Linden Lab PR Update/2008 August

Week Ending August 29, 2008

US

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Standout piece in BusinessWeek SmallBiz
--Predicting the future influence; staying power of Second Life and other virtual worlds
--Enterprise coverage continues to be positive
--Second Life used as an environment to test new products and encourage collaboration
--Education coverage increased from last week; positive coverage
--New organizations are using Second Life for education; new healthcare studies and research are being done in Second Life

Key Coverage:

BusinessWeek SmallBiz - A story for entrepreneurs using Second Life as an inexpensive and low-risk platform to start their businesses, creating, testing, and receiving feedback on new products before launching them in the real world. Includes multimedia package: [1]

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

Press of Atlantic City - New Jersey Association of Realtors has opened offices in Second Life.

ABC Shel Holtz - Second Life is becoming a powerful business collaboration tool.

allaboutsymbian.com - Nokia will be holding a conference on virtual networks for small business owners/residents in Second Life.

EDUCATION Coverage:

Illinois Channel - University of Illinois Springfield is holding an HIV awareness conference in Second Life in collaboration with the Illinois Department of Public Health and Chicago State University.

AIS Healthcare.com - Numerous health care organizations are investing in Second Life, responding to changes in how consumers are communicating and accessing health information.

Nevada News - Joe DeLappe, associate professor of art at the University of Nevada, will recreate Gandhi’s historic journey in Second Life.

Newsmine - University of Arkansas researchers use Second Life for modeling efficient healthcare delivery.

Innovation with Educational Technology - Provides advice on how to utilize Second Life as an educational resource.

PD Extra - JumpStart Inc. is hosting a technology seminar to show the public how to use Facebook, LinkedIn, Second Life, Twitter, blogs, and search engines to drive traffic to and generate growth for new business ventures.

The Open Press - Killer Guides plans to release a Second Life strategy guide that will help new and advanced residents learn about the intricacies of the platform.

15wane.com -Campus Technology named Ball State Univ. top innovator due to interest and investment in Second Life as an educational resource.

National Science Foundation - Project IT Girl students are learning how to perform technology based projects in Second Life.

CONSUMER Coverage:
Marketing Vox - The pairing and performance of Mania TV and several Denver Bands was the first musical simulcast in virtual world Second Life.

UK

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Continued coverage of educational use of Second Life, including institutes doing research in the virtual world
--Continued coverage of enterprise uses and new companies using the platform

Key Coverage:

Nebusiness.co.uk - Research experts at University of Teeside’s Institute of Digital Innovation have used Second Life as a model for their next generation software – a program which allow firms to test consumer reaction to products in a virtual world before committing a single penny to production.

The Register - Linden Lab has joined wikipedia and Mozilla in using Mono.

SC Magazine - PA Consulting has built a presence in Second Life to help promote a technology-savvy persona.

GERMANY

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Forrester Research predicts that in five years virtual worlds will have the same significance like the Internet today
--A highlight clipping of the week appeared in Managerseminare

Key Coverage:

Pressetext - An article covering the Forrester prediction that virtual worlds will be as significant as the Internet in five years. This article was picked up by several other publications like ZDNet.de, News.at or Cybiz.de.

Computerwelt.at - A positive interview with Frank Kappe, professor at University of Graz in Austria, about the future of virtual worlds.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

Internet World Business - US companies like Kohl’s, Sears and LC Penney are entering different virtual worlds like There.com or Stardoll.com.

Pressetext - Twinity’s press release about a cinema which is opening a virtual presence in Twinity in which Second Life is mentioned.

Heise.de – An article about the latest research project of Intel, where they also mentioned that the company regards platforms like Second Life as the user interface of the future.

EDUCATION Coverage:

Manager Seminare - Published a seven page long article about learning in 3D environments, which includes three Second Life evangelists and is quite positive.

ADULT CONSUMER Coverage:

Der Entwickler – Coverage of the Mono announcement.

FRANCE

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Overall positive press this week.
--Excellent coverage around Mono, shows that the future of Second Life lies in Web 3D and open platform.
--Some positive articles on use of virtual worlds for businesses.
--IBM views on SL's future are very positive and present professional applications such as Healthcare simulation or Recruitment.

Key Coverage:

01 Net - Article about Mono following an interview with Solution Provider Stonfield Inworld, explaining Linden Lab strategy to open scripts.

Silicon.fr - Article about Mono explaining what this means technically, that it enables acceleration 220 times the scripting speed. It concludes with the aim of Linden Developers to open scripting to more formats in the near future.

Datanews.be / Belgium top newsletter – Covers a book by Dr. Igor Muttik, Security specialist at McAfee, 'Securing Virtual Worlds against real attacks'. It explains Virtual Worlds also need to be secured but with no negative flavour to it.

La Tribune de Genève/ Switzerland online publication’s blog - Article about Mono technology’s launch, stressing that it will accelerate 220 times how scripts currently run.

Le Matin Online / Switzerland online publication - Some views on “The Future of Internet”, mentioning market bets on everyone getting an avatar in the future.

Rue 89 - New service launched by this community of news writers, Eco89.

Ere Numérique.fr - Summarizes content of Justin Rattner, CTO of IBM, keynotes during IBM event around Tri-Gate technology. It mentions Second Life in the introduction as a topic well covered by Justin Rattner in previous presentations.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

Le Monde Informatique.fr - Indicates SL provides a good image of what Web’s future will be according to IBM. It also mentions all recruitment cycles include SL.

Gromike in SecondLIfe - A comment on Healthcare simulation in SL by Resident Gromike.

CONSUMER Coverage:

Le Post - Picks up an article from Switzerland newspaper La Matin.ch about the majority having avatars in the future. It mentions IBM Researches to create the new Web 3D around SL.

Pc-Boost.com - Recommends French users to visit Liberta Island as it gathers french speakers.

Le Figaro - An article covering Leipzig Games Convention, where Sony presented then its new service Home that is compared to SL.

