Information

This page shows some of the press coverage we receive and the media trends in some of Second Life's major markets.

Linden Lab News Archives

Here are links to the various Linden Lab websites where we catalog the press we receive. (Not all of these are up-to-date, but we are constantly working on it.)

English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean

Weekly Reports

In this section, you will find the media trends and press stories we are tracking in some of our key markets.

Week Ending October 10, 2008

Key Coverage by Market

US

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- Coverage has been positive across all sectors this week.
-- A focus on new tools and technologies to improve the education and consumer markets, including the increase of language learning in Second Life and religious organizations’ presence.
-- Mono announcement coverage.
-- Numerous articles about Fashion Research Institute involvement in Second Life.

Key Coverage:

InformationWeek - Second Life will start running Mono-based code on its servers.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

International Business Times - The Fashion Research Institute will allow fashion and consumer packaging designers to access and use 3-D tools in Second Life.

ITbusiness.ca - The Ontario’s Public Service is showcasing fire simulations in Second Life to recruit future fire-fighters.

EDUCATION Coverage:

Science Daily - An international team has developed a wireless virtual reality environment in Second Life that can help promote language learning.

Nursing Degree Guide - The health care industry uses Second Life to encourage advanced training for doctors and nurses, as a place for teens to learn about adolescent health issues, and more.

Minot Daily News - Teachers, administrators and technology education coordinators are exploring ways to incorporate online virtual worlds such as Second Life for use in the classroom.

Democrat and Chronicle - Students at the Rochester Institute of Technology will be able to experiment with and hold virtual meetings in floating learning pods in Second Life.

St. Petersburg Times - LifeChurch.tv, an evangelical mega-church in Oklahoma, is creating a virtual church in Second Life.

Episcopal Life Online – The Anglican Church in Second Life is successfully attracting younger audiences and building new religious communities.
o Mashable - NASA is trying to educate the public about its new programs in its CoLab Island in Second Life.

Lincoln Trail Library System – The Graduate School of Library and Information Science will offer courses to anyone interested in learning more about virtual worlds and establishing a presence in Second Life.

Daily Vidette - University of Illinois global campus initiative program in Second Life has provided researchers the ability to share their work online.

ADULT CONSUMER Coverage:

eWeek - Linden Lab will use Mono to improve the stability and speed of scripts.

CNET – Analysis of social-media marketing’s impact for brands using Second Life for marketing initiatives.

MSNBC - A company will release a body scanner that allows users to create realistic avatars in Second Life.

Time - OneSeason will offer a young entrepreneur $2 million to start a company that takes advantage of digital real estate in Second Life.

Metanomics - After surveying 11,000 Second Life residents, The Social Research Foundation found that a majority of people use Second Life for professional reasons and expects those numbers to grow in 2009.

Orient Lodge - Next Island, a new virtual world, will compete with Second Life by establishing a real cash virtual economy.

Escapist - As virtual worlds are moving into the mainstream, people quit their “real” jobs to become successful land property holders in Second Life.

UK

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- The coverage this week has been mostly positive.
-- All categories received equal focus.
-- There have been very positive articles about virtual campaigning and HR/recruitment.

Key Coverage:

The Independent - Discusses virtual campaigning including a focus on grassroots activism within Second Life. ‘Obama for President’ and ‘Obama fest’ are used as examples.

ENTERPRISE:

Money Marketing - A US offshoot of UK Company Aviva, created an island in Second Life with the main objective being the recruitment of the next generation of life insurance salespeople. It has closely coordinated with IBM in the creation of its presence.

3g.co.uk – Users of Nokia’s new model, the N96, can now access Second Life from their mobile.

BBC - Reports on the creation of ‘Myrl’. The site is designed to store avatars from virtual worlds such as Second Life.

Silicon.com - Discusses the use of Second Life by Unilever.

Building.co.uk – Interview with IT professional Neill Pawsey. He describes his fascination with potential business meetings in Second Life.

EDUCATION Coverage:
The Independent - Discusses virtual campaigning including a focus on grassroots activism within Second Life. ‘Obama for President’ and ‘Obama fest’ are used as examples.

Personnel Today - Article from Keith Brownlie, group HR and corporate responsibility director, Informa. He states Informa was one of the first companies to launch its own employees' island in Second Life.

GET - Profiles PA Consulting. It was the first major consultancy firm to open for business in Second Life.

ADULT CONSUMER Coverage:

BBC - Discusses the increasing use and growth of virtual worlds. Second Life is mentioned as a popular virtual world. The security concerns of virtual worlds are also discussed.

