Second life (News article)

[Yrys]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6137424.stm


Second hype or second life?
We should not underestimate the importance of the virtual world of Second Life
argues regular commentator Bill Thompson

The virtual Bill Thompson: Thom Rimbaud

Not content with occupying vast chunks of the television schedule for weeks
at a time, Endemol, the company that produces the "Big Brother" reality
TV programme, has announced that it will be hosting a special edition of
the show inside the Second Life virtual world.

 

[Yrys]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6209616.stm

Teenage clicks in Second Life

... Three days later, I found myself at Second Life in real life. The virtual
world is the creation of Linden Lab, located on a quiet road near Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.

It runs on 4,100 computers housed in two server farms - one in San Francisco
and the other in Dallas. Over a 24-hour period, an average of 60,000 of Second
Life's 1.5 million users log in.

Despite my avatar-related frustrations, this was something of a Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory moment for me - an opportunity to peer behind the scenes of this social phenomenon
with over three times the population of Luxembourg.

 

[Yrys]

http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2006/12/avatars_consume.php

Avatars consume as much electricity as Brazilians

Tony Walsh has, as others do, some doubts about whether Second Life
is sustainable as a business. But he also poses another question that I
hadn't come across before: "Is Second Life sustainable ecologically?"

 

[Yrys]

http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/08/technology/sl_lindex/index.htm?postversion=2006120812

How real money works in Second Life

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- If you're angling to become the next business tycoon
in the virtual world of Second Life, you're first going to need some Linden dollars.

Linden dollars - the currency of the virtual world which can be converted into real U.S. dollars -
are being pumped through the economy of the booming three-dimensional world as more
people explore what it's like to live a second life.

If you want to buy items - clothes from your favorite in-world fashion designer,
for instance - you'll need Linden dollars. (The current exchange rate is about L$270 per US$1.)

Residents can also buy and sell services. Too busy to maintain your in-world social life?
Why not hire a party planner or personal assistant?

Residents can buy and sell Linden dollars on the LindeX, Second Life's official currency exchange.
No, Second Life is not overhyped

CNNMoney.com asked John Zdanowski, CFO of Linden Lab - the company that created
Second Life - what it's like to operate a real market in a virtual world.