The more astute among you will have noticed a new ad to the right of the posts: it's for the upcoming Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo, which runs October 10 and 11 in San Jose. All manner of industry leads will be there, with many of them speaking, including Adri Saarinen from Metaversatility; Corey Bridges from the Multiverse Network; Giff Constable from ESC; Edward Castronova; Jeska, Robin, and John Zdanowski from LL, and a bunch of other MMO players.
I plan on being there as well, so anyone in the area or already planning on going to this event, drop me a line and let's have our own mini-SLCC right there in SJ! For those of you planning on going but without your ticket yet can take advantage of this great discount code when registering online. The code is VIPATTENDEE, and it will save you 10% on the registration rate! You can check out more information at the conference website.
I'm excited; are you excited? I can't wait to meet representatives of MMOs that I've made fun of! If I don't return from this event, you all know why!
One interesting thing that came out of SLCC was the revelation that it appears that Wired was not only trash-talking Second Life, but that the trash-talk was the goal and intent, quite independent of the realities.
Coca Cola's Mike Donnelly, Director of Global Interactive Marketing says that Wired's Frank Rose completely misrepresented his and Coca Cola's position on Second Life. It's a public dustup about lies and distortion in the media. Yummy.
Or so they say. Metaversed's 57 Miles has the podcast up from the panel with Gartner. Attending were 57 Miles, Steve Prentice of Gartner, Robert Bloomfield of Cornell university's Johnson School, Fiona Gallagher, Sun Microsystems' lead in Second Life, and Joel Greenberg, VP marketing and innovation for Electric Sheep Company.
Skype was off for some hours around the time of the event so it was handled in voice. Miles has heroically edited it all together in a 50MB MP3. Go grab the audio file from Metaversed.
And with that, Jerry Paffendorf, AKA SNOOPYbrown Zamboni, has announced his official leavetaking of ESC, at least as an employee. Jerry leaves behind him an incredible legacy, having been with the Sheep from their earliest days. The blogpost gives tantalizing hints at what he'll be tackling next, but whatever it is, it's sure to be exciting for the rest of us, given his breadth of knowledge and experience. Good luck, Jerry!
Welcome to the tenth episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast!
This episode features our interview with Cory Edo of the Electric Sheep Company. Moo Money co-hosts with me, and we talk about making money doing what you love, non-sexual ageplay, and sculpties. As always, feel free to leave your questions and comments!
Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to On the Inside directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the SLI Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically [Mp3] Download the MP3 directly
Without so much as a word from other Lindens until now, Torley LInden has commented on an earlier entry from today with a blog post. In the blog, they acknowledge that there have been some inventory issues, including the complete newbie wipe I am suffering, while linking to my original post about the issue. They offer some likely scenarios related to inventory issues and the steps to report them. Comments are turned off, which is probably a wise move considering how angry and scared some of the residents are.
Known victims of the wipe at this time are moo Money (me), Jaxi Morrison, wife of SLProfiles creator Yo Brewster, Tatiana Vanguard, and Forseti Svarog, of the Electric Sheep Company. If you are a victim of the newbie inventory wipe, please post a comment here and I will add your name to the list.
Start packing, because SXSW begins tomorrow, Friday, March 9th in Austin! It's going to be an action-packed five days of adventure and excitement, starting off with registration from Noon-8pm CST. Ooh, fun! I was advised to not even get in line for registration until at least 3pm, as it will be packed at first. From what I hear, there will be many parties to attend and lots of free booze, as well as some informational panels for those going to learn.
A whopping eight Lindens and three ex-Lindens will be attending, with some manning booths and others speaking on panels. I just found out that Urizenus Sklar, of the Second Life Herald, will be attending. An interesting tidbit is that his badge lists him as the Corporate Evangelist for Anshe Chung Studios. We also have a late addition to the attendee list. Christian Prior, of the Electric Sheep Company, is going! Are you attending the Interactive section of SXSW? Send me a message in-world and we'll exchange phone numbers! I'll be the short girl with the tall hair. See you there!
As some of you may know, I was involved in a project with Edelman and The Electric Sheep Company that was called The Grid Review. It started in Mid-December and there would be new episodes weekly. Nylon Pinkney was my co-anchor, with her playing the funny role to my serious one. It became apparent soon after that it was just impossible for one person to do the writing, filming, narrating, and editing work for a project of this size.
That is why I'm happy to announce that is now in the talented hands of the ILL Clan, which recently merged with ESC. With Trent Hedges writing and filming, the ILL Clan managing and editing, and Johnny Ming narrating, they're producing more than I would ever be capable of doing. In its new format, there will be one longer episode every Wednesday, where they'll feature regular segments.
While I am no longer involved in the project (I chose to take a break from opening an editing program), I look forward to seeing what they have up their sleeves. They've already released two episodes with more on the way! Check out their pilot episode and if you like it, don't forget to visit their site!
Cory Edo will be known to many of you. If she isn't her work surely is. As a member of the MDC Electric Sheep Company, Cory has worked on many public projects, and has also been interviewed on Secondcast. Even though she was officially on vacation, she generously gave me a little of her time to answer some burning questions. More after the jump!
