Well the summer is… almost over, but we still have enough time to catch the last surf right?

Mathieu Basiat featured in the machinima, designs islands using RAW terrain files that can be uploaded to your sim, transforming it from the default Linden island to anyone of our 50 beautiful islands, complete with amazing, shallow beaches, white sand, and a completely natural look. Don’t take my word for it, try it out for yourself. While there don’t forget to the the jet ski!

The extraordinary success of virtual worlds such as ‘Second Life’ as virtual social spaces for play leads to the question ‘What is the potential for the serious uses of these worlds?’ The theme for this first Serious Virtual Worlds conference is ‘The Reality of the Virtual World’ and takes a close look at how virtual worlds are now being used for serious professional purposes. Many organisations are now actively researching and deploying virtual worlds. Serious Virtual Worlds is your introduction to the serious uses of virtual worlds.

For more information please visit: http://www.seriousvirtualworlds.net/

There is a place that broadband has no meaning and Internet connectivity is still measured in Kbs. Try connecting to SL or use any other Internet services that are bandwidth intensive. You may be able to check emails and even browse a few pages (before getting frustrated), but it makes you wonder. Are metaverses enforcing the digital divide? One day perhaps this place and all places out there that have no connectivity whatsoever may have broadband connections (or whatever they will be called then). Until that day comes, users in these places will have only one life. Ironically, they don’t have to download a 20Mb executable… it would have taken an eternity!

The bibliography section has been updated. If you know of other references that should be included please leave a comment.