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Use code MWVIP to get $200 off an all-access pass to Engage! Expo, happening September 23-24 at the San Jose Convention Center. Looks like a nice line-up, including:

* New keynotes include: Jeremy Liew, Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Mark Pincus, Founder and CEO