Mon Sondage.com – Presents results from an Opinion Way and Match.com survey about consumers behavior in Social Networks or in Virtual Worlds. 43% of French consumers believe love to become virtual by 2050.

JAPAN

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Almost all articles and quotes were positive
--Japanese have been on summer holiday, so there have been fewer articles related to Second Life and virtual worlds than usual
--Events have been held almost daily in Second Life, such as “Hair Fair 2008”
-- The media have much interest in education-related usage of virtual worlds including Second Life.

Key Coverage:

The Second Times – “Hair Fair 2008”, a charity event held supporting cancer patients, is being held from August 22nd to September 7th in Second Life for the third year.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun – A section of the voluntary organization “WWO”, the “local industries innovation group”, has decided to create a virtual version of Tokyo Ota district’s many existing family-owned businesses and small factories. Their aim is to promote the Ota district’s manufacturing district and boost its economy once again. “WWO” is an organization put together for promoting the Tokyo’s Oota district worldwide.

PR TIMES - English Robin, Inc. is providing a service to help the physically challenged participate in SL using a specially designed mouse, keyboard, and speech recognition program, to control the avatar with brainwaves.

USFL.COM – The state of Vermont creates a new law enabling virtual companies to establish an LLC. This will enable companies doing business only online such as text messaging, SNSs, blogs and metaverses like Second Life to register as an LLC.

The Second Times – 3Di Inc. has announced they have developed “avatar portability” technology, a technology which enables the user to carry over the features of their avatar to other grids. The technology is planned to be introduced to IBM and Linden Labs “Open Grid Public Beta”.

ITpro – Intel held a press conference on their current status in research and development in various technologies. They introduced their new “Connected Visual Computing” technology, to be used for various SNSs and metaverses starting with Second Life in the future.

EDUCATION Coverage:

Yomiuri Shimbun – Professor Junichi Ushiba of Keio University is continuing studies on controlling avatars on Second Life with brainwaves. He has succeeded in his second demonstrational experiment this May.

CONSUMER Coverage:

Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun (newspaper, 8/22) – In an article introducing a book entitled “The Future of the Internet – 20 debatable issues in a post-Google era,” Second Life was mentioned as one of the topics in the book.

The Second Times – Fashion magazine “25ans” held a community social party at their “25ans” SIM.

The Second Times – An online version of America’s annual “Burning Man” art event will be held on SL from Sept. 28th.

Week Ending August 22, 2008

Key Coverage by Market:

US

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Overall positive press coverage, with a Washington Post piece on policing more positive than expected
--Coverage of Mono announcement
--Several pieces on Von Johin’s music career
--Increased coverage of politics in Second Life
-- Positive enterprise coverage, with continued coverage of IBM’s data center in Second Life
--Continued coverage of the interoperability announcement
--Focus on Teen Second Life being used in the classroom

Key Coverage:
The New York Times Magazine - ‘On Language’ column discusses the word “avatar,” giving Second Life credit for its popularization, and including input from Philip.
The Washington Post - A look at policing virtual worlds.
TechCrunch – Follow-up entry on LivePlace and the OTOY rendering technology used for the demo video.

Mono Announcement Coverage:
Virtual Worlds News – The launch of Mono.
Massively – The Mono announcement covered.
Common Sensible - Commentary on the Mono announcement and what it means for Second Life’s potential as a software development platform.

ENTERPRISE COVERAGE:
Ostatic - Interoperability and its meaning for Second Life discussed.
Slashdot- Coverage of the interoperability project.
Environmental Leader – IBM launches environmentally friendly data center in Second Life.
The Tampa Bay Business Journal – Reports on Second Life Community Convention and entrepreneurs’ need to adopt new strategies in virtual worlds.

EDUCATION COVERAGE:
The Albany Times Union - Games are being used in classrooms, citing Peggy Sheehy as using Teen Second Life as part of her curriculum.
Yahoo! News - A feature on international business school INSEAD's focus on education about virtual economies by tutoring through Second Life.

ADULT CONSUMER COVERAGE:
Nashville Scene - Von Johin gets real life record contract after virtual success.
Rolling Stone - Announcement of Von Johin’s real life record deal.
Reuters Second Life - Von Johin’s success as an in-world musician.
Huffington Post – Virtual musician Von Johin has real world record deal.
New World Notes - Interview with Von Johin including insight into his Second Life music career.

UK

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Fewer articles on enterprise and education than last week, but overall positive.
--Coverage focused on technologies to improve the Second Life experience.
--Religion in Second Life was a newer topic.
--Music and fashion have been positive topics this week.

Key Coverage:
Music Ally - Nashville-based blues artist signs record deal with Reality Entertainment after he was scouted playing virtual gigs in his own venue in Second Life.
The Economist – A scathing review of Google’s Lively, claiming it’s “remained surprisingly lifeless, hosting a dwindling number of users and prompting a string of negative reviews.”

ENTERPRISE COVERAGE:
Hexus reports that Intel’s technologies could be leveraged to improve the connected visual computing (CVC) experience, on programs like Second Life.

EDUCATION COVERAGE:
The Birmingham Post - Second Life is being used to promote religious beliefs by having places of worship built in the virtual world.

ADULT CONSUMER COVERAGE:
Times Online - Earlier this year, Calvin Klein used Second Life to launch the advertising campaign for its perfume CK IN2U.

GERMANY

Trends we’ve noticed:
--No negative articles at all.
--Several positive articles on education and non-profits.
--Entrepreneurialism was a popular topic.
--Two articles about the University of Duisburg this week.
-- Second Life film producers participated in a film competition and moved to the next round.

Key Coverage:
Cicero An interview with Martin Roth, Generaldirektor Staatliche Sammlungen Dresden, where he is described as a modern businessman and pioneer with his museum in Second Life.
Der Westen – das Portal der WAZ Mediengruppe - A long article about the University of Duisburg within Second Life and Second Life’s many offerings.
Laut.de publishes the news that a Second Life musician was signed by a “real world” record label.

