I just received another email from Paul Hemp (you might recall him from an earlier post of mine – reLink) that included a link to his latest article over on the Harvard Business Review titled “Are You Ready for E-tailing 2.0?” (Link – good while supplies last). Those who’ve been active inside virtual worlds the last year or so won’t really be hearing anything new, but importantly people who read Hemp’s article are probably not active and still new to the whole idea of conducting business inside online 3D spaces. The question is: will they see the big picture? I’m not sure they will, even with the Harvard Business Review effectively telling them this is the future of online retail. Considering that the opportunity to get in and learn the ropes before the competition only comes once, I’m a little amazed we’re not seeing quite a bit more activity already. It’s certainly not cost prohibitive.

Truth be told, I suspect most marketers see this as only advertising and want to know what the returns are going to be in the context of that perception. It doesn’t seem as if anyone wants to invest in learning. Personally, I believe they need to put these early efforts under the R&D umbrella and expect losses… just like conducting early tests and research in any new technology. Because if they don’t, they may find themselves regretting missing the opportunity. And in my opinion, there won’t be many as big after this.

Via the good IBM folks at the eightbar blog comes word (Link) of Reebok’s virtual store inside Second Life. Considering my inability to get into SL due to other commitments, it’s no surprise some of these aren’t pinging on my radar til after they’re old news (though this might be new news). Regardless of whether it’s old or new, I thought it worth pointing out. The store is typically minimalist; similar to the Adidas store about which I previously blogged (reLink). I do, however, like the shoe modification kiosk. I’ve not played NBA 2k6 so I don’t know anything about the UI that lets users select and modify their Nike kicks (see previous mention of that – reLink) but I doubt it’s any better. If it is, someone post some screenshots. I’d like to see.

The big news yesterday (besides North Korea detonating a nuke) was the deal between Google and YouTube. And of course because Mark Cuban has been relatively vocal on the subject of YouTube and continues to be vocal, I stopped by his blog to read his latest on the deal (Link) and skim the reader comments. And while reading a comment something struck me: the anti-corporate “free everything” crowd is going to volutarily go to work for the very corporations they claim to despise. Many of them, because they’re not especially savvy, are going to get used. My comment on Cuban’s blog explains how:

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“Google will share revenue derived from the content with the uploader, any copyright owners, and Google of course.”

No. They’re not going to pay the uploader anything. The uploader (and possible content thief) is going to be the engine that drives more corporate profit. This is just a variation on the idea that music companies can still make money off of p2p downloads. Attention has value. And it all ties back to ad revenue.

YouTube is going to use the DMCA and let rights holders issue their notices. Only before that happens we might see the integrated advertising. And the revenue stream might give the rights holders pause. Here’s a scenario:
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Here’s something from the Inhabitat blog: birdhouses created using 3D rapid prototyping technology. From the entry (Link):

They chose to create these small-scale habitats to experiment with digital rapid (SLA) prototyping. “We are interested in all types of digital fabrication via mill, water jet, 3D printers and contour control sculpting,” says RES4 partner Paul Coughlin, “but the 3D printer seemed the most applicable to our modern modular explorations which exploit volumetric unitization, not surface unitization.”

I don’t know about the design, but the bigger issue in my mind would be: is the SLA material a problem? Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to research this. Hopefully I’ll have some time in November.

{Image source: Inhabitat}

There’s an excellent article discussing Will Wright’s upcoming videogame Spore (reLink1, reLink2) in yesterday’s New York Times. The piece, written by Steven Johnston and titled “The Long Zoom” (Link), is a great read. Of real interest to me though is this bit toward the end:

Everyone’s desk is populated by plastic action figures of Spore creatures, manufactured in-house by Wright’s employees using a 3-D printer that can generate a physical toy in a matter of minutes from a computer model. (Electronic Arts is investigating the possibility of selling customized Spore critters in toy stores as a side business.)

Considering that the article’s foundation is based on the so-called “Powers of Ten” idea which is supposed to “expand the way we think”, it struck me as odd that Johnston didn’t call out a different kind of lens: instead of just zooming in and out of physical space we may be entering an age where another lens breachs the transreality barrier between information and physicality.
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