Still on the road but had some time to surf a bit and came across a couple of things worth taking the time to mention here. The first is an entry over on the C|Net News blog regarding “green toys” (Link). I’m especially interested in alternative materials so reading about a new line of bioplastic toys made from corn starch and vegetables is potentially helpful.

Only thing I’m wondering is: if the bioplastic material starts to “decompose within months, compared to decades like traditional plastics”, then is that really a good thing? After all, the processes needed to make those toys aren’t likely to be very green, so if the product lifecycle is short, the process has to be repeated more often. I’d like a material that might last a few years instead of months. Something to investigate.
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I’d earlier stated that at some point I’d re-post on this blog a piece I’d written elsewhere. Now seems like an appropriate time to do that. So here it is… minus the blockquote tags:

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Avoiding A Short Shot

{Preface: I originally wrote this in June with the intention of submitting it to WorldChanging.com. This was prior to the Second Life Relay for Life event when I was giving some thought to the role technology – and virtual world simulations in particular – would play in our lives. Yesterday I posted an entry over on the Core “Software & Technology” blog that is relevant to the point I was making below. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can hardly wait to interact with some of the people mentioned in the article I reference in that entry. In any case, I had second thoughts about posting this long entry, but that article reminded me that it may still be worth posting. I hope my rambling, verbose style doesn’t interfere too much with the message.}
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When I first read on SeattlePi.com (Link) of Google’s announcement to embed Adsense inside so-called “casual games” , I figured there would be plenty of coverage and robust discussion. There is. Unfortunately, I’m not finding very much of it to be especially insightful.

On the one side you have some people claiming no one saw this coming… even though Google’s purchase of in-game advertiser Adscape last Spring should have clued in most everyone that they were looking to embed their ads as others have done before them. And on the other side are those who considered this development inevitable. Hopefully everyone reading this was in the latter group.
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Ever since my hesitant interview for the ISHUSH blog (Link) last year, I’ve paid a bit more attention to how others believe books might evolve in an increasingly digital world. My first pass at giving it any real thought beyond “Uh, they’ll be e-books”, was in response to a question asked of me at that time:
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As I’m a bit occupied to post much on each, I thought I’d post some quick hits to related video topics.

Pay-Per-Virtual Video Patent

The Second Life blogs are heating up over this one: the apparent filing of a patent over some currently unspecified method for providing Pay-Per-View video inside a virtual world. I caught it first on Twitter, but after having read the most relevant sites, will settle in on Virtually Blind (Link) to follow the action.
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