[http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/article.html?The_computer_craze_shapes_Infinite_Lives&in_article_id=343179&in_page_id=225&in_a_source=

Metro] - Mention of Second Life within the wider context of a diversifying user base in online communities and games.

GERMANY

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- Positive coverage overall.
-- First result of the CeBIT Press Tour by Sascha Alexander from Computerwoche.
-- This week’s coverage focuses on technical aspects.

Key Coverage:

Computerwoche - An article about their visit at Linden Lab, where Jean is quoted several times. The article is called “A Second Chance for Virtual Worlds” and describes how the market evolves at the moment.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

Newsmax.de - A release about the German enterprise TalentRaspel used OpenSimulator-Technology to install the first German OpenSimulator-Grid.

Das Journal - Reports on a browser-plug-in that converts normal websites into 3D-websites.

Krone.at - Picks same story as above.

EDUCATION Coverage:

Silicon.de - About how Mono dissolves the frontier between Open Source and .Net. Second Life is mentioned.

Johannes Moskaliuk - Provides readers with additional material about virtual worlds, above all Second Life. It adds his talk at the congress for psychology teachers.

ADULT CONSUMER Coverage:

Esslinger Zeitung - An article about a bagpipe player who is successful in Second Life but also in real life.

Frankfurter Rundschau - an article about the Burning Man Festival. Second Life is mentioned as well.

FRANCE

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- Overall outlook is good this week.
-- Business focus on Boulanger, French company new to SL and also Credit Agricole.
-- This week tendency was still about cyberculture and the influence of Internet in everyone’s life but also about the future use of virtual worlds for culture.

Key Coverage:
Metaverse3d - Article about the CEMEA publishes a report about the use of teen SL.

Geographie 2.0 - Posted a note about BTAvatalk who offers phone calls and sms from any phone box in SL.

Maetavers.lepressing - Article about the fact of having SL on its browser thanks to TOKYO ZERO.

Mondes Virtuels - A note about the fact that it is now possible to fly in ExitReality, even it is in a different way than in SL.

Hebiflux – A review of virtual worlds activity with a post saying that 3di is launching its own virtual world and is using OpenSim.

MaconSL - An article about Slim.

Framboise des pres - A note about Real restrain/ Restrained life, a program developed on OpenSim which lets a dominant more strictly a subjected who connects to SL via this program.

Marketing is dead - An interview of Capucine Cousin, writer of “All about Web 2.0” and asks her the question: mobile Internet versus Metaverse Roadmap?

e-south... hic and hunc - An article about Postmodernity and numeric culture written by Michel Maffesoli.

GillarGeorges - A comment about Mono 2.0 with a mention of SL.

Pierre Oliver Carles - A note about Mark Kingdon announcement that 22billion minutes of voice chat have been used in SL.

Explore away from Delphi - Posted a comment about Mono 2.0.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

01net - An article about the implementation of Boulanger in SL.

Readthefuckingmanual - Posted news about Boulanger in Second Life.

Univers Virtuel - A news post about virtual worlds, with the mention of Google Lively and Second Life about their different positioning.

ConseilMarketing.fr Conseil marketing - Article about how companies should manage and release its numerical identity. Mentions Second Life.

dé signes - Posted a note about the creation of a virtual territory for Credit Agricole on SL.

Les mots du mutualisme - An article about Credit Agricole on SL.

MrBoo - Talks about the fact that Crédit Agricole proposes a discussion on SL about the current financial crisis organized by Stonfield Inworld.

Le journal de Ray Dacteur - Posted a note about the fact that Crédit Agricole proposes a discussion on SL about the current financial crisis organized by Stonfield Inworld.

JulienMartel.net – Post on same subject as above.

Tecoman.info posted a note about the Boulange in Second Life.

Ange Zanetti - A second note from Ange Zanetti about Boulanger in Second Life.

Inpactvirtuel - A note about Boulanger in Second Life.

electromeninges - A note about Boulanger in Second Life.

Tapahont.info - Post about Boulanger in Second Life.

USTREAM.tv - A video about Boulanger company on SL and their digital territory.

Do you speak d’jeunes - Discusses Boulanger company on SL.

GameinSociety - Posts about virtual worlds, and their use to escape reality. The author questions the survival of these worlds with the subprime crisis.

La tribune de Geneve – A third note about how to use SL.

LeBlogdePtitFred - Discusses the TAATU virtual world.

