• New World Notes says Viewer 2.0 is an "epic win" for the user-base and an absolute competition killer...but likely isn't a game-changer in the war for virtual world supremacy.

 

• Betterverse listed five reasons why Viewer 2.0 is going to be great for educators, nonprofits, and government groups, beginning with shared media capabilities and and easier user interface.

 

• Hypergrid Business wonders if Linden Lab is poised to become the new Netscape. Back at the dawn of the Internet, companies like AOL created "walled gardens" that tended to exclude the casual user. The Netscape browser changed all that, opening the Web to a new generation of users. Linden Lab has the opportunity to do the same.

 

• New research for the Stanford University Virtual Human Interaction Lab -- yes, such a thing exists -- shows that an avatar can act as a powerful role model. Watching a avatar exercise, for example, led the viewer exercise more, particularly in the 24 hours after the virtual exposure. Watching a avatar model a bad behavior, like gorging on sugar, had the same real-world impact.

 

• More from Hypergrid Business: as more and more companies set up a presence in Second Life, they are going to have to deal with issues surrounding compliance with legal and regulatory limits imposed in the real world.

For updates on all the Second Life and virtual world news, follow @B2PBetaTech on Twitter, or join our Facebook page.

• "Our Avatars, Ourselves." Mitch Wagner probes the often fluid line between avatar identity and the flesh-and-blood personalities behind them in this essay for Tor.com.


• Sociologist William Sims Bainbridge spent 2,300 hours playing World of Warcraft for his new book The Warcraft Civilization: Social Science in a Virtual World (MIT Press). He came away convinced the virtual worlds have vast potential for researchers of the human social condition.


• The Chronicle of Higher Education took an in-depth look at higher education in Second Life and finds significant pros and cons. Interestingly, virtual education seems to work best when it looks nothing like a traditional classroom space.


• The Guardian (UK) takes a ride on Second Life's new Trans-Siberian Railroad and ponders the concept of "desktop travel" in the virtual age. Can it ever replace the real thing? Maybe not. But in related news, the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life releases a study finding that the most pleasurable part of vacationing is in the planning.


• Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon sat down for a long interview with PCPro (UK), which recently ran a piece asking "Whatever Happened to Second Life?" (We answer here. And here.) Kingdon talked about Second Life's risque reputation, and argued that only about 6% of regions are zoned for "adult" content. "In a major city there might be a place where you find adult entertainment but it might be in a specially zoned area," he says. "We've used that principle to reorganise Second Life."

Tue. 4/27  - Thurs. 4/29

Budding businesses and those looking for new growth may find the nurturing they need at the Beta Business Park's Spring Leadership in Business Conference.

Beta Business Park will host its second semi-annual gathering from April 24-27 in the virtual world of Second Life. The event provides networking and business development opportunities for people who currently work in virtual worlds, those who want to explore the possibilities, or those who just want to take advantage of professional opportunities without leaving the office.

B2P is seeking expert speakers to present to an audience of business people with a range of knowledge and experience. Attendees represent non-profit, governmental, educational, and private sectors and organizations of all sizes.

Speaker applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. Pacific Time on March 15.

Designers, retailers, artists, performers, businesspeople...all these and more are operating in Second Life.

As in their non-virtual lives, these very different groups rely on software to do their daily business. Residents from across the Second Life spectrum met at Beta Business Park Auditorium recently to discuss the tools they just can't live without.