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Windows 7 and What Comes After the PC October 19, 2009 
Microsoft and Windows go back to the very beginning of the PC -- when people couldn't afford them, when networks were defined by terminal emulators and floppy disks, and when many of the Google pioneers were in diapers. Looking back at what Windows initially did and considering what Windows 7 is capable of, you can certainly say a lot has changed.
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The Business Case for Virtual Business, Part 2 June 30, 2009 
There's no doubt some companies have succeeded in using virtual worlds for branding and interaction with their customers, whether through in-world stores, billboards or other means. Wells Fargo, for instance, has been operating its Stagecoach Island aimed at young customers for roughly four years and says it is pleased with the results.
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The Business Case for Virtual Business, Part 1 June 23, 2009 
It wasn't long after the launch of Linden Lab's Second Life back in 2003 that companies and organizations around the globe began to sit up and take notice. The prospect of millions of potential customers -- all flocking to the same destination and congregating there -- is enough to whet the appetite of even the most conservative and change-averse organization, after all.
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Avatars in Tuxes: Second Life Hosts Inaugural Ball January 20, 2009 
In an almost surreal scene, unprecedented numbers of euphoric people are mobbing America's capital city to celebrate a new hope for a beleaguered nation. It is a celebration so huge that the bounds of reality cannot hold it in. For the very first time, the inauguration of a new president will be trumpeted in this world and another; in life and in Second Life.
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Virtual World Research, Part 2: Reality in a Can December 31, 2008 
Universities and government agencies, even a few private corporations, are going all "mad scientist" on us in the realm of virtual worlds. But why are they experimenting there and why are so many drawn to virtual worlds like a dying man to a priest? Virtual worlds are today's answer to utopian communes, says one researcher.
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Virtual World Research, Part 1: A Place to Experiment December 30, 2008 
Universities and government agencies are conducting all kinds of research, both scientific and sociological, in virtual worlds -- but is this merely a newfangled boondoggle or is the research really real? "My general perspective is that virtual worlds are at least as real as many parts of the so-called real world," said William Sims Bainbridge, program director in human-centered computing at the National Science Foundation.
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Android Emancipation and the Sweet Smell of WiFi: The Week in Tech December 12, 2008 
If you want a G1 Android phone but you can't bear the thought of using a carrier with pink logo, help is on the way. You can now get a version of the HTC handset that's both SIM-unlocked and hardware-unlocked. But in order to get one -- and, yes, they really are limiting quantities to one per customer -- you have to jump through some hoops.
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PS3 Gamers Can Finally Go 'Home' December 11, 2008 
On Thursday, PlayStation 3 owners will find their new "Home" ready, console maker Sony announced. The company has opened the beta of its much-delayed "PlayStation Home" 3-D virtual gaming community to all PS3 users. The move follows the completion of a closed beta. Announced in March 2007, "Home "is a real-time, networked 3-D community where gamers interact with others, play games and watch streaming video content.
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Virtual Worlds: It's a Legal Jungle in There November 26, 2008 
About eight months ago, the owners of a sporting goods company contacted their attorney, Doug Wolf, a partner at Wolf Greenfield. It seemed a company was using the firm's logo and trademark without proper authorization. Setting the matter right should have been a straightforward task for Wolf -- except for the fact that the intellectual property theft was happening online, specifically in Second Life.
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The Rocky Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, Part 3: Copyrights November 25, 2008 
Copyrights are perhaps the most common type of intellectual property (along with trademarks), and are the first stop when it comes to protecting software-based products. This is because copyrights, which protect a particular expression of an idea, exist automatically upon fixation of an author's work in a tangible medium of expression.
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The Rocky Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, Part 2: Patents November 19, 2008
A patent represents a grant from the United States government to an individual for the exclusive right to make, use, import, sell, and offer to sell an invention. In order to obtain a patent, an inventor must prove that the invention is new, useful, and not merely an obvious improvement over what was already known.
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The Rocky Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, Part 1: Trademarks November 12, 2008 
Virtual worlds provide not only a new universe in which brave explorers stake their claims, but also a new legal landscape in which the colonists are often at odds with the natives from the "old world." How do real-world laws apply? How do traditional concepts of intellectual property -- patents, copyrights, and trademarks -- apply in a virtual world?
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Microsoft Aims for an Experience, Sony Just Wants a Home October 09, 2008 
Both Microsoft and Sony made news at the Tokyo Game Show Wednesday. Microsoft announced its New Xbox Experience offering, which includes game, TV and movie downloads, as well as a new virtual world for Xbox 360 owners. Sony, meanwhile, announced that Home, its much-delayed virtual world for the PlayStation 3, will be available before the end of the year.
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Electric Sheep CEO Sibley Verbeck on the Virtual Shopping Mall September 17, 2008 
Although companies can stick their feet into virtual worlds for a mere tens of thousands of dollars, serious return on investment really requires expenditures in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Sibley Verbeck, CEO of The Electric Sheep Company, a virtual worlds software, content and services provider.
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Virtual Gadgets Selling for Real Money September 16, 2008 
Social media may be hailed as the savior of sagging sales these days, but few have figured out what social media are, much less how to wield them. Even fewer realize that games are the first, and arguably the most viable and sustainable, social medium in the mix.
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Parks Associates' Michael Cai: Business Gets Done in Virtual Worlds September 11, 2008 
Virtual worlds come in all shapes and sizes, says Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming for Dallas-based research firm Parks Associates. Virtual worlds can be categorized by graphics type (2D, 2.5D, 3D), applications (enterprise worlds, social worlds, entertainment worlds, gaming worlds), and by demographics (adult worlds, teen worlds).
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