http://www.vintfalken.com report on amazing video of 50 virtual worlds.

Here's what she says:

Great overview of 50+ virtual worlds (although I only count 43 ;)) current open (or in beta) by Gary Hayes for Personalizemedia.com. This video collection of machinima and stills from different virtual worlds, is a perfect overview of what Second Life’s competitors look like. By following Gary Hayes’ ‘2008 Metaverse Tour’ you can (quickly) visit the following virtual worlds without having to create an avatar for each: in order of appearance, Kaneva, YoVille (Facebook), RocketOn, Prototerra, Gaia Online, HiPiHi, Google Lively, Habbo Hotel, Laguna Beach (vMTV running There), Whyville, Twinity, Cyworld, Football Superstars, Weblin, IMVU, Second Life (yeeeey!!! let’s hear an applause! ;)), Club Penguin, Active Worlds, vSide, a Tale in the Desert, Barbie Online, Amazing Worlds, Webkinz, Worlds.com, Spore (only the creature creator), ExitReality, Open Croquet, Metaplace, Mokitown, Moove, The Palace, Spine World, Tower Chat, The Traveller, Virtual Ibiza, Stardoll, The Manor, There, Vastpark, Qwaq, Playstation 3 Home and Go Supermodel. Definitely a lot more ‘metaverse parts’ then I even knew existed!

In the last year I have worked with several organizations that started islands in second life. There are many things you will need to consider. Small tips that could save you time, effort, and money. So I am collecting them. For now, I have 15... but I plan to get to 100. Your feedback is needed.

So here are ome Technical Tips for active hands-on research in Second Life:

1. Time to get Island – Getting the island from Linden takes 2-3 weeks. You will need a credit card and a budget to buy things in world (in world = in the virtual world).
2. Teen Grid islands take much longer because you need to follow a background check process.
3. Firewall. Second Life uses various non-standard ports. You will need to open them.
4. Permissions and ownership – make sure you fully understand the permissions schemes of second life. For business related items, you may want to insist on full permissions. Such products usually cost much more.
5. Strong computers. Running Second Life calls for a relatively strong computer (see System Requirements in the second life web site). Running Second Life and makeing a video at the same time, calls for an even stronger computer.
6. Full view. Make sure you use full graphics and you set the distance to 512 meters – this will enhance the look and feel of the experience.
7. UI size. For demos you may enlarge the UI size – in preferences.
8. Media on a Prim. Use the added features of HTML on a Prim, Music on land, and video on land. Such features demonstrate the integrative nature of virtual worlds.
9. Training videos. View training videos by using www.secondlife.com/videos. The fastest way to learn.
10. Programming – Second Life has a full programming environment based on LSL (Linden Scripting Language). There are lots of materials on the web re this.
11. External systems. There are several ways to connect between in-world objects and out-side objects. There are some complex demos in-world to show this.
12. Measurement. There are several tools to measure how many avatars visited your space. You can install listeners in various objects.
13. Company Family Names. There is a method to buy a family name from Linden for members of the firm.
14. Voice Chat. Using voice in world can be a good way to start and to collaborate. Saves texting.
15. Harness power of other users. Work with other users to help you. There are many people in Second life that would gladly help; if you pay a bit you will get a lot of energy.

When: Wednesday, Aug 6, 2008
Where: Haifa University, Rabin Building
URL: http://meital.iucc.ac.il/conf2008/

This is the yearly conference of MEITAL - who is working on University level usages of technologies. I will give a short discussion about my course "Intro to virtual worlds."

MEITAL 2008: "New Directions in E-Learning in Higher Education"

The 6th Annual MEITAL National Conference

The MEITAL 2008 conference, in memory of the late Prof. Nechemia Levzion, will take place this year at the University of Haifa on Wednesday, August 6^th, 2008. The conference will focus on the achievements and challenges in e-learning in higher education and on future development avenues.

The conference is a multi-participant, national gathering that is held once a year at one of the academic institutions that are members of MEITAL. The conference comprises a unique experience for a formal and informal professional meeting of all those involved in e-learning and e-teaching in higher education. It will include lectures dealing with the integration of e-learning in academic teaching in Israel, an exhibition of posters and presentations, round tables covering various areas of interest and specialization, workshops and more. The conference will provide diverse opportunities for social and professional encounters in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere. Members of the academic staff and others interested in e-learning in higher education institutions in Israel are invited to participate!

