Sun Hosts News Conference in Second Life
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) spared the stodgy PowerPoint slides when it announced its new gaming strategy. Instead, 60 journalists, analysts and product developers from around the world sent their virtual proxies - known as avatars - to a simulated world on the Internet.
The event, hosted by the avatar of Sun Chief Researcher John Gage and held on an island in the online game "Second Life," was billed as the first news conference by a Fortune 500 company in the game.
"Second Life" is a subscription-based 3-D fantasy world devoted to capitalism - a 21st century version of Monopoly that generates real money for successful players. More than 885,000 people have avatars who interact with one another in the virtual world.
"We've been trapped inside the text world for so long," Gage said. "It's time for us all to get more Second Lifey."
Santa Clara-based Sun, which develops hardware and software for corporate networks and for gaming servers, hopes its "Second Life" outpost will become a destination for 4 million people worldwide who help write Sun's open-source code. No more than 22,000 can make it to Sun's annual physical gathering in San Francisco.
"We'll have bean bag chairs, and it will be a great place for people to try out code," Gage's avatar said on an outdoor stage flanked by billowing trees and ocean. "We want it to be just like your local neighborhood."
Brands such as Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)'s Scion, Intel Corp. (INTC), CNet Networks Inc., Advance Publications Inc.'s Wired magazine, Adidas AG and American Apparel Inc. have already been building "Second Life" outposts. In August, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner became the first real-world politician to host a "Second Life" town hall meeting.
"What corporate presence within 'Second Life' allows for is a different type of immersion in the product," said Donald Jones, Georgetown University graduate student writing his thesis on "Second Life.""It provides the corporation with an opportunity to seem like they're cutting edge. It helps them sell their image and their lifestyle within cyberspace."
Sun's virtual news conference Tuesday wasn't entirely glitch-free. The avatar of Philip Rosedale, Linden Lab's founder and CEO, briefly appeared on stage naked because of a software bug.
Google Offering Free Software Package
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) - Google Inc. (GOOG) is making its word processing and spreadsheet programs available for free to all comers on its Web site, marking the Internet search leader's latest effort to provide an alternative to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s dominant software applications.
The software package, expected to be available Wednesday, combines a spreadsheet application that Google introduced in June with a word processing program called Writely that the Mountain View-based company bought for an undisclosed amount in March.
As part of the expansion, the Writely name will disappear. The new package will be called Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
Google also had been limiting usage of both the word processing and spreadsheet programs, but the company now expects to be able to accommodate anyone who signs up, said product manager Jonathan Rochelle.
Wednesday's move continues Google's attempt to assemble a suite of software applications that are tethered to an Internet connection instead of a single computer's hard drive. That makes it easier for people to work on the same document from different locations, a convenience that is also meant to encourage more sharing among users with common interests or goals.
Well, there you have some of the latest updates on what is going on in the "tech" world around you. Many things are, and, will be changing as we know them over the next many years. "Don't get left behind"! Stay on top of stuff so that you may prosper and keep up with the rest of the world.
As usual, check out www.myspace.com/akuasharpe for the latest music happenings etc and see some of the "cool" people on my friends list.
Peace & Soulz,
Bobby SharpeBobbySharpe.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment