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In January of 2010, I made a few predictions about what I thought was going to happen with OpenSim this year. I was way off on most of them. The OpenSim developers will continue to call it “alpha software” This one, I got right. They’re still calling it “alpha software.Read More →

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Grid owners with proprietary viewers can now add high-quality voice to their worlds Not yet included in Hippo, Imprudence — users must download add-on This week, vComm Solutions of Switzerland released the source code for Whisper, a high-quality voice option for OpenSim. Whisper supports directional voice and lip synching, andRead More →

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Press Release: Second Life’s New Leader: Rod Humble Becomes CEO of Linden Lab MMO and Gaming Industry Visionary to Bring New Life to Second Life SAN FRANCISCO — Linden Lab®, creator of 3D virtual world Second Life®, today announced that Rod Humble has become the company’s Chief Executive Officer. HumbleRead More →

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Press release: Languagelab.com students spend 15 hours a week in English City Outside of Class time. Languagelab, creator of English City based in Second Life, have found that students spend on average 15 hours a week practicing in English City excluding scheduled class time. Languagelab, creator of English City basedRead More →

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Press Release: UBM Built Environment Presents ‘Sustainability Now,’ Targeted to Built Environment Professionals and Their Clients – Now Available On Demand Virtual Event Leader UBM Studios Provided 3D Platform CHICAGO — UBM Built Environment, in conjunction with BD, Building, and Property Week Magazines, presented the fifth installment of “Sustainability Now,”Read More →

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Press Release: ON24 Announces Enterprise Webcasting for Internal Communications New Capabilities Enable ‘Behind the Firewall’ Webcasts SAN FRANCISCO, CA– ON24, Inc., the global leader in webcasting and virtual event solutions, announced today that it is providing full support for webcasts used in internal communications applications. A collection of services, theRead More →

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Press Release: Leading Providers to Create Virtual Environments Around the Virtual Edge Summit 2011 Global audiences will have access to Summit content and networking via 6Connex, Digitell, Expos2, INXPO, Social27 and Unisfair virtual experiences Pleasanton, CA –Today, the Virtual Edge Summit 2011 (http://www.virtualedgesummit.com) announced that the Summit content will beRead More →

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OpenSim grids hit yet another new peak this month, with 15,094 regions on the top 40 grids, an 11  percent increase from last month’s 13,564 regions — a gain of 1,530 new regions. Meanwhile, total registered users on these grids grew 5 percent from 140,053 in mid November to 147,565Read More →

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Press Release: Novell Announces Winners of First Annual ‘Dister’ Awards Radical Breeze’s ‘Illumination Software Creation Station’ and Anderware’s ‘Hypergrid to Go’ win $10,000 prizes in showcase for creating innovative software appliances WALTHAM, Mass. — Novell today announced the winners of its First Annual ‘Dister’ Awards, handing out two $10,000 grandRead More →

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The following is an excerpt from a new book, Generate Sales Leads With Virtual Events. I can vividly recall my first experience exhibiting at a trade show.  It was the early 1990’s and I was fresh out of college.  I worked for a company that sold Internet connections to corporations. Read More →

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The numbers are in on virtual. After being immersed in all things virtual the last four months through my work with the Virtual Edge Summit, it was interesting to attend IAEE last week and be brought back into the world of association and for-profit trade show producers who still haven’tRead More →

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Press Release: Virtual Events Mean Less Time at the Airport, More Time in Pajamas ON24 survey: executives extol the personal benefits of virtual events SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—Based on the results of the latest survey conducted by ON24, Inc., the global leader in webcasting and virtual event solutions, over 1,000 participantsRead More →

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SpotOn3D will hold a benchmark test on Wednesday, December 15 to determine the difference in performance of OpenSim version 0.7.1 and OpenSim 0.6.9 when they run in the cloud. According to SpotOn3D co-founder and COO Tessa Kinney-Johnson, the test will be conducted from 2 to 3 p.m. SLT (Pacific time)Read More →

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Press Release: ON24 to Host Virtual Conference for Virtual Events Users ‘It’s VUE Time!’ Says VUE2010 Emcee MC Hammer SAN FRANCISCO, CA– ON24, Inc. the global leader in webcasting and virtual event solutions, announced today that the company is hosting on December 14 the VUE2010 Virtual Events User Experience. ThisRead More →

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Here at Hypergrid Business we spend a lot of time touring virtual environments, and we often find them difficult to navigate, inconsistent, and hard to use. But one of the world’s biggest corporate users of virtual worlds — IBM — is hoping to change that. With a new set ofRead More →