Philippe Chouraki - About employment and virtual worlds with Monsters initiative to create a virtual job forum (Mention of SL as an example of this kind of use).

Willyblog - Discusses recruitment and particularly about LesJeudis.com initiative: Job messenger. Mention to the NeoJobmeeting conference organized last year in Second Life.

Community Chest - Published an article about the company Michelin (on SL) doing Gartner’s Keynote at Gartner EA Summit in London.

Le Monde numerique - An article about the implementation of Boulanger in Second Life.

ITRnews – An article about the implementation of Boulanger in SL.

Territoire Digital - Published an article about Obama and McCain challenging for election on SL.

EDUCATION Coverage:

Bookdesetudesonline - An article about online studies. Mention of the Institut Reperes, which launched a panel of consumers in Second Life to study their habits in the virtual world.

ADULT CONSUMER Coverage:
Memoirevive.tv - Natacha Quester’s video about her proposition for the Europe of 2020 : create a European continent dedicated to science, culture and education. It would regroup many institutions.

[Les Echos] - Published an article about Plus Belle La Vie French serial which has decided to create its own virtual world in a SL way.

Bourdieuhommage blog - A note about a conference on Bourieu’s place in SL in October, the 23rd.

Video of Natacha Quester Semeon – Post about her proposition for the Europe of 2020: create a European continent dedicated to science, culture and education. It would regroup many institutions.

Blogmemes - An article about Natacha Quester’s proposition for the Europe of 2020: create a European continent dedicated to science, culture and education. It would regroup many institutions.

JeanRem - Posted an article about Natacha Quester’s proposition for the Europe of 2020: create a European continent dedicated to science, culture and education.

E-troubadours - A note about the fact that they were at “Nuits Blanche” event in Paris.

As maps - A note about Plus belle la life, a virtual world like SL, developed to refer to the famous French serial “Plus Belle La vie”.

Clipclip - Published a note about object on the Internet and the fact that avatars can buy things virtually as if it was for real and receive their objects in the real world.

En direct de Second Life - Posted an article about an event on SL in October the 8th for Proust lectures.

Sun3000 – A post about Marcel Duchamps’s art on SL.

La revolution du web 2.0 - An article about a new book untitled “Web 2.0 et au delà”.

e-books here - Article about the fact that books are going to be sold in a different way next years: on virtual worlds such as SL could be an idea.

Virtuel news.com - Published an article about the fact that a TV reading Youtube feeds is available for purchase on SL.

IHM.media - A comment about Berkeley and his vision of the human being, his life and its way to be seen. Mention of SL as another way to see things and be seen.

JAPAN

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- Positive coverage.
-- SQUARE ENIX’s Nicotto Town, 2D VW content service, was covered widely including Fuji Sankei Business i. SQUARE ENIX is one of the biggest game developers for game consoles in Japan, so the industry and also game fans are paying close attention to their new service.
-- Kabushiki Shimbun wrote about 3Di’s OpenSIM product and said that it might be a favorable factor for the Japanese stock market and raise the stock price of ngi group, parent company of 3Di. This article proves that VWs, including SL, are still anticipated to be the driving force activating the IT industry.

Key Coverage:

Fuji Sankei Business i, ADVER TIMES (newspaper, 9/30, 10/1) – SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD has announced they have officially started an online metaverse service “Nicotto Town” on the 29th. They expect to gather 100,000 to 150,000 users within this year. “Nicotto Town” is designed in 2D in order for simple user-accessibility and user-friendliness.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:
Kabushiki Shimbun (10/1) – ngi group will introduce a commercial product in the field of 3D metaverses on 10/1. ngi is planning to build a business model whereby they will provide application development tools for profit to companies trying to enter the OpenSIM.

Nikkei Marketing Journal (10/3) - Metabirds started a business matching virtual-clothing designers on Second Life with real-life companies. Fashion and furniture and household goods from virtual worlds will soon be available in real life.

Hokuriku Chunichi Shimbun Kanazawa (9/24) – Ableseed co., ltd. is recreating on SL the Miyoshian tea house – a tea house in Kanazawa city with a history of over 130 years but demolished this July due to its poor condition.

Internet Watch - SUN Co., Ltd. created a system enabling you to access and use Second Life through your television.

The Second Times – Starting from 21:00 on 10/3, Chiyo Linden representative of the Japanese support system for Second Life will give a presentation on system support and “the top 20 FAQs” at the Linden village.

The Second Times – Linden Lab’s CEO Mark Kingdon wrote up the main objectives for the near future of Linden Lab. The four main points were: First-hour experience, mainland improvement, experience localization and product focus.

EDUCATION Coverage:

The Second Times – Piet Hut, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University, gave a speech at Shibuya’s BarTube on 10/2. The theme was on “Kira Laboratory, a virtual campus on Second Life for the study of science within context.”

MonthlyBusiness ASCII (Nov. 2008 issue) – A dialogue between Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, CEO of Kadokawa Group Holdings, and Lawrence Lessig, professor of Stanford Law School, on the issues of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Within Second Life, if an individual creates something new, that individual is given the intellectual property right to that creation, and has the right to sell that creation for profit. That is ultimately what separates Second Life from “World of Warcraft,” and in the long run, that will be the separation point between games that will disappear and those that will stay.

ADULT CONSUMER Coverage:

25ans (Nov. 2008 issue) – A feature segment on the 25ans 2nd annual social party held on September 2. The party had several events such as bingo games, cocktail time, photo shoot and many other programs.

Dengeki PlayStation (10/10) – A magazine column on PlayStation3’s new metaverse service “Home”. The closed beta test started on August 8. Second Life was introduced in the article as the predecessor of virtual worlds. Currently there are over 10 million users around the world, but only 0.7% of Internet users in Japan use Second Life.

WWD For Japan Magazine (Aug. 2008 issue) – A magazine page listing out some of the words and terms of the Internet in order to keep up with Web2.0. Second Life was mentioned under the description of the word “Avatar.”

Keizaikai (10/14) – A magazine article covering CGM, or in other words Web2.0. The article covers aspects of SNS and blogs, Wikipedia, YouTube, and Second Life. The reason why SL has lost its momentum is because of the imbalance of gain and loss. For example, SNSs are simple to use, and most likely you will get a large amount of feedback from friends and random readers as well, gaining a lot of reaction from simple actions. Compared to that, there are many technical obstacles a user must overcome before being able to fully use Second Life, and for all that there is not much feedback or encounters with other people.

Mac Fan (Nov. 2008 issue) – “Second Life” won 8th in the unofficial 2008 buzzword contest held by Mac Fan.

The Second Times – The “Akai hane fund-raiser” (a very well known fund-raiser in Japan, held annually all over the country) will be held on Second Life as well at the Hachikokuyama Island SIM.

Week Ending October 3, 2008

US

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- Positive coverage especially in education and consumer sections.
-- More coverage by blogs than traditional media.
-- Continued interest in recruiting in Second Life.
-- Building excitement over Second Life user experience enhancements.
-- More schools are expanding their presence in Second Life and coverage of libraries with successful presences in Second Life.

Key Coverage:

San Francisco Business Journal – Linden Lab hired Tom Hale as its first chief product officer.

PaidContent.org (via Washington Post) – On Tom Hale’s hire.

Dusan Writer – Tom Hale’s hire covered.

Virtual Worlds News

Re-post: http://www.crispygamer.com/news/index.php/2008-09-29/2082/ Crispy Gamer]

ENTERPRISE Coverage:
Enterprise IT Planet - IBM’s Second Life Green Data Center represents the best that Second Life and other virtual worlds have to offer, and it has the potential to attract more Second Life users.

E-Commerce Times - Virtual worlds like Second Life are becoming a popular recruitment tool for businesses.

Geo2Web.com – Blog post on BT’s coming release of a program allowing users to make phone calls from Second Life.

BNET - Commentary on the upcoming Forrester report citing how virtual worlds are continuing to be used by marketers.

EDUCATION Coverage:
Morris Sun Tribune - Ridgewater has received a grant from the Minnesota State College to invest more in education in Second Life.

Science Daily - Penn State researchers are investigating how virtual teams can better solve real world problems by collaborating in Second Life.

Repost: http://www.brandon-hall.com/workplacelearningtoday/?p=410 Brandon Hall Research]

LA Times Blog - For the second year in a row, the American Library Association is celebrating Banned Books Week in Second Life.

Techtotty - Anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists across Second Life are discussing ways to display personal projects in an engaging, interactive manner.

The Click Heard Round the World - Global Kids is starting its youth machinima initiative called the Virtual Video Project where students get training in how to use Second Life as a filmmaking platform.

Alliance Library System - The National Library of Medicine has awarded ALS a $60,000 grant for a project entitled “AIDS Information and Outreach in the Virtual World of Second Life.”

Genome Technology - Holding meetings in Second Life gives researchers a chance to visit with colleagues and attend conferences without having to leave their labs.

CONSUMER Coverage:
Marketing Vox - Linden Lab is using third party developers to help make Second Life more amenable to first-time users.

Massively – Blog post on Linden Lab’s positive steps to attract new users by improving the user’s in world experience and simplifying registration.

Virtual Worlds News – Discussion of Linden Lab’s improvements to the viewer for new users.

Dusan Writer’s – A post that the user interface for Second Life is being redesigned, making it “more user friendly.”

Designing Digitally - Second Life golf island is almost complete.

Ballot Vox - The Democratic and Republican party will be holding presidential debate watching parties in Second Life.

UK

Trends we’ve noticed:

-- Coverage has been positive, with the articles in The Independent, Guardian and Computer World UK.
-- Enterprise and education/non-profit have received great focus this week.

Key Coverage:

The Independent - Discusses UK universities in Second Life.

Computer World UK – Praise for Philip and discussion of his new role as Chairman. The article also details the evolution of Second Life.

The Guardian – Covers the increasing popularity of virtual worlds. The article includes comment from Philip revealing his aspirations for virtual worlds.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

The Guardian – Discussion of increasing popularity of virtual worlds. The article includes comment from Philip revealing his aspirations for virtual worlds.

Silicon.com – Notes the success of Unilever’s initiative to create their private complex within Second Life.

ZDNet.co.uk – A mention of Linden Dollars as a usable currency when talking about the accessibility of buying the new Intuit QuickBooks 2009.

Computer Weekly - Includes Stuart King’s blog mentioning the success of Unilever’s presence on Second Life as a means of increasing awareness within their organisation.

nebusiness.co.uk – Covers research into the potential money to be made from virtual worlds.

EDUCATION Coverage:
The Independent – Discusses UK universities in Second Life.

Tech Radar.com - Explores the imaginative side of Second Life and how people can interact better during group work as avatars rather than face-to-face in the real world.

Medical News Today - Covers the same case study as the article in Tech Radar and is complimentary of the uses of Second Life as a forum for group work.

M Consulting - Discusses the Chartered Institute of Taxation’s (CIOT) return to Second Life.

24dash.com - An in depth article about the launch of the virtual arts festival, NOISE festival, and the positive influences of creating such an event on Second Life.

TSNN.co.uk – A look at the novel idea of Labour hosting a virtual meeting with online supporters during the Labour Party Conference.

GERMANY

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- The coverage this week was more neutral, nevertheless there were some nice pieces, especially in the adult consumer section.
-- Compared to the last weeks, coverage in the adult consumer section is increasing.
-- New companies entering Second Life and the appointment of Clare.
-- Last week’s very positive article published by German press agency dpa was picked up again.

Key Coverage:

Monstersandcritics.de
Yahoo.com - These two sources published a positive piece on collaboration in Second Life.

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

new-business.de - Covers the release about Clare Rees’ appointment as European Marketing Director.

EDUCATION Coverage:

Hamburger Abendblatt - Describes a very interesting project by students of the University of Hamburg. They built a whole factory to fill bottles in Second Life plus a container terminal.

ADULT CONSUMER Coverage:

Der Standard.at - An article about an art project in which Second Life is involved (see video link for more information).

Focus Online - An interview with “Simcity”-developer Will Wright and says that his ideas are the basis for Second Life and other virtual worlds.

Süddeutsche.de - Talks about originals and copies. German virtual world Secret City is pictured as a copy of Second Life.

FRANCE

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- This week there have been articles about 3D tools’ use, SL competitors, and social networks’ influence and importance.
-- Many blog articles about Stonfield in-world solution provider.
-- This week, the focus was on new company and older companies activity on SL.

Key Coverage:
T’zine - An article about the interview of Philip Rosedale during Picnic 08. Loic Le Meur, an influential blogger in France, interviewed Philip about the future of technologies and companies in SL.

Blackrabbit - A note about Exit reality, a tool allowing any website to become 3D website such as SL.

Marketing and Innovation – Covers six tips to check and supervise your e-reputation.

Stonefield Inworld – An employee posted a video about his boss’s vision of SL.

La culture populaire et moi – A note about Facebook, Myspace and SL comparing each of them.

Green it - Interviewed solution provider Pierre Olivier Carles from Stonfield Inworld. He explains that thanks to SL he has cut costs by three times for his company’s travels.

Stonfield inworld - Green IT interviewed solution provider Pierre Olivier Carles from Stonfield Inworld. He explains Second Life’s travel cost-cutting capabilities.

Merionread - A note about cyber-culture.