ENTERPRISE COVERAGE:
Südkurier - A balanced article about trading virtual goods, including mention of companies making money inside Second Life, e.g. EnBW or IBM.
marketing-boerse.de - Covers the possibilities of online marketing including Residents making real money in Second Life.
Der Standard - Publishes the video about Liveplace.com.
Best-Practice-Business.de - New virtual world launched by McDonalds.

EDUCATION COVERAGE:
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung makes a tour on the campus of university of Duisburg in Second Life and talks about all the possibilities people can visit.
taz reports on a therapy opportunity for online addicts in Second Life.
Openpr.de – A press release from a non-profit organization searching for missing children stating they have established a presence in Second Life.

ADULT CONSUMER COVERAGE:
Lübecker Nachrichten - Two people who participated at a film competition requiring that they shoot a chapter of a Paulo Coelho book filmed in Second Life.
FAZ.net – Covers the conference “c/o Pop” in Cologne, and mentions Second Life and Spore as part of computer game trend in new media.

FRANCE

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Overall neutral press coverage.
--Press activity is still very low because of summer holidays, but there were articles and notes from blogs.
--Main topics were competitors, new partners, recruitment in virtual worlds, and artists.
--Very diverse coverage with stories around libraries, training and associations’ activity on SL.
--Story in Le Monde about Second Life as a factor in ecological preservation and evolution and Residents with various new projects from Second Life Residents.

Key Coverage:
Une autre conception de l’apprentissage/ Nicolas Gal – Summary of Gartner’s Virtual Worlds survey mentioning 70% of companies who will possess their own VW by 2012. SL is mentioned as a reference.
Le Monde – An article about species extinction and human environmental impact which mentions Second Life’s potential to add an ecologic dimension.

ENTERPRISE COVERAGE:
Cybernews - Post about Google Lively.
Le journal du 3eme Milllénaire - Mentions Second Life in a post about Liveplace.
Decideurstv - Video about LivePlace mentions that it could be the new Second Life.
Jobetic.rh - An article about recruitment on Facebook and Second Life.

EDUCATION COVERAGE:
Sea sex and sun blog - First conference on sexuality organized in SL.
Observatoire international du numerique - Discusses the future of libraries with new technologies and virtual worlds, including Second Life as a potential book provider.
Region Aquitaine - Explains the role of start ups with mention of ‘Words Inworld’, a start up established in Second Life providing language courses.
Actualitté – An article about the “Literature Alive” community in Second Life, which issues letters about literature.
Handimobility blog - Motorability Island in Second Life supports the United Spinal Association.

ADULT CONSUMER COVERAGE:
- Merveille-nature - Posts on the story in Le Monde.
Au jour le jour blog - Posts on the story in Le Monde.
Le télégramme - Posts on the story in Le Monde.
Memoirevive.tv - Commentary on French Media actuality, mentioning Second Life as a virtual world that is definitely not declining.
Monde virtuel – The 3DXplorer V4 is not considered a virtual world like Second Life but is a platform letting companies and individuals create their environment.
Pourquoi pas – A note on Dalai Lama’s speech, also mentioning Second Life as the possible place to create a virtual Tibet in order to make people react to the political situation.
Dianconescotv - Covers the presentation of Patrick Moya’s island, ‘Ile Moya’, during the 8thAssises des TIC du secteur public in Nice.
Mac on SL - How to live in Second Life without buying any virtual content.
Tribune de Genève - An article about Fireman’s ball every Wednesday on Geneva Island.
Acidie - New commentary has been posted in August relating back to December 2007 post, which presents that it is families ’role to prevent abuse of their children in Second Life.
Nonfiction.fr – In the book ‘Virtual, my love’, Serge Tisseron tries to understand why people spend lot of time behind their computer screen and create avatars.
Le vide poche - Video post of Chris Anderson, Author of “the Long Tail”, explaining the content of his book on Second Life.

JAPAN

Trends we’ve noticed:
--All articles and quotes but one are positive.
--Articles about newcomers to SL and new businesses in SL are positive.
--Small and medium-sized companies continue to venture into Second Life
--Second Life Magazine vol. 3, released on August 5th, contributed to an increased understanding of Second Life through its articles, including an interview with Philip.

ENTERPRISE COVERAGE:
Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun (newspaper, 8/15) – SL was mentioned in an article about Dwango Co., Ltd. entering the virtual worlds market with their metaverse “aisp@ce”.
Value Press!– Vuzix Corporation created a screen monitor in the shape of spectacles to view Second Life, allowing the user to experience Second Life as though they are in it.
Release Net– Resonant Solutions Co. created a starter kit service for drop shipping and Internet shopping sites from blogs, SNSs and Second Life for independent businesses.
Second Times - Impress Holdings, Inc., will be holding an “animal costume contest” in Second Life, and the winner will receive up to a 100,000 Linden dollars.

ADULT CONSUMER COVERAGE:
COURRiER JAPON (magazine, September) – Second Life mentioned in an article analyzing the reasons for the Korean Internet market’s halt in growth.
Yomiuri Shimbun (newspaper, 8/12) – Second Life mentioned in an article about young homeless teenagers finding shelter in Internet cafés. The owner of an Internet café talked about his idealistic views of helping the community and his dreams of building a real life town based on his beliefs -- which, the writer says, reminds him of SL, the freedom and ability to create your idealistic town.
International Herald Tribune - Second Life mentioned in “Language” editorial column entitled: “Self-incarnation is all the rage.”
Yamagata Shimbun – Yamagata prefecture created a virtual version of Iitoyo city, a city in Yamagata prefecture famous for its tourist industry.
Second Times- Second Life mentioned in an article about Wagner James Au, known for his virtual worlds blog “New World Notes.”
Second Times - Real life club “loveTKO” and SL to hold a joint music event on Saturday, 8/16.

