In Ad Age‘s most recent “Media Morph” entry, avatars get some … kind of recognition. From the entry (Link – free registration required):

An animated or photographic image, human or non-human, that Web surfers use to identify themselves online, usually in chat rooms, but also sometimes included in viral e-mails or in mobile phone messages.
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In an age of consumer-generated media, avatars also help keep consumers engaged with a brand.
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Like many novelties, avatars do get attention.

“Novelties”? Wow. I’m not sure they could get it more wrong. I guess the title of the piece, “Monkeys and Burgers Create Online Personas”, indicates how well-researched this piece is. If only they could more accurately explain the concept and all the things tied into it instead of attempting to reduce it to a “novelty”.

A videogame character model is also an avatar. As is the 3D representation used in IMVU or There. In Second Life avatars do more than just “chat”. They are a means of real interaction (including telepresence sex; SL’s qDot avatar is one of the real people on the cutting edge of that integration – Link NSFW).

Avatars are also a means by which people access other content – both real and virtual. Virtual representations of real products can be used as content within these virtual environments and, through embedded code, link the real people behind the avatars to real eCommerce sites selling the product. Some companies like Nike are even partnering with videogame companies to allow player customized content to link with their own real product customization websites, so potential customers can virtually try before they buy.

Avatars can also take on a “life” of their own. My own avatar, oddly enough, has gotten real world recognition that the real person hasn’t received. And avatars can allow people to explore other parts of their personality that, for what ever reason, they hesitate to explore in real life.

Additionally and importantly, avatars can also provide a means of regaining a part of real life that is lost through illness or injury (read this excellent story over on New World Notes – Link – to gain an appreciation of the nicer possibilities). After reading the NWN’s article come back and tell me that an avatar is a “novelty”.

There is much more to an avatar than the author, Kris Oser, lets on and what’s provided is, unfortunately, purely superficial. No surprise I guess. But not fully appreciating what an avatar represents before attempting to move into the arena would, imo, be a huge mistake.

Furthermore, there are already scanning devices across the U.S. and perhaps elsewhere that essentially put the real person into the virtual environment. So as virtual spaces become increasingly realistic, avatars will play an increasingly important role in our collective, connected future.

For additional information, try these links to some previous entries:

Here are some additional links to other sites:

Also, for reference:

I happened across a post over on Core77 regarding Selective Laser Melting; a process for rapid-prototyping metal parts. SLM is different than other RP metal processes in that it uses no binder and fully melts the metal particles so that the resulting part is generally of higher quality.

It’s not a new process but apparently it’s now getting some additional attention. I’m not sure why, so I went looking.

I still don’t know why it’s suddenly getting attention (it might just be that particular machine which doesn’t require the use of proprietary metal powders), but I did find a nice MPEG video (Link – click on the “Selective Laser Melting – SLM” link below the images to access the page; also has Real Player video).

For additional information on the SLM process you can also check out some additional sites (Link 1, Link 2).

{Image source: MCP-HEK Tooling}

From an Associated Press article being carried over on Yahoo! (Link):

South Korea is the world’s most wired country, boasting the highest per capita rate of broadband Internet connections. But there is a growing sense that high-tech prowess hasn’t been matched by the development of a mature online society, creating a growing problem of what is known here as “cyberviolence.”
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Now, law enforcement and the government are taking action. Trying to prevent anonymous attacks, the government said in December it would require Web sites to confirm users’ real names before they can post.
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Some Web sites are taking matters into their own hands, seeking to actively filter comments. South Korea’s Cyworld site, home to a hugely popular blog hosting service with 17 million registered members, has 115 employees who encourage proper Internet etiquette and another 20 monitoring for malicious remarks and slander.

Pretty sad commentary on how people can behave. And I don’t see this as being unique to South Korea.

For those wondering why I’m so vocal about issues like Trademark, this is a big reason why. This sort of behavior comes from a lack of respect for others and from an ignorance of how these things tie into our own welfare. To use a crude analogy: “If everyone pisses in the pool there won’t be much reason to swim in it”. Not a nice way to think about it, but it’s sufficiently graphic to get the point across.

Then again, the old saying is probably the best. “Treat others as you’d wish to be treated.”

Maybe we need to combine those two. Polite language doesn’t seem to resonate with people today.

This is pretty cool. Check out the video of Alexander McQueen’s fashion show over on Style.com (Link). While the show itself is both visually and musically interesting, the best part is near the end where Kate Moss (I guess that’s who it is) makes a virtual appearance courtesy of some holographic technology {Edit: see comments below for a discussion of the technique used}.

I’ve not seen mention of the tech on any of the regular tech sites I visit, but hopefully I’ll either stumble across mention of it or someone will provide a link. This reminds me of Bono’s 2005 TEDprize acceptance speech.

{Image Copyright © 2006 Conde©Net Inc.}

I’ve been visiting the newly-independent-from-Linden Lab blog of Hamlet Au (formerly Hamlet Linden) to see if some of the issues I’ve discussed (OGLE and trademark violations) will finally get some real attention. Nothing so far. But I did find his entry, “Unimpeachable Offense”, interesting. The comments as well.

The post concerns the efforts of at least one resident of Second Life to plunk a sign on some virtual land, put the land up for sale at extortionist prices, and then wait for outraged people to fork over the dough. Rinse and repeat. A lot. Oh, it helps to know that the sign read “Support Our Troops: Impeach Bush”.

I, of course, saw many of the forum threads that sprouted in anger, including one in which a resident posted a conversation hoping to garner (my) sympathy. Only the angry resident sounded like a jerk and the “extortionist” sounded polite and level-headed. I couldn’t help but side with him.

Besides, I knew that in the end the best way to deal with the situation was to ignore it. Funny how so many people haven’t figured that one out. Including Hamlet. From the post (Link):

For what would happen if Profane’s signs had said instead, for example, “Buy Cialis on the Web!” or “Eat at McDonalds!”, or any number of other real world advertisements or statements that most Residents would consider noxious 3D Spam? Surely the same thing: a flurry of outrage, scattershot protest, and after the initial storm, nothing.

Early on, I had thought that Residents would resist the intrusion of real life ads and other forms of commerce into Second Life, collectively rising up against any intrusion that impeded the purity of their grass roots imagination. But considering the story of Jedidiah Profane, I now think that was naive.

Well, it looks like Hamlet really has left virtual utopia. But props to Linden Lab for considering the long-term implications of this issue. In the end, it’s all of us who control what we see and hear … sometimes by simply not acknowledging its existence. Advertising included.

Now if only Linden Lab was as far-sighted with regard to issues of trademark violation. By the way, I wonder how many “Impeach Bush” sign protesters are doing the exact same thing by using real trademarks on their virtual products. Sometimes hypocrisy works too (in the short term at least).