Scientists Say Video Games Can Reshape Education

Check out this CNN article about how video games might reshape education. Check it out [HERE].

Cars, Books, Travel, Sloodle, and Banks Come to SL

Ok, here is a break down of major comings and goings in SL over the last week and a half.

* There are now several Amazon affiliated bookstores in SL. Read a kind of negative blogpost about them [HERE]. Penguin Publishing is also dabbling in Second Life, you can read about that [HERE]

* A virtual travel agency now exists in SL (and other places). Check them out at synthtravels.com.

* Nissan and Pontiac jump into Second Life. Read about it on 3pointD.com [HERE]. You can check out Pontiac's front end to their SL Sim [HERE].

* A Moodle (popular open source Learning Management System) has been integrated with Second Life to form Sloodle. Read about Sloodle [HERE].

* The Wall Street Journal through its CareerJournal.com site has an article about Avatar Marketing that deals with Second Life [HERE].

* Meta Bank, dealing only in Lindens, is the first SL bank besides some SL Mafia groups loaning L's out that that I am aware of. Check out the Uvvy blog about Meta Bank [HERE].

Also, Business Week and the New York Times both had not to noteworthy articles on Second Life during this time frame.

The Original Sun and IBM Press Releases

I was overwhelmed with work then I took a few days off for vacation so I missed a few important SL events. Here are the original SUN and IBM press releases relating to their jump into Second Life.

Wired in SL

You may have missed the hard copy of Wired Magazine which featured an extensive article on SL last month. Wired seems to be covering SL both in print and on its Wired News website more and more now.

Check out the Wired's latest Second Life article that list "must have" items for your avatar [Here].

Infocyde and Second Life

Infocyde is an information warfare concept...it is a state where an information receptor gets overwhelmed by so much information that it essentially ceases to operate. I feel like I am suffering from infocyde as I try to track Second Life as it continues to evolve. There are now about 40 blogs that I track, the SLED educational listserver generates about 30-100 emails a day, and there are numerous web sources that I check out daily. Let’s just say that Second Life, despite of its recent instability, is now growing at an amazing pace. Where a few months ago you might stumble across one or two new corporations or colleges coming into Second Life, that seems to be more of a daily occurrence now with no real signs of stopping. Reuters, Intel, IBM, SONY BMG, and other big name companies have all made their presence know in Second Life over the past two weeks. I think trying to keep up with it all in the 15 or 30 minutes that I task for researching SL each day would now be better spent focusing more on what happens in Second Life that affects Second Campus. We kind of slowed our roll a bit as Second Life became massively unstable for a few days and as we encountered a few internal hurdles. With how quickly Second Life is growing however, I think it is time that we got back on the fast track development cycle again. Second Campus is about 90% complete, with the remaining 10% of items (which are mostly mine to do) being minor tweaks here and there. So expect Second Campus’s Early Adopter program to roll shortly. Stay tuned.

Over One Million Second Life Users!

Sometime early today or late last night, the number of Second Life registered users reached over a million. I'll post more about what that means, if anything, shortly.

101 Uses for SL

Here is a great link provided by Dr. Megan S. Conklin about possible uses for Second Life. Check out the link [HERE].

Politics and Marketing: The UN's First Foray into Second Life...Kinda

Aimee Weber (of Aimee Weber Studio) is working with the United Nations either on her own or with their blessing, I'm not sure which, to use Second Life as a public awareness vehicle.

Check out the Second Life Insider article [HERE]

Business: NYT Article on Selling to Avatars

Check out the article [HERE].