How did you come to be with [ESC]?
Cory Edo: Well Makaio and I had our own development company back at the end of '05 called Tiny Seadog. We did mostly inworld stuff but a few RL projects as well. When ESC approached us about joining up, it was just getting to that put up or shut up point where I'd have to set up a business license, taxes, all that stuff, which I dreaded doing. So this seemed like a good way to be able to just concentrate on building and texturing and letting someone else handle the administrative aspects ... plus tracking down the jobs.
Following on the heels of their SL-driven commercial for Two and a Half Men, CBS Reuters announces that the broadcast company will participate in a $7 million dollar round of financing for the Electric Sheep Company, which has created builds for AOL, General Electric, NBC, and Viacom, as well as CBS itself.
While this is great news for ESC, it does make me feel a little leery that SL, already touted as the next iteration of the Web, is still following the pattern of the boom and bust of the late 90's. While it could be argued that there is more efficacy to supporting MDCs at this stage of SL's growth than there was in VC funding early websites with no real sustainable business model, the parallels are a little too close for comfort. Let's hope this doesn't turn into a 'CBS is doing it, so let's do it too' from other companies, only to have the whole thing fall apart like a badly-baked soufflé.
Apologies for the clunky title, but it says it all: I had the honor of being given a tour of the Rod Laver Arena build in SL, home to the Australian Open event, though closed to the general public. The lovely and witty Gizzy Electricteeth guided me around the substantial build, which she reveals was modeled as closely as possible after the RL Arena. It's a Great Build, so have a look at the results!
I wanted to do a year in review post, but I found another one that had everything I would have mentioned and more. Giff Constable (AKA Forseti Svarog) of the Electric Sheep Company has a very well done 2006 year in review post on his blog "Out to Pasture." He starts out with some good information on the incredible growth in 2006 and then follows with a month by month rundown. He even remembered to mention the launch of the Second Life Insider by AOL/Weblogs Inc. (Thanks for remembering us Giff).
Looking back it has been a great year in Second Life. Getting a cover story in Business week, reaching over a million residents (and then over 2 million), and the opening of Reuters in world are high points for me (I also like the addition of SLURLs). While the CopyBot incident and the website hack were definite lows. I look forward to next year and everything Second Life has in store.
Cory Edo of the Electric Sheep Company posted a fun tutorial on how to create ice textures. These textures are the perfect way to put those finishing touches on that holiday build you have been slaving over. I spent a lot of time in recent years living in the Midwest where scenes with ice and snow were a general mainstay and also a road hazard. I didn't think I would miss it when moving to Florida, but it is nice to get away in Second Life to see the snow covered plains and iced over lakes. While of course relaxing by the pool under a palm tree.
It is also nice to see companies like the Electric Sheep Company always giving a little something to the community. Actually building the texture is relatively simple if you have Photoshop. So, I don't want to spoil it here, but head on over to Cory's I work with Sheep and Pixels blog and check it out for yourself.
Tonight from 5-7 PM SLT or 8-10 PM EST NBC will host "Sessions Live from the Peacock Room," featuring Marc Roberge of O.A.R. and Robert Randolph of Robert Randolph & The Family Band. This live jam session will take place on NBC's Headquarters in Second Life on NBC 1 through NBC 10. The Electric Sheep Company is organizing the event, so you know it will be high quality. Also, if all else fails the event will be broadcast on www.VirtualNBC.com.
I have yet to head over to NBC's Island chain, but I am looking forward to seeing it. My understanding is that the show will be held live on one of their islands and fed through video to the others. Unfortunately, I am unsure which island will be holding the show live. If you find it, post it in the comments for others. Otherwise, come on out and enjoy the music, participate in live Q&A, and possibly even win a signed CD from the artists.
Yay! Having posted about this previously, I'm happy it finally came to fruition. Four Eyed Monsters looked like an interesting film, but it seemed like I wouldn't ever get a chance to see it, as it was only being screened in selected areas, depending upon written-in requests for showings. While this allowed the film's creators to keep their costs to a minimum, it also meant that you had to travel to one of the screening cities to see it, thus reducing the best form of advertising: word-of-mouth.
However, the Sundance Channel, with the help of the Electric Sheep Company, will create a screening room in SL to premiere the film to residents. For more information on the movie, go to the Four Eyed Monsters site. For more information on the build itself, go check out the Sundance Channel's blog.
The more astute among you will have noticed a new ad to the right of the posts: it's for the upcoming Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo, which runs October 10 and 11 in San Jose. All manner of industry leads will be there, with many of them speaking, including Adri Saarinen from Metaversatility; Corey Bridges from the Multiverse Network; Giff Constable from ESC; Edward Castronova; Jeska, Robin, and John Zdanowski from LL, and a bunch of other MMO players.
One interesting thing that came out of SLCC was the revelation that it appears that Wired was not only trash-talking Second Life, but that the trash-talk was the goal and intent, quite independent of the realities.
Or so they say. Metaversed's 57 Miles has the podcast up from 
Without so much as a word from other Lindens until now, Torley LInden has commented on an 
Start packing, because 