Week Ending August 15, 2008

Key Coverage by Market:

US

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Frank Ambrose’s appointment was well-received, covered in multiple publications
--Fewer education stories and bigger focus on healthcare, health research, medical training, non-profits, and music
--Interest in IBM’s new green data center and using virtual worlds for meetings
--Enterprise has been a positive topic this week with IBM’s announcement
--Positive coverage of Resident and marketing success, such as Von Johin’s performance success.

Key Coverage:

MIT Tech Review - article on Open Grid Beta, containing interviews with Joe, IBM’s David Levine and OpenSim virtual-world admin Terry Ford. Linden Lab shown as pioneer and leader in the industry.
The San Francisco Chronicle – University of Houston’s Texas Obesity Center is conducting a study to help people lose real weight by getting their avatars in shape. The article quotes Pathfinder.
WIRED’s Listening Post - Article about Von Johin’s performance.
The San Francisco Chronicle - Covers the Frank Ambrose appointment in its “Movers and Shakers” section.
Reuters Second Life - Article on Frank Ambrose’s appointment, with commentary on the appointment as a display of improved stability.
San Francisco Business Times - reports on Frank Ambrose’s appointment.
Inquisitr - A brief mention of Frank Ambrose’s appointment.
Metanomics - Reports from the Bloomberg story that announced Frank Ambrose’s appointment.
Virtual Worlds News - reports on the Frank Ambrose appointment.
Home - posts on the Frank Ambrose appointment.
Worlds in Motion - covers Frank Ambrose’s appointment.

ENTERPRISE:
InformationWeek - IBM’s new “green” data center presented in Second Life behind the firewall.
The Whir - IBM’s new eco-friendly data center.
TMC Net - IBM expands its presence in Second Life with its “green” data center.
Successful Meetings - Discusses the value of hosting virtual meetings.

EDUCATION:
iHealthBeat - mentions the San Francisco Chronicle story about researchers using Second Life.
Nurse.com - Features Second Life as a training tool for nursing students.
Houston Business Journal - University of Houston's incorporation of Second Life into educational offerings.

ADULT CONSUMER:
WIRED’s Listening Post - Article about Von Johin’s performance.
Metaverse Journal - Mentions Von Johin and the publicity around his performance.
The Industry Standard - Playboy successfully expands its brand online through Second Life.
The Journal Record - Article on challenges that virtual worlds offer law enforcement.

UK

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Coverage on Gartner’s predictions that virtual worlds’ importance will increase over the next few years
--Non-profit use of Second Life, charities and medical research groups use the virtual world.

Key Coverage:
Computer Business Review - Gartner identifies 8 technologies that will transform business over the next decade and should be on CIOs’ radar. In the next few years, virtual worlds will begin to show their worth as a significant media channel for building communities.

ENTERPRISE:
ZDNet -Discusses Gartner’s predictions. Virtual worlds predicted to be within two to five years of mainstream adoption.
Computing - Discusses the legal implications a business can face while operating within Second Life.
nebusiness.co.uk - Virtual retail arena is being created which will replicate shopping centers of northeast England. The virtual space is to be modeled on Second Life.
The Independent - Discusses the use of digital resources by charities, such as Amnesty International and Oxfam.
Medical News Today - reports The University of Houston department of health and human performance is launching a Second Life program to recruit 500 international participants for a study promoting healthy dietary habits and physical activity.

GERMANY

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Continued low amount of coverage over last week
--Goethe-Institut story picked up by Frankfurter Rundschau
--TV broadcast on RTL II

Key Coverage:
RTL II - TV show broadcast called “Schau dich schlau”, where they featured Second Life very positively.
Netzwelt.de - Published Gartner study about the most important IT trends, where they included virtual worlds.

ENTERPRISE:
Computer Reseller News - IBM is building a green data center in Second Life. The news was picked up by InformationWeek.
Eurogamer – Reports rumor that Sony will end its Beta phase for Playstation Home, and mentions Second Life due to the similarity to Sony’s product.

EDUCATION:
Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche Hannovers – New research project in Second Life about the needs and wishes for the protestant church in virtual worlds.
E-Learning Blog - YouTube link to a video in which 40 virtual worlds are showed within seven minutes.

ADULT CONSUMER:
taz – A conference called Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts (ISEA), had some artists present their projects in Second Life.

FRANCE

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Most articles dealt with projects on SL, like interoperability, and Open Sim.
--Popular topic was arrival of opponents such as City Space (Live Place) or Home (Sony) in virtual worlds.
--Positive coverage of some well-known brands using Second Life (IBM, BNP Paribas)
--Articles on Second Life use by artists and unknown producers.

Key Coverage:
Neteco’s – Journalist describes Open Grid Beta version delivered by Second Life to the developers and Gridnauts with a quote from Joe Miller, VP of the Platform.

ENTERPRISE:
Goopple – An article about 3D navigation in Second Life (interoperability). The blogger specifies that life continues on SL as Linden Lab enriches its 3D navigator with new functionalities.
Vegetal Planet TM - posts about Second Life.
Agroland - writes about a new virtual world using OpenSim.
Inworlds – An article about SLOP, the first real tool for Inter-grid Transfer according the author of the article.
BNP Paribas - Press release about BNP Paribas new recruitment methods.
Relais –Influence – An article about a web 2.0 conference on Second Life conducted by IBM.
ITRManager – An article about a web 2.0 conference on Second Life conducted by IBM.
Marche.fr – An announcement of English courses in Second Life.
Barrepoint.org - News about a company proposing virtual purchases but real gifts.