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Sure we’re advocates of virtual meetings. But we’re not foolish enough to think a day will come — soon or ever — when face-to-face meetings go away. That’s just not going to happen. And the reasons are simple. They are absolutely the best way to build relationships and a senseRead More →

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Press Release: Online Science Project Launched by CU Nobel Laureate Receives $2.5 Million to Enhance Middle School Science Two students tweak the ramp of a skateboarder in Energy Skate Park, sending her on a steep track that ends in a wild loop. They measure the energy of her motion asRead More →

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One of the key early decisions to game design or creating a virtual currency platform is designing the price and exchange rate of virtual currency. Unfortunately after it’s been released, it’s also one of the most difficult to change, because the change impacts the userbase and economy of the systemRead More →

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Press Release: Onstream Media and Trade Show News Network Release Findings of Groundbreaking Virtual Event Survey POMPANO BEACH, FL – Onstream Media Corporation, a leading online service provider of live and on-demand Internet broadcasting, corporate web communications and virtual marketplace technology, and Trade Show News Network (TSNN), the world’s leadingRead More →

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Last week, ProtonMedia made a formal announcement about a project I first reported on in September  of this year that ProtoSphere, the 3D enterprise collaboration and learning tool, is  now fully integrated with Microsoft’s  Lync Server 2010. The Lync server is a software product that unifies enterprise voice, instant messagingRead More →

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Press release: SpotOn3D announces collaborative partnership with Purdue University The Virtual Collaboration Laboratory within the Purdue University Department of Organizational Leadership and Supervision (College of Technology) announces the beginning of a collaborative partnership with SpotOn3D — a software firm whose main objective is to bridge the gap between the 2DRead More →

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San Francisco-based Tipodean Technologies will open its Canvas Web-based viewer next week to a select group of beta testers, but Hypergrid Business got a sneak peek this week. A test version of the viewer will go live on Monday. “We will see how big of a load it is,” saidRead More →

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ReactionGrid released a groups module for OpenSim this week and announced plans to upgrade to the next version of OpenSim “early next year.” According to its announcement, ReactionGrid’s group module will be rolled out to all region on ReactionGrid over the next two weeks. ReactionGrid doesn’t just run its oneRead More →

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Expos2 to Showcase V3 Platform at Virtual Edge Summit 2011 Ashland, OR – Expos2, the most competitively priced virtual events provider and industry leader based on number of events sold, today announced the company’s participation at the Virtual Edge Summit 2011, scheduled on January 12-13, 2011, at the MGM ConventionRead More →

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California-based Katalabs has just released a free iPad and iPhone-friendly Web-based virtual world viewer, KataSpace, which works in conjunction with the open source Sirikata virtual world server software. KataSpace is built on the WebGL and HTML 5 Web standards, which means it will run in browsers without a plugin, andRead More →

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Press Release: ON24’s Webcasting Market Share Leadership Earns Prestigious Industry Recognition SAN FRANCISCO, CA– ON24, Inc., the global leader in webcasting and virtual event solutions, announced today that it has received — for the second year in a row — one of the prestigious Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards. ThisRead More →

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WonderSchool, a startup formed by Els Von Tol and myself, is a portal for schools where they can build their own virtual world, or use an existing one, and give their users access to software programs.  Today, WonderSchool offers live Alice workshops for teachers in the Netherlands and Germany. AliceRead More →

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Press Release: I/ITSEC: Unity Powers 3D Virtual Training Simulations for the Defense, Military, Aerospace and Homeland Security Industries ORLANDO, FL and SAN FRANCISCO, CA– Unity Technologies, provider of the Unity development platform for games and interactive 3D on the web, iOS, Android, consoles and beyond, announced that D2 TEAM-Sim andRead More →

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Press Release: Teleplace to Showcase Immersive Government Collaboration and Training Deployments at I/ITSEC 2010 Conference Attendees Will Learn How Air Force, Army, Navy, vGov Use Teleplace for Virtual Enterprise-Class Training Environments ORLANDO, Fla.–Teleplace, Inc., the leading provider of enterprise-class immersive collaboration and learning solutions, today announced it is exhibiting atRead More →

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Like many aspects of life sciences today, speaker programs are being cut due to budgetary constraints and the tightening regulatory landscape. I read a recent article by Bill Cooney in PharmaExec that highlighted this trend, reporting that speaker program activity is down 30 percent or more at most pharmaceutical companies.Read More →

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Much has been discussed and written about virtual environments achieving levels of immersion and interactivity that rival (and some believe exceed) face-to-face meetings. Much has also been written about increasing the retention of information shared in world. Interacting in a virtual environment But to many, the whys and hows surroundingRead More →

