okay, maybe just me.) The existing stand-alone viewers require that users download and install...

10 Comments | Read More »

Fri, Jul 29 2011

SpotOn3d releases browser plugin for OpenSim

Also in: Columns

There have been several attempts over the past year to create a viewer for Second Life and OpenSim based virtual environments that would run in a browser. I’ve tried to write about them all, from...

22 Comments | Read More »

Mon, Jul 25 2011

The ‘official’ real me is legion

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Until yesterday, I’ve been keeping up with — but haven’t been particularly concerned about — the Google Plus real names controversy. After all, I already used my real name in all...

12 Comments | Read More »

Sun, Jul 24 2011

Freebies need licenses

Also in: Maria's Worlds

First of all, I’d like to thank all the creative folks who are creating original products and distributing them in freebie stores on OSGrid, JokaydiaGrid, GermanGrid, FrancoGrid, and many other locations. OpenSim...

2 Comments | Read More »

Thu, Jul 21 2011

5 grid design mistakes

Also in: Maria's Worlds

I’ve been traveling around the hypergrid a lot lately enjoying the new hypergrid landmarks, friends, and messages — and updating the Hyperica directory. And I’ve been amazed at how far...

3 Comments | Read More »

Wed, Jul 20 2011

5 reasons not to rush to Unity

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Yesterday, I wrote up 5 reasons to rush to Unity 3D (with an extra bonus reason). Yes, the platform is technically advanced and easy to use, great for marketing and business applications — but Unity...

16 Comments | Read More »

Tue, Jul 19 2011

5 reasons to rush to Unity 3D

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Two major players in the OpenSim community have recently joined ReactionGrid in promoting the Unity 3D platform. In addition to ReactionGrid’s Jibe environment, we now also have Second Learning’s...

3 Comments | Read More »

Sat, Jul 9 2011

Free campus released

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Educators and companies looking for free, Creative Commons-licensed starting regions for their corporate or school campuses should take a look at Universal Campus. These four regions were originally created...

12 Comments | Read More »

Wed, Jun 29 2011

Five top metaverse blogs

Also in: Maria's Worlds

I subscribe to a lot of virtual world-related blogs in my RSS reader (click here for the bundle) , and follow a lot more on Twitter (click here for the list). Here are the five that I check in on daily. i...

10 Comments | Read More »

Mon, Jun 27 2011

Jibe vs. OpenSim

Also in: Maria's Worlds

Jibe is a new, Unity 3D-based virtual environment created by ReactionGrid, one of the leading OpenSim hosting vendors. Many people confuse the two platforms, but they are very different environments. In...

2 Comments | Read More »

Fri, Jun 17 2011

10 marketing triggers

Also in: Maria's Worlds

As the number of new grids proliferates, grid owners need to look beyond “cheaper than Second Life” as their key marketing ploy. Instead, why not try one of these time-tested strategies? 1....

5 Comments | Read More »

Wed, Jun 8 2011

The Machinimist Marketer: Low-cost book promotion for authors

Also in: Columns

Machinima isn’t just for music anymore. People from all different walks of life are finding ways to take advantage of the virally spread mini movies, the latest being writers. I discovered that on...

1 Comment | Read More »

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