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hires
Second Life maker finds second CEO in adland
Linden Lab, which operates the Second Life virtual world, has found a new CEO: Mark Kingdon, the longtime chief of Organic, an online ad agency. A bizarre move for Linden, and seemingly for Kingdon. Sophisticated marketers, having toyed with Second Life, agree that it's a nonstarter as an advertising medium. Linden Lab makes its money from serving as a virtual central bank and a taxing authority. IBM is interested in it largely as a substitute for teleconferencing. Philip Rosedale, the founder and outgoing CEO, is a dreamy technologist, but replacing him with an adman makes no sense. An enterprise-software salesman would have made more sense. More »
politics
Jon Stewart mocks Congress for discussing Second Life
Pictured is a screen capture of the avatars assembled in Second Life forMore »
caption contest
One more reason not to wear your avatar outfit in First Life
At right, Everett Harper, Stanford MBA and director of community initiatives for Second Life operator Linden Lab, models his Carnaval-winning dance outfit. Harper was crowned King Everett this weekend. Suggest a caption in the comments. (Photo by CM C.)
virtual worlds
Are Second Life users on drugs?
As a business, Second Life is a bust. As a technology, the virtual world is a joke. Using snake-oil metaphors to describe it would seem an injustice against toxic cure-alls — were that not Second Life's new marketing peg. The autistic and near-autistic with Asperger's syndrome are flocking to Second Life to learn how to interact with other human beings, CNN reports. This follows Newsweek's discovery last July of Second Life as therapy for the housebound. A suggestion for Benchmark Capital and the other VCs who sank money into this boondoggle: Why not market it as the next Prozac, and sell it to Eli Lilly? That seem easier.
second life
The 5 real blunders of Philip Rosedale's virtual career
Despite a silver-tongued PR team capable of spinning any irrelevant Second Life happening into a New York Times story, former Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale couldn't save himself from the downside of the virtual hype cycle. His "life's work" has become a punchline. Here are the five mistakes that added up to cost Rosedale his job.More »
second life
Linden Lab CEO stepping down
Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale is stepping down as CEO. The Benchmark Capital-backed company is looking for a new chief with more operational and management experience. "This is my life's work. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm still full-time on this, probably for the rest of my life," says Rosedale, shown here as his Second Life alter ego. The story was broken by the Reuters Second Life news center within Second Life. This is likely the only news ever broken by the bureau that you'll care about.
"Second Life is slowing down and taking investors with it." — Blogger Adrian Crook during his "Free to Play" panel at the Game Developer's Conference. He says businesses in the virtual world are being forced to shut down because there isn't the population to support them.
second life
A new IBM TV ad mocks the make-a-wish economics of virtual-world purveyors like Linden Lab. Perhaps Big Blue's ad agency didn't get the memo: In India, IBM is expanding its ranks of Second Life salespeople.
IBM ad mocks IBM strategy
A new IBM TV ad mocks the make-a-wish economics of virtual-world purveyors like Linden Lab. Perhaps Big Blue's ad agency didn't get the memo: In India, IBM is expanding its ranks of Second Life salespeople.
valleywag calendar
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Polish your resume
Tonight's events are great for networkers and job-seeking developers: The San Francisco Business Times is hosting a reception for their 2008 Book of Lists, while Linden Lab (of Second Life fame) is holding a recruiting event at their new Mountain View digs. The Lists party at the Four Seasons in San Francisco is sold out (crash it!), but RSVPs are still available for the Linden Lab event.Got something to add to the calendar? Send it to calendar@valleywag.com.
virtual economy
Second Life's pending crash
Shame on you, Wall Street Journal, for running a front page exposé on the Second Life bank run. Fair enough to report that its banks are collapsing. But mostly, the article will serve to remind Journal readers that second Life is still a going concern. More »
i hate it here
San Francisco is just like Second Life
Gavin Newsom, San Francisco's freshly reelected god-mayor, descended into the bowels of Second Life for a quaint fireside chat with Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab. What lofty matters could a city mayor and the chieftain of a seamy virtual world possibly have to discuss? Why, the parallels between the "two famously diverse and tech-savvy communities with global profiles," of course. As Newsom said during their discourse, "We're all geeks." But the comparisons don't stop there. San Francisco is exactly like Second Life. More »
12:34 PM on Wed Jan 9 2008
By Mary Jane Irwin
2,580 views,
10 comments
Latest by n/a: There is actually a hobo village in SL. Every bit as filthy, just no risk of tetanus. more »
linden lab
Is Philip Rosedale a media vampire?