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Much has been said in recent years regarding the benefits and substantial returns an organisation can achieve by integrating an Online 3D Environment into their everyday operations. Indeed, examples and demonstrations of the power and financial savings 3D collaboration can bring to businesses have been researched, developed, trialed and documentedRead More →

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Press Release: Tipodean launches Canvas, a Web-based viewer for Second Life and OpenSim, which is built using Unity 3D Tipodean Technologies is pleased to announce the preview launch of Canvas, a web-based viewer for both Second Life and Opensim. Licensed from IBM, Canvas is unique in that it is highlyRead More →

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It’s easy to get frustrated with the pace of technological change. My wish list of OpenSim features gets longer with every day that I use the platform — but I’ll save it for my Christamas wish list post. Today, I want to express how thankful I am for what hasRead More →

A virtual mine in Second Life is a compelling educational experience. (Image courtesy Sand Castle Studios. )

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Press Release: Using the Virtual World to Explore the Real World Problems of Fossil Fuels Environmental Documentary Deep Down Launches Interactive Virtual Mine in Second Life for Communities and Educators to Take Action in Solving the Power Crisis Virtual worlds can provide a comprehensive environment for education, storytelling, collaboration, andRead More →

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Press Release: Ball State University’s IDIA Lab launches next-generation immersive learning experience on Blue MarsMassive New Site Features Fully Interactive, Detailed Replicas of 1915 Panama- Pacific International Expo, Japanese Temple, Virtual Museum and More MUNCIE, IN and HONOLULU, HI, Nov 23, 2010 — Ball State University’s Institute for Digital IntermediaRead More →

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Press Release: Greenbuild International Conference & Expo CHICAGO — The U.S. Green Building Council Education Department announced an innovative virtual tour of their headquarters. The project is in the final stages of testing and is expected to go live within the next few weeks. The renovation of USGBC’s offices wasRead More →

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We just found out about a wonderful write-up on the real-time animated training video we recently created for the Exergen Corporation.  The magazine, Executive Healthcare Management, is a well respected trade publication for healthcare management professionals and has a two page Q&A spread with Dr. Francesco Pompei, founder and CEORead More →

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The OpenSim economy continued to grow this month, with both the OMC currency and the I’z currency from InWorldz growing in users and transactions. The OMC, a convertible currency from Austrian virtual currency exchange operator Virwox, is now accepted on 18 different grids — AnSky Grid, Avatar Hangout, FrancoGrid, GermanGrid,Read More →

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One of the things every grid owner should be concerned with is the possibility that one of the grid’s users will be using, selling or transferring content that infringes upon another’s copyright. While both technological measures and contractual limitations can be utilized, the fact remains that neither of them  canRead More →

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Press Release: Club One Island opens its doors to the public for access to revolutionary digital weight loss program Island Holiday Party is the healthiest party of the season, and a first in the 3D world SAN FRANCISCO and SECOND LIFE – The holidays just got a whole lot healthier.Read More →

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Press Release: First of Its Kind Event Technology Solution Integrates Physical & Virtual Events CHICAGO — Event organizers can now extend the reach of their physical event to reach online audiences and build online communities easily with an integrated virtual events platform. And event managers can now get a moreRead More →

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Press Release: The Green Book: An Enterprise Guide to Virtual Worlds Guide Lists Over 50 Virtual World Solutions for Businesses and Organizations The Association of Virtual Worlds has just published the first Business Guide to Virtual Worlds listing over 30 virtual world solutions, vendors, or providers, for businesses and organizations.Read More →

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Press Release: ProtonMedia’s ProtoSphere Works with Microsoft Lync Server 2010 ProtoSphere now provides an immersive collaboration layer for Microsoft Corp.’s latest enterprise class unified communications platform LANSDALE, Pa.–Have you heard? Word on the street is that ProtonMedia’s ProtoSphere Lync Edition 2010 now has the best-sounding and most scalable Voice overRead More →

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Press Release: The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds Is Now Available Free from the Association of Virtual Worlds The Association of Virtual Worlds has just released the new edition of  The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds listing over 250 virtual worlds and is pleasedRead More →

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Press Release: Build Your Own Interactive 3D Virtual Environment in Minutes with EON Creator IRVINE, Calif. – EON Reality, the world’s leading interactive 3D software provider, announces EON Creator, a new 3D creation tool used to simplify the implementation of engaging Interactive Virtual Learning Environments (IVLE) for training and educational purposes.  The software in itsRead More →

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Press Release: New venture to deliver decades of applied research and cognitive application development to learning in simulated environments Three firms will combine expertise to deliver highly interactive and responsive 3D virtual reality environments Round Hill, Va. — Cranial Tap, Inc., a leading developer of virtual world solutions, announces aRead More →