The conference's Program Committee is headed by Dr. Dani Ben-Zvi, Head of the e-learning Center at the University of Haifa.

K Zero is a leading consultancy in the field of virtual worlds. Just published their
Updated virtual world data for Q2 2008 for their famous 'univese-graph'. For those who are looking for a quick historical view.

OK, there is a new facebook interface:
http://www.new.facebook.com

Read more about it in cnet

Facebook starts to look more and more like... plaxo: better organization,
more features, more control over how much you see of what, ability to customize the look and feel.

Yet -- some of the editing tools are hidden so deeply that you barely know they are there. You need to move the mouse all over to find the hidden menus. Nice use of internal menus, zoom in/out. etc.

You can always go back to the old interface.

Torley Linden has given us yet another cool video tutorial. About how to build a shirt using a cool pain-like free tool.

See "Make an awesome shirt with ArtRage - Video Tip of the Week #41"

Note the high quality video is much better.

Look and Feel
1. Lively is a plug in (for browser) that allow you to present, edit, and use 3D rooms.
2. It takes few min to load the plug in (one time) and then you can visit rooms.
3. The rooms can appear on any page, using gadget, HTML, etc.
4. The room itself include the background, objects in it, avatars. there are 2 special objects to show pictures (or stream of pictures -- and u do need Picasa for that). and to show video (and yes you do need You Tube).
5. Avatars are very carton-like -- the entire system look and feel like IMVU (with the ability to move your avatars freely in the room).
6. As in IMVU you can make the other avatar do things (if you kiss someone it will animate both). There is no permissions on that at this point. not even what IMVU has and not request (like Second Life has).
7. Loading speed is terrible. Very slow. You may need to wait 10 min for a full room with avatars to load.
8. once all is loaded speed is reasonable to fast. You can move your avatars quickly.
9. The editor for building rooms is cool. Lots of options to move around objects and connect them to URLs.
10. Any user can comment on an objects. This seems like a nice features.
11. There is an infrastructure for buying and selling virtual goods. Although all prices now are zero.
12. HEBREW -- Yes it is working fine. COOOOL.
13. The name "Lively" -- is Google stabbing Microsoft Live? am not sure. Kind of fun.

Meaning
1. This is a good development for the field. Google will be able to connect this easily with other services, and truly build a 3D tool.

2. It will take Lively a lot of time to get to the level of IMVU and much more time to get to the level of second life. BUT many many people will be able to use LIVELY. From my perspective, (see 3D3C Framework for real virtual worlds) Google Lively is has 3/5 in 3D, 3/5 in Community, 3/5 in Creation, and 1/5 in Commerce.

3. Google is in an excellent position to continue this development with connection to their

• Vast user system (no need to develop one);
  
• Connect (using Sketchup),
  
• Earth (your avatars can visit together Disney
• Money (with Google Checkout that already have your credit card).
• Ads -- need I say more. Google AdSense/AdWords can easily connect with this.
  

4. Second life will no be affected so much by this. If at all, people that play with Lively with graduate to Second Life. Linden -- and I'm sure they are doing it -- will have to focus its efforts on their direction.

5. IMVU-Like worlds: wow these guys really need to think about their position. They may need to connect with Yahoo or Microsoft if they wish to survive.

6. All of us. I really want to see how LIVELY is developing in the nest 3 months -- I want to see that Lively is not Google Answers (shell I say the late).

BTW: If you have specific questions please comment here and I will try to post answers in the blog.

Time: Monday -- Jul 14, 2008 12:15-13:35
Location: Haifa University, Education building, Room 570, 5th floor

What:
For my friends in the North of Israel... I will come back to my hometown for an open talk
(there will be a closed session afterwords).

Real Virtual Worlds: When Facebook, Youtube and eBay merge.

A real virtual world is described as a three-dimensional world in which human characters spend their time, play, work and live. A definition is proposed – 3D3C: 3D for the three dimensions of this interactive world and 3C for Community in which people connect with one another, Creation that allows people to express themselves and Commerce that links real monetary value to actions in this world. Current business models as seen today in Second Life, the first sample real Virtual World, are described.