ADULT CONSUMER:
Sun3000 blog -Article about the future of the Second Life Mainland, improvements to be coming, creation of residential places and consumer places.
sldirect blog - Article about Sail Away, an animation film all produced in Second Life.
e-troubadours - Adventures on SL (a film and a lecture about how it was organized on SL).
Closeblog - Article about Home on PS3 by Sony.
Funzz - Published an article about Home on PS3 by Sony.
Pocarles’ blog - Mentioned Second Life in an article about CitySpace by Live Place. Piquesel blog Second Life mentioned in an article about CitySpace by Live Place.
Portiern blog mentioned Second Life in an article about CitySpace by Live Place.
Techcrunch – Second Life mentioned in an article about CitySpace by Live Place.
Nojanus blog - News about the 2008 Metaverse Tour: 42 worlds in 7 minutes.
Canalblog - An article about Second Life registration.
La tribune de Geneve - An article about Second Life registration.
Sebcaen - An article about the “Manoir Silverstein”, a place on Second Life.

JAPAN

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Virtual worlds industry is not growing much yet, but many organizations and individuals believe firmly in their potential and continue to support them.

--No education coverage, due to academic summer hiatus in Japan
-- Some new companies entered Second Life and opened virtual branches and stores; some events were held in-world

Key Coverage:
Nihon Keizai Shimbun – Second Life mentioned in an article about the inauguration of the Metaverse Association and a brief bio of the administrative director, Tomoyuki Sugiyama. Linden Lab’s Second Life is the industry leader, with big enterprises like Toyota and Fujitsu entering the metaverse. Sugiyama believes that metaverses will gain mainstream popularity in the near future.

ENTERPRISE:
Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun – An interview with Kotaro Okui, president of SUN Co., Ltd. They are currently developing a high performance Web Browser capable of services more sophisticated data processing service like Second Life.
Denkei Shimbun – SUN Co., Ltd. offers a Web Browser that enables the user to view and control Second Life. This will enable low-spec PC users to log on and explore Second Life smoothly.
The Second Times – Ableeed Co., Ltd started a website called “AquaPod”, a portal website to various Internet spaces such as chat rooms, to prompt interaction between metaverse users starting with Second Life.
The Second Times – Adgates Ltd., and Resonant Solutions Co. started an online information service linking free magazines, portal websites, SNS, Second Life and other new media.

ADULT CONSUMER:
The Second Times – The new ‘idol’ unit on SL “annz” will holds its debut live concert today.
The Second Times – A SIM celebrating the 100th year of Japanese immigration to Brazil, “Nippaku100” has opened on SL.
The Second Times – Asian online wedding resort, the “virtual wedding” SIM, has opened on SL.
Release Net – Japanese accessory brand “Wabi” came out with their newest design of gold and silver accessories, and mention plan for a store in the Second Life virtual shopping mall “Jbrand”.
The Second Times – Second Life mentioned in an interview with the creator of metaverse “ai@space”, a virtual world aimed at Japanese youth with anime-like characters.
Shibuya Keizai Shimbun – A bar in Shibuya, Tokyo, “BarTube” has renewed its interior. The bar has held live music events on Second Life in the past.

Week Ending August 8, 2008

Key Coverage by Market:

US

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Two major features in Fast Company and on Bloomberg TV
--Focus on Second Life as a business/enterprise tool for collaboration
-- Educators continue to branch out finding new uses of the Second Life platform to improve educational experiences.

Key Coverage:
Bloomberg News – Video of interview with Mark
Bloomberg’s - Johnny Thaw presents his interview with Mark, mentioning the new hire of Frank Ambrose.
Fast Company - Three-page interview with Philip, looking at the current state of the virtual worlds industry, and positioning Second Life as an industry leader, especially the education and enterprise sectors. Also presents challenges virtual worlds face.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:
Fast Company – A post on Steve Prentice’s speech at vBusiness Expo.
San Francisco Examiner Businesses like IBM and Cisco use Second Life to hold classes, conference calls, and meetings.
Chicago Sun-Times - Companies are using Second Life as a medium to teach proper etiquette.
US Insurance News - Insurance companies are delving into web 2.0 programs like Second Life to make collaboration more efficient.
Forbes - Virtual worlds like Second Life allow employees in different offices, or different countries, hold meetings together.
Hispanic Business - Second Life gives businesses the tools to improve collaboration between employee and clients. Some even hold job fairs in SL.
Digital Now - Second Life is becoming a training tool for CPAs.
The SL Agency - Second Life is growing at a steady, healthy rate shown by an increase of new subscribers and land purchases.

EDUCATION Coverage:
Tech Journal - NASA is interested in Second Life as a tool to engage students in science and math.
South Coast Today - Developers are using Second Life for programming purposes because of its ease of use.

CONSUMER Coverage:
Web Workers Daily - Offers 10 ways to earn money online, including selling virtual goods on Second Life.
The Industry Standard - Linden Lab may begin regulating the user experience through some form of zoning.
USA Today - Second Life users may no longer need to type in commands to express emotions or make movements. Emotiv Systems’ new gaming headset reads brain functions and emotions and transfers it directly.
New World Notes - Linden Lab recently announced zoning regulations, which will probably prohibit intrusive advertising on portions of Second Life’s main continents.
Reuters – A post on the zoning announcement.
Silicon Alley Insider - Presents commentary on the zoning blog post.
Metanomics – An interview with IBM’s David Levine and Zero Linden to discuss the opening of the Open Grid Public Beta.

UK

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- Sun article revealing the benefits Second Life can bring to those who are bullied
-- Focus upon recruitment within Second Life
-- New coverage on benefits the virtual world can bring to literary fans
-- More articles than last week, and greater focus on Second Life --Continued coverage on use of Second Life for Health, Education, Non-profits

Key Coverage:
The Sun - An overweight teenager who has been bullied at school has been using Second Life to escape from her tormentors. She is quoted as saying: “You can be who you want to be. No one judges you on what you look like. On the internet, I’m married and living in a little house with two children. I would love that to be the real me one day.”

