Tag: SECONDLIFE

Remember how we thought in the mid-'90s that the 2000s would be all about holographs and virtual worlds? But didn't we collectively agree that virtual reality jumped the shark around the time CNN opened a Second Life news bureau, but apparently academe never signed on. The New York Times has a charming story today on how university professors are using interactive, digital visualizations to ...

A crowded American mall, filled with loud noises and stimuli, may be a returning veteran's worst nightmare. For a soldier suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, kids waving their arms or teenagers rough-housing might send him or her back into the war-zone without warning. In speaking about its newest interactive therapy module, the Department of Defense explains in the video posted ...

Addiction researchers at UCLA have designed a virtual meth house in 'Second Life' as part of a study looking at the triggers of addictive response. In studies like these, real addicts are often shown images or videos of drug paraphernalia or other people using, so that doctors can measure their physical and emotional responses to those cues. Second Life was chosen because it's ostensibly more ...

Lucas Maassen isn't interested in making just another chair. "A chair that you can sit on is suspicious," jokes the Netherlands-based designer, as he gestures to one of his latest projects, called Singing Chair. A blocky piece of furniture with clean right angles, the Singing Chair's back is cut away to reveal an LCD screen, controlled by an embedded Mac Mini. As you approach the chair, a ...

Federal and state governments have placed significant restrictions on convicted sex offenders in recent years, enabling law enforcement to track and monitor the activities of certain deviants. A new bill proposed in Texas seeks to limit the Internet activity for sex offenders, and monitor their Web personas as well. The bill, HB 22, which has yet to go before the Texas House of Representatives, ...

'Second Life' has reached another virtual milestone -- it's being sued by Taser, the world's largest manufacturer of stun guns, for trademark infringement. 'Second Life,' run by Linden Research Inc., is a virtual online community of users that use avatars to 'live' and 'work' within a user-generated world. According to Bloomberg, Taser is claiming trademark infringement, since users can buy ...

In a move we can only assume is being made somewhat begrudgingly, Linden Lab, the company that makes the persistent online universe 'Second Life,' has announced that it's going to start cracking down on the game's seedy underbelly. Various measures are being implemented to take the edge off: All "adult" services and sales will take place inside a predetermined section of the 'Second Life' ...

Another day, another marriage ruined by the Internet. Not surprisingly, the online virtual world 'Second Life,' in particula,r seems to be destroying the holy bond of matrimony every chance it gets. We can add the tale of UK couple John and Lisa Best to the list of reports of 'Second Life' infidelity leading to divorce. The mindbogglingly-careless John was laying in bed with his wife when he ...

One day, someone will teach a college class on the sociological implications of 'Second Life.' In a place that so perfectly, yet whimsically, mirrors the real world, there are bound to be things that peak the interest of anyone with even a passing curiosity in human nature. One tale that has caught the attention of many is that of Palela Alderson, a 26 year-old Italian woman, who has taken to ...

Real-life married couple Amy and David Pollard have filed for divorce in England due to a dispute over Mr. Pollard's 'Second Life' character (called an "avatar") having virtual sex with the avatar of another woman, the Telegraph tell us. Mr. and Ms. Pollard -- who, themselves, first "met" on 'Second Life' -- had been married (in geek bliss we'd imagine) for three years until Ms. Pollard ...

It's safe to say most wives would be mad if they caught their husband having virtual sex in Second Life. When Amy Taylor caught her husband with another woman's avatar, the infidelity might as well have been real. Taylor and her husband, David Pollard, are divorcing after three years of geekily wedded bliss after Pollard, described as a "jobless 40-year-old," was caught doing the online ...

While folks danced in the streets late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning in celebration of President-Elect Barack Obama's win, pulses danced -- just as vivaciously -- through Ethernet cables across the country, as USA Today details. Videos of celebrants, Facebook notes, MySpace bulletins, Twitters and blogs all kept the party going, while many plugged-in McCain supporters lamented the ...

Can racism actually exist in a world inhabited by avatars, such as 'Second Life' and 'World of Warcraft?' Researchers at Northwestern University seem to think so after conducting a series of social manipulation studies. The researchers used two different social manipulation techniques known to work well in the real world. The so-called foot in the door (FITD) approach asks a simple favor of ...

In 'Second Life,' players create elaborate avatars and participate in fanciful deeds (and misdeeds), often engaging in virtual romances that rarely survive longer than one of the game's many failed virtual banks. One relationship, though, was apparently a bit more serious -- or so thought North Carolina player Kimberly Jernigan, who attempted multiple real-world kidnappings of her in-game beau ...

We've reported on many of the ups and downs of online virtual world 'Second Life' over the years, and while it continues to be a fascinating experiment in a number of ways, it hasn't exactly found much in the way of mainstream popularity. Undaunted, Google is trying its hand at the concept, launching 'Lively,' an online virtual world in which you can jump into 3-D rooms and chat with others ...