How else to explain the Linden Lab CEO's waxy complexion? He's the unending leader of an unholy company which laughs at death, and sustains itself through artificial means — PR, that is. To maintain that unhealthy glow, he's preying on unsuspecting technology journalists, sucking out all common sense and journalistic curiosity and turning them into willing propaganda puppets. His silver tongue already scored a succulent piece in the BBC, and now David Kirkpatrick of Fortune has fallen under Rosedale's sway. More »
linden lab
Philip Rosedale, master of damage control
Just when things turn bleak for Second Life maker Linden Lab — CTO Cory Ondrejka recently "left" the company — CEO Philip Rosedale manages to pull a fluff piece out of the BBC. He's previously denied he has anything to do with timing these media wet kisses, but we're skeptical. Perhaps it's his boyish charm and ability to spin numbers — or the fact that these media outlets are easily impressed by the whizzes and bangs of virtual worlds. More »
second life
Linden Lab fires chief technology officer
Looks like all those problems in the big empty known as Second Life — the virtual world's confounding user interface, poor graphics, and high attrition rate — aren't going to get fixed anytime soon. Word comes via tipster that Linden Lab chief technology officer Cory Ondrejka, the dude who ostensibly runs the virtual world's tech, has left over "differences in opinion." The official line from founder and CEO Philip Rosedale states that Ondrejka is leaving at the end of this year "in order to pursue new professional challenges." As Rosedale poetically put it, their paths lie in different directions. Ah, the road not taken — like a path to a meaningful business. Anyone have more deets?
clips
Second Life is already a bottomless vortex for time and money, right? Now, thanks to a security flaw, residents' virtual coinage won't be wasted on clothing and other unreal bric-a-brac. Hackers Charles Miller and Dino Dai Zovi have found a QuickTime exploit which allows them to "pickpocket" unsuspecting avatars. When a resident walks by an infected piece of streaming media, it triggers a website which takes control of the avatar and cleans out its Second Life cash and property accounts.
Second Life flaw allows virtual pickpockets
Second Life is already a bottomless vortex for time and money, right? Now, thanks to a security flaw, residents' virtual coinage won't be wasted on clothing and other unreal bric-a-brac. Hackers Charles Miller and Dino Dai Zovi have found a QuickTime exploit which allows them to "pickpocket" unsuspecting avatars. When a resident walks by an infected piece of streaming media, it triggers a website which takes control of the avatar and cleans out its Second Life cash and property accounts.
nerdspotting
The Lobby's leisurely entrepreneurs
While other startup founders have to stay home and, you know, work, these guys have the time and the spare $3,000 to spend hanging out at a zero-agenda conference in Hawaii. (For the record, we're jealous.) Spotted in Yahoo executive Bradley Horowitz's Flickr stream: Benchmark entrepreneur-in-waiting Nirav Tolia; "stepped-up" LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman; FeedBurner founder Dick Costolo, who's rolling in Googlebucks; Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale; Evan Williams from Twitter; Mashery's Oren Michels; andKevin Rose (and his new haircut) from Digg with Joshua Schachter from the Yahoo-owned Del.icio.us. One question: Is this really Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg? I don't recognize him looking so unnerdly. (Photo by: bradley23)
csi
Remember Second Life, the metaverse that seems to garner more mentions in the press than actual users? Well, CSI: NY treated us all to a lamer version of reality last night, incorporating Linden Lab's lonely virtual world into its plot. What we want to know: Why can't CBS understand that all we want from it is some Jessica Fletcher and a few sunny-skied pharmaceutical commercials?
She's not a cartoon, she's the Paris Hilton of Second Life
Remember Second Life, the metaverse that seems to garner more mentions in the press than actual users? Well, CSI: NY treated us all to a lamer version of reality last night, incorporating Linden Lab's lonely virtual world into its plot. What we want to know: Why can't CBS understand that all we want from it is some Jessica Fletcher and a few sunny-skied pharmaceutical commercials?