ENTERPRISE Coverage:
Personnel Today - Includes a by-lined article from Keith Dugdale, head of global recruitment at KPMG, discussing recruitment benefits of Second Life
VNUNet - Business use of virtual worlds. IBM within Second Life is described as a positive example of how the relationship can work.
onrec.com - TMP Worldwide has announced a partnership with Velti, a provider of mobile marketing services. TMP is mentioned as using Second Life for recruitment purposes.
Health and Care – Discusses need for managers to accept that employees need a work-life balance. Second Life is described as a tool that increases employee morale.

EDUCATION Coverage:
HVR – A lecturer at the College of North West London purchased land in Second Life so students could enjoy a more interactive experience whilst studying domestic building training.

CONSUMER Coverage:
Guardian Blog - Benefits of Second Life for fans of literature.
Guardian - The ‘stepping into virtual worlds’ conference allows literary fans to meet and discuss their favourite novels.

GERMANY

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Less coverage than last week
--SOS Kinderdorf story reported three times
--Relevant blog coverage
-- Blog post from Second Life evangelist Bernd Schmitz about University of Florida study dealing with education in Second Life.

Key Coverage:
Technology Review – Long article about Google’s Lively, quoting Rivers Run Red, Millions of Us, Electric Sheep Company and Mark, who says that the entry of Google into the virtual world’s industry is very interesting but Lively can’t be compared to Second Life in size and economy.
P.M. - On “Accelerated Recovery”, a therapy center for addicts, which was founded in Second Life.
HR2 – Radio feature broadcasted on Second Life and politicians in the virtual world.
Golem.de – Reports on the official Linden Lab blog entry to open the teleport project to developers and interested people.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:
Die-News.de - Mentions Second Life at the end of a press release from IBM about PLM solutions. Companies can save money by using web 2.0 tools like Second Life.
SLTalk.de - Mentions Sennheiser using Second Life for a test of virtual worlds.

EDUCATION COVERAGE:
Hallo Sonntag - SOS Kinderdorf enters Second Life.
Social Times – Another article covering SOS Kinderdorf as well.
20cent – Third story on Kinderdorf but presents more critical note opinion of Kinderdorf’s Second Life use.
Bernd Schmitz – One finding of the University of Florida study of education in Second Life is that Second Life is still in early stages for educational use.

FRANCE

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Still some coverage of the Lively release, though coverage steadily decreasing around Lively
-- Positive articles about Open Grid and the anniversary of some companies in Second Life.

Key Coverage:
TechCrunch France - Very positive article referring to Philip’s video interview in Half Moon Bay, explaining that virtual worlds have to diversify, but those using browsers do not threaten SL because they cannot replace total immersion.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:
Virtual Worlds News - Positive article about Open Grid arrival for people using an OpenSim grid, which enablec them to transfer avatars from one grid to another.
Metaverse 3D - Description of what OpenSim is.
David Castera - Video showing the 15 months of Credit Agricole on SL.
Alain Gavand - Mention of recruitment on SL.
01 Net - Dedicated article about recruitment in SL. Mention of Manpower, which has been for a year now on SL and of others (Unilog, Alten, Logica, Neurones or BNP Paribas).
Lien Multimedia- Manpower’s anniversary on SL.
Top Buzz - Piece about Lively, with mention of SL as virtual worlds leader.

CONSUMER Coverage:
Planete Channel - Article about SL documentary on Planete Channel (Number 1 channel for documentary on our planet, travels and discovery).
A-brest - Covers Autrans 2009 event on SL.
Mabulle - Posts a slideshow on The Museum of Modern arts in Luxembourg on SL.
Virtuel News - Announces Mode: AvatarHype, a new blog on fashion in SL.
The Karroleans Blog - Dicusses photo training course on SL.
Identical Men From Parallel Universes - Visits the virtual exposition of Chris Marker on SL.
Islam Crunch – Notes and increase of interreligious dialogue thanks to Web 2.0.
Maxi Loisirs - Discusses the solar eclipse in Second Life.
Geographhie 2.0 - Presents geography in SL.
Technaute - Mentions SL in this article around the end of blogs.
Netsky –Mentions SL on Top 500 French blogs.

JAPAN

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Most users and solution providers find that Second Life works with the real world, not independently.br> -- SUN announces browser that allows users to access Second Life through Internet browsers. The timing is close to iPhone 3G’s launch, so many existing and potential users have become interested.
-- Acknowledgment that international business can be conducted with relative ease in Second Life. An example is Hosei University’s live streaming of sessions in-world at an international conference.
-- Mac Fan and 25ans covered Second Life favorably

Key Coverage:
Yomiuri Shimbun - Second Life users who support the victims of the Chuetsu Earthquake have made a mascot character, produced and sold T-shirts commemorating a year since the disaster. There have been charity concerts and other fundraisers held at the “Niigata SIM,” with approximately $4,000 of donations.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:
Asahi Shimbun – Google’s entry into the virtual world market may stimulate the stagnant growth of users. Second Life mentioned as a major metaverse.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun – Sun Inc. is providing a free Internet browser for iPhones. The high performance web browser will also enable the iPhone user to use sophisticated Internet services like Second Life.
Nikkei Marketing Journal – The company Meltingdots assists other enterprises who want to enter and open business in Second Life.
Yomiuri Shimbun – Fukuoka Urban Laboratory LLC was involved in creating a virtual version of the Fukuoka “Tenjin” commercial avenue on Second Life. Representative Taichi Goto hopes the 14 million users worldwide of Second Life will learn about “Tenjin”.
The Second Times – Linden Lab and IBM presented “Open Grid Public Beta,” a system where one avatar can go back and forth between Preview Grids and Open Sims.
The Second Times – The company known for its cinnamon cookie dough treats, Otabechan, held a kimono contest in Second Life on August 3rd . The best dressed will win free cinnamon cookie dough treats in real life.
ZDNet Japan
Broad Band Watch
Internet Watch The Second Times – Sun Inc. is providing a beta version service allowing access to Second Life using Internet browsers.
TechCrunch - Philip Rosedale of Linden Lab does not see browser-based virtual worlds as a threat to Second Life.