Virtualworldnews posted a note about the VideoGame festival this week in Paris and particularly about Entropia Universe ( which wants to be more than SL, and sell universes).

Jeanrem - A post about 3DI OpenViewer a tool like ExitReality, letting SL and OpenSim run in a browser.

Technoweb - Covers avatars and the fact that 80% of web users will have an avatar in 2011.

BetaJournal.com - An article about Google Lively.

La tribune de Geneve - A note on how to go on SL (second part).

Virutalnews – A post about on SL Exchange becoming XStreet SL (Virtualtrade).

ENTERPRISE Coverage:

Ange zenatti – Covers the Boulanger French company entering SL.

Stonefield Inworld - A comment on their activity with Saint Gobain on SL. (tree planting in Liban in 2009)

Chine Information - A note saying that China Telecom wants to create its own virtual world like SL.

EDUCATION Coverage:

Lettre TICE Bourgogne – An article about numeric tools to learn French and old languages and a conference and how a teacher gave lessons on SL.

CONSUMER Coverage:

Maggie Parsons – A post about cyberculture and what SL offers (compared to Myspace, Facebook).

Internetactualive - Posted an article about objects on the Internet.

nawell Laville - Covers the Atlantika exposition on SL ( in Sardaigna Island).

Territoire Digital.com – An article about Frao, a well known sculptor in SL.

Eke.org - Posted on note on the “Pays Basque” Culture on SL.

Npip - A note about La Domestique project: screen space is superposed to real filing space. The artist explains he first uses SL to prepare his film work.

Du fond du lac - A note about the event “Burning life”.

JAPAN

Trends we’ve noticed:
-- Almost all articles and quotes are positive.
-- Medical care is one of the anticipated future applications of SL and JIMA is the first one who has entered SL as a medical organization in Japan.

Key Coverage:
Monthly Card Wave (magazine, October) – JIMA (Japan Internet Medical Association) opened a virtual clinic on metaverse Second Life and demonstrated face-to-face sessions between doctors and patients. The aim is to prove the reliability and authenticity of this service through demos of issuing prescriptions and referrals, consultation, and diagnosis. In a survey conducted of Second Life users who participated in the demos of the virtual clinic, 80% showed inclinations toward using the online clinical service if it were official, but at the same time over 40% of these people chose the reasonable charge for these services such as “consultation” and “mental counseling” of L$200 (equivalent to approx. 100 JPY).

ENTERPRISE Coverage:
The Second Times – Metabirds Co. started a business to support designers and creators who are successful on Second Life to become successful in real life.

Weekly Toyo Keizai (magazine, 9/27) – A chart showing the Internet hegemony with Google services at the center. It shows Google’s metaverse “Lively” and Linden Lab’s “Second Life” in a rivalry.

Nihon Joho Sangyo Shimbun (newspaper, 9/22) – A summary of an interview with Kotaro Okui, president of SUN Co., Ltd. “By operating three businesses at the same time, we aim for a global business evolution.” Out of the three businesses, the most outstanding is the 3D metaverse business with Linden Lab.

The Japan Times (newspaper, 9/24) – An Australian company has launched a free tool that it touts as a world-first opportunity for Web users to view the Internet in more than two dimensions. Melbourne-based ExitReality said its application allows users to turn any regular website into a 3D virtual environment, where an avatar representing them can walk around and “meet” other users who are browsing the same website.

The Second Times – Posical Corporations held an event on Second Life encouraging the young generation in their job-hunting process. The event is titled “Why we work.”

The PR Times – Global Service Corporations, a company that handles Askul office supplies, opened a branch store on Second Life.

The Second Times
The Second Times - Resonant Solutions Co. is providing free IT support (such as free community space on Second Life) to organizations and associations that support local communities.

CONSUMER Coverage:
The Second Times – The Design Association of Oita is holding an event on Second Life titled “DESIGN POWER 2008”. The event is held simultaneously in real life.

The Second Times – According to the survey titled “The Revival of Consumer Virtual Worlds” conducted by Forrester, there recently seems to be a revival in the market of consumer virtual worlds.

The Second Times – For the first time in Japan, and avatar from Second Life gave a lecture to a real life audience at the Metaverse Forum.

The Second Times – The “Hachikoku Yama” SIM underwent an all-out renewal and has re-opened.

The Second Times – An introduction of the book by James W. Au titled “Second Life: How a virtual community will change business”.

The Second Times – American metaverse SNS “koinup” is holding a Steampunk themed snapshot contest taken on Second Life.