It’s actually uncomfortable discussing this again (although I can’t find direct reference on this blog, it’s been mentioned elsewhere): the Lids Off jar opener I originally designed for Applica who license the Black & Decker brand, and which I recreated inside Second Life‘s virtual space; a “transreality” product. The object also included a link to the relevant page on the B&D e-commerce site … which has apparently now graduated to its own domain, lidsoff.com {dead link as of Nov 2008}. That was so residents could see the real product demo videos and place their order if interested.

I presented the idea of using this virtual product as a viral marketing tool to a former co-worker and the marketing person in charge of the category, but for whatever reason, he didn’t think it was worth his time to consider. That’s life.

Why revisit this now? Because Networked Performance has an entry (Link) that reminded me of it. From the reblogged post: Continue reading →

Raph Koster has posted an entry titled “Metaverse Roadmap roundup” (Link) containing bits and pieces from the conference; mostly excerpts. Worth a read to help get a sense of what was discussed. It’s currently the most recent in a series of posts covering the West Coast events.

What struck me most about this one post were Ethan Zuckerman’s comments (Link) regarding the Croquet demo. The response by those in attendence seems odd; as if a number of people weren’t aware of the project and its capabilities (or at least how it had progressed). The comments on Ethan’s site touch on this issue and are worth reading I think. The difficulties in promoting open source software appear to be an issue. I recently read that OpenOffice is launching a major effort to spur adoption. Weird to think free software requires a dedicated marketing effort. Something is most definitely missing from this equation.

{Update: For those who have not seen Croquet in action, there’s a video from last October that you can watch (Link). It’s well worth the time, imo.}

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, there has also been some good coverage over on Mark Wallace’s 3pointD weblog (Link). Readers might want to head over and read some entries there as well. If I find any other good entries, I’ll tack them on to this one.

-Added Links-

Futuring the Metaverse (Link) – a wrap-up post over on 3pointD.

Online spaces: The new frontier (Link) – article about SDForum over on C|Net.

Thoughts on the Metaverse Summit – Raph Koster’s thoughts after the event.

Mapping a path for the 3D Web – C|Net article about the Metaverse Roadmap meetup.

Here’s a beautiful bit of interface work: the “Titan Descent Data Movie with Bells and Whistles” (Link) showing NASA’s UI work for the Cassini-Huygen’s project.

via ISHUSH

{Image source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory Cassini-Huygens website}

Excellent back-and-forth piece over on the Wall Street Journal (Link). I’m struck by the number of points Ms. Dyson makes that seem to echo what I often say on this blog (or the other way around). She even almost gets into kirkyan territory with this comment:

Rather than being a separate virtual world, the Internet will encompass the physical world as well; most things will have Internet identities available remotely as well as a physical presence available only if you are nearby.

Lots of good stuff in this one. Be sure to read it.

via the 3pointD blog

There are some amazing stories out right now. And even though I expected something like this, the announcement is still exciting. From the Desktop Engineering website comes the press announcement on UGS (Link):

Microsoft Corp. and UGS Corp., a leading global provider of product life-cycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced a multiyear, global strategic alliance to “change the game” of how companies create innovative products by delivering the full suite of UGS® software solutions on the Microsoft® platform.
Continue reading →