EDUCATION Coverage:
Dempa Times – Second Life mentioned in an article on NHK’s (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) upcoming TV special, a documentary on “Digital Natives”, a generation of people who grew up with the Internet.
Yokohama Keizai Shimbun – Kanagawa Shimbun Company will be holding a Second Life beginners workshop at Yokohama’s Naka district residents center.
The Second Times – Starting this fall, Texas State Technical College will be providing a new curriculum on SL. This is the first college course ever provided on SL where, upon finishing the course, students will receive an official certificate.
The Second Times – Hosei University Information Technology Research Center will distribute plenary sessions of the 17th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2008, at Technische Universität München (TUM) from August 1st to 3rd through live video streaming to Second Life.

CONSUMER Coverage:
Mac Fan (September issue) – There will be a “Garage Band” contest for beginners held by Apple Macintosh on August 23rd in Second Life, where individuals’ avatars will play their songs.
25ans (September issue) – A large 2-page article (mainly photos, minimal text) covers the first tenant members of the 25ans tower SIM, and coverage of the first social party by these members.
JapanInternet.com – Japanese high-end hair salon “Salon De Kintaroh” opened a branch store on Second Life.

Week Ending August 1, 2008

Key Coverage by Market:

US

Trends we’ve noticed:

• Overall positive coverage, with “Wheelies” nightclub coverage
  
• Increase in medical and healthcare uses of Second Life, highlighting benefits for individuals and organizations using the platform, as well as Real Estate use
  
• Second Life is becoming a medium for new product testing.
  
• More academic institutions offering courses and research in Second Life
  
• Exploratorium broadcasted solar eclipse in Second Life.
  
• More focus on enterprise uses than on Resident stories
  

Key Coverage:

• WIRED - Wired Blog covers the solar eclipse and mentions the Exploratorium's streaming of it in Second Life.
  
• “Access Unlimited” KPFK – Wheelies’ Simon Stevens and Pathfinder Linden featured in radio segment highlighting Simon’s recent award and the nightclub’s success.
  
• Linux Insider –provides Linden Lab’s comments on Second Life security and crime.
  
• FOX’s The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet - presents virtual affairs and second wives in Second Life, and the issue of whether virtual relationships count as cheating.
  
• TechCrunch - Erick Shonfeld posts on Philip saying that browser-based virtual worlds are not a threat to Second Life.
  
• Canada.com - video games and other technologies are replacing real world activities like exercising and music. Now marketing campaigns are targeting residents in Second Life with fantasy products portrayed as ‘real.’
  
• Charleston City Paper - reports that virtual worlds like Second Life serve as an escape.
  

ENTERPRISE Coverage:
iStock Analyst – reports that the World Stock Exchange, a virtual trading platform in Second Life, is scheduled for August 8th.
Idaho Business Review – Real Estate agents explore Second Life as an opportunity for new business and showing potential clients a virtual model of available property.
Vator News - discusses Second Life as a place where people are willing to pay real money for virtual products.
BusinessWeek - Sony delays launch of its Second Life-like virtual world.
Manufacturing Business Technology - IBM is experimenting with retail use of Second Life to “test new concepts by pushing virtual samples to targeted communities for review.”
Silicon Valley Watcher’s - Tom Foremski posts footage from Philip’s panel at Fortune Brainstorm calling it the best panel he saw at the event.

EDUCATION and SCIENCE Coverage:
Waco Tribune - Texas State University to offer the first college degree in Second Life.
News Tribune – Illinois State University and Illinois Valley Community College will offer courses in Second Life.
NBC13.com - Hoover Board of Education is holding a technology training seminar, including a Second Life learning session.
The Republican Springfield Technical Community College will launch a special venture at a conference in Second Life.
Scientific America - the Exploratorium will broadcast the upcoming solar eclipse in Second Life.
National Post reports that Second Life is ideal for running a low-budget science conference.
Philadelphia Inquirer - a graduate professor is building a virtual crime scene in Second Life for Forensic Science and the Courtroom course.
American Chronicle - people are learning about reality through computers, such as the economy through Second Life.
Wired - Second Life-like worlds accurately represent real-world consumer behaviors, and are therefore a tool to study an economy’s inner workings.
Pop Tech Blog – covers Babbage’s development of carbon footprint–tracking carbon goggles for Residents in Second Life.
CTU Software - discusses the importance of teaching through Second Life and web 2.0 platforms.
Metanomics - while virtual worlds are inaccessible to some, it is important to realize the potential they have for “edupreneurship.”
VNUNet - Health benefits of virtual worlds explained through example of CIGNA's commmunication with hard-to-reach audiences.

UK

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- Overall positive press coverage this week
-- More volume than last week, and Second Life-specific
-- Greater focus on Second Life business benefits and recruitment uses
-- Major publication coverage from The Times and Guardian
-- Coverage of celebrity and fashion sectors, a positive focus on a real life industry in-world

Key Coverage:

Guardian - espouses the benefits of social networking for celebrities to stay ‘famous’, such as in Second Life.
The Times - Discusses online fashion and the virtual world, including Second Life’s market dominated by women's clothing.
MCV - Avatars United, a community for game avatars of all worlds, has just been launched.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

Guardian - Traditional career structures are changing fast, with Second Life described as a new dimension to employee screening and recruitment.
Computing - Second Life’s great potential lauded, with IBM, BT and Gibson Guitars mentioned as companies benefitting from virtual experience.
Process & Control Today - Second Life mentioned as one of 130 users of 3Dconexions 3D mice.
Brand Republic - Adidas is putting out to tender its digital advertising contract. Isobar, one of the companies pitching, handled Adidas’ launch of their Second Life virtual store.
nebusiness.co.uk - reports digital developers have tipped Teesside to become the new "Silicon Valley" for developing next-generation virtual trading environment software modeled on Second Life.

EDUCATION and SCIENCE Coverage:

Tech Radar - UK Catalyst Awards presents Revolutionary Award to ‘Wheelies’ nightclub.
Harrow Observer - University lecturer created 4,000 square meter College Island within Second Life.
First Science - University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance is expanding into Second Life.
Professional Fundraising - A virtual walk-a-thon in Second Life has raised over $200,000 in real money for the American Cancer Society.

GERMANY

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Coverage of Goethe Institut entering Second Life
--Very positive interview with our evangelist Matthias Rückel
--“SOS Kinderdörfer” have entered Second Life
--Less focus on enterprise, but three features on education in Second Life
-- Coverage on adult consumerism in Second Life consistent with last week

Key Coverage:

News Aktuell – Focused on SOS Kinderdörfer’s entry into Second Life
Barebonecenter.de - Second Life Magazine was stopped, the publishing house is insolvent.
Cicero - Mentions Second Life in an article about web 2.0.
Promobizz.de - Reports on Smeet.de., a browser-based world mainly for audiovisual contacts; the latest attempt to establish virtual worlds like Second Life.
Openpr.de - Article about a short film, called “White Spot”.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

Tecchannel.de - Quotes Intel’s CTO Justin Rattner saying that within the next 40 years, virtual worlds will be commonplace.
Computer Zeitung -New project started for young students to participate in open source projects like Second Life.

EDUCATION and SCIENCE Coverage:

Freie Presse - World famous Goethe Institut has joined Second Life to promote the German language internationally and to offer language classes.
Doit-online.de – Very positive interview with Matthias Rückel, a Second Life education evangelist.
Süddeutsche Zeitung online - German language “Goethe Institut” establishes Second Life presence.
Matthias Rückel - Blog article about a coming lecture. Rückel states that in the future there will be several 3d environments to complement the 2D Internet.

FRANCE

Trends we’ve noticed:
--Lively is still a key point of discussion in France. The hype is likely to decrease when more people will have tested the platform.
--Few articles due to very quiet period for publications in France.
--The localization of the French interface is discussed on several blogs and remains a big question point for the most frequent users.

Key Coverage:

Tribune De Geneve – Article on Second Life and the French Community, focused on Linden Lab’s efforts to integrate the French community and develop enterprise initiatives.
Journalismes.net - Very positive article presenting the double life of Adam Pasick from Reuters.
PoCarles – An IBM conference in Second Life about the use of Web 2.0 on August 27th is noted by Pierre Olivier Carles as a key event to attend.
01 Net - presents the Virtual World KidNet for children under 12.
Tribune De Geneve - Blog post relating a recent discussion of the author with Robin.
Tribune De Geneve - Article relating M Linden’s regular blog posts and the author’s and contributors’ efforts to calculate LL’s revenues: estimated $300 Million.
Virtuel News - Neutral article, putting forward the fact that Second Life and Lively are very different platforms, reports that NOOVOJob opens virtual recruitment platform on Lively after doing so on Second Life.

JAPAN

Trends we’ve noticed:

--Virtual Worlds expected to lead to expansion of the Japanese market.
--The latest issue of Monthly Ascii covers keynote speeches by Philip and Paul Ledak at the Virtual World Conference and Expo in May and refers to their ideas and visions for SL and VWs in a very positive, straightforward and easy-to-read style.
--Some SL-related new businesses and in-world events held last week were presented positively
--In education, only Second Life among various Virtual Worlds was quoted.
--Second Life popularity spreading steadily among enterprises: Small and mid-sized companies in smaller cities are joining large, major city-based companies in utilizing Second Life.

Key Coverage:

Monthly ASCII (magazine, September issue) – A 2-part, 2-page feature on VWC 2008 with color photos of Paul Ledak, VP Digital Convergence at IBM, and Philip. Paul’s talk focused on “creating unique solutions and making something new by linking currently developed technologies” rather than the business aspect of virtual worlds. Phillip Rosedale himself talked about the current status and future of virtual worlds. “The Internet eliminated the notion of borders, while virtual worlds took away the wall of language with 3D images. IT technology will eventually become visual rather than text-based. The revolution that virtual worlds will yield will have the impact of changing life in the real world in the next 10 years and will grow to become larger scale than the Internet.”(not offerred online)
Yomiuri Online – Second Life users supporting Chuetsu Earthquake victims made a mascot character, produced and sold T-shirts commemorating a year since the disaster.
The Second Times – The “Edo Evening Cooling Festival” will be held at the EDO SIM August 1st through 3rd in Second Life.
ASCII.jp – An article on companies interested in sustaining leadership skills through MMORPG’s. Second Life was mentioned because a World of Warcraft player gathers his guild’s members for strategy meetings in Second Life.
The Second Times – An article on SF writer James P. Hogans’s new novel, “Real Time Interrupt”, about two people trapped in a virtual world. Second Life mentioned as an example of a current metaverse.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun Osaka newspaper – NTT West Co., started free trials for their new translation service for Second Life. You can download the virtual pet/translating program “CheriL” from [www.honyaku-pet.jp]
Release Net – Resonant Solutions Co. provides a portal website package for advertising eco-friendly companies and commercial entities, and plans expansion to virtual world Second Life.
The Second Times - A series on metaverses other than Second Life. This week is about American metaverse “YoVille”.
The Second Times – “TOMER RECORDS”, a virtual record store selling audio sources of musicians on Second Life is holding their second live event, the “TomaReco Relay Live 2008 Summer”.

EDUCATION Coverage:

Asahi Shimbun newspaper – An article on faculty members at Tokyo University’s Dept. of Information Science and Technology disappointed over losing the interest of promising Japanese graduates finding employment at foreign-affiliated IT companies and finance-related companies. Amongst the professors was Akinori Yonezawa, creator of “parallel object-oriented model”, a program used on SL.
Sanyo Shimbun Okayama newspaper– System Engineering Okayama, a group of IT-related companies in Okayama Prefecture, borrowed land in SL, opened a school and will teach production and sales, design and presentation skills for free to the first 30 people who sign up.