We already knew that, if you live in the USA or Canada, or surf the internet desperately, 24th October (a fortnight today) will see SL feature in CSI:NY.

What has just come to light is that ESC will be launching a new, commercially licensed, viewer for SL at the same time. Details are currently rather sketchy, but there will be an option to sign up from the CSI:NY site, and it will be available to residents. The interface will, according to the press release, more closely resemble a browser than the current client (one has to ask which browser, Sidebars? Customisable folders on a book marks bar? Widgets?) which is probably a good thing, because the current viewer is not the most elegant piece of UI design. To quote: It also combines Second Life features, such as teleporting, with sophisticated OnRez services for virtual shopping and searching. Perhaps less desirable in the general run of things to most residents?

Update: The viewer will apparently be available from here.

Remember how, back in April, I wrote about Coke's launch event, and we've also reported on how Coke is leaving according to Business Week? We must have reported on this Wired article too, but I can't find it.

Tateru wrote a short piece about Mike Donnelly's talk at SLCC as blogged by ESC's Joel Greenburg (remember ESC didn't do the work on this one, Crayon did) in which Donnelly states, as far as we can tell from the quotes given he regards the campaign as:

1. Not over
2. Already a success

But, the naysayers are out already... Tony Walsh on his blog is unimpressed by Coke's claim of a success, and has some numbers he regards as less impressive to back his ideas up.
Who do you trust here? Greenburg doesn't have a direct interest - he's not getting more business out of Coke, because he's not getting any at the moment and you'd have thought Coke would probably stay with Crayon if they really like what's going on. Donnelly doesn't need to say the campaign is a success if it's not - although no-one's mentioned an exact amount less than US$0.5M (as quoted from the talk) on an experimental campaign that fails isn't going to get him fired and Coke could just pull out. A little comment from reading both articles back-to-back had me thinking. Walsh criticises the campaign on the metrics he chooses "because activity around these Virtual Thirst web destinations has barely increased since I last checked back in early June" but Donnelly says "We rented space on Crayon Island for the duration of the campaign. There's no reason to build an island without a long term plan" and the analysis is about an event based campaign: "Like the real world, there are a variety of events marketers can sponsor in Second Life; they do not need to build a sim. It all depends on the marketing problem you need to solve and the strategies for solving it."

So, shortly after an event there's a rush of signing up to the various aspects of it, which then tails off - but I'm sure Coke will hope with their launch of the competition winner event there will be another rush of new material and interest. With this being their strategy, why is seeing this pattern of engagement indicative of failure? Or is there an axe to grind on one part?

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.

Enjoy the show...

The Electric Sheep are bringing internationally renowned suspense author, Dean Koontz into Second Life for a reading from his latest book, and a live Q&A session. Koontz's Second Life avatar will appear at the Bantam Dell book shop on Sheep Island at 6pm SLT (today, Friday 15 March). Electric Sheep's DTV will be there to stream the event live to several other Second Life locations.

If you can't get to Sheep Island for the event -- and face it, by the time you read this, it will probably be full -- you can catch the the event via DTV at one of these locations:

• The Elbow Room.
• The Shelter.
• The Boiled Shrimp.
• Dusty's.
• Laguna Beach Club.
• Crayon.
• Sundance Channel.
• Pontiac Garage.
• Hollywood Bowl.

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!

Many of you knew that Philip was presenting SL to the hardware-besotted throngs at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (or CES), but this particular section of his presentation may have escaped your notice. ESC is working on building a replica of the starship Enterprise (presumably the original) for CBS, whose President and CEO Les Moonves hopes will " ... allow the Second Life community to mash-up a slough of Star Trek episodes. It's a great way to give back to the fans who make the show as successful as it is."

The accompanying video (actually part of Philip's presentation, but leading into Mr. Moonves's) is a cute poking fun at the standard tropisms of Trek culture, though I know some Trekkers in SL who will be bristling with outrage at the shenanigans. I can't wait to see the hardcore fans get their hands on this build; though come to think of it, they've probably already built a much vaster playground of detail-oriented ships and environments. Oh, well, Les: Kapla!

(Via Business Communicators of Second Life)

The Electric Sheep Company have launched the Nissan Sentra car, along with four sims for driving in, and it is a triumph. Thought, time, effort, organization have gone into this project, and it shows.

If you are in the Counting Sheep group for Electric Sheep events, you will have received a copy of the car to try. If you are not, you simply have to IM Toast Alicious for a key, which will enable you to go to the vendor on the Nissan sims to get your own. The cars are customizable through a menu system, and so you can change the colour by clicking on the car.

There are four sims to try your driving skills at, with different terrains, with a linking bridge on one to help keep the speed up even when your draw distance is high. I know that vehicles have the reputation for being difficult to control and not much fun in SL, but these are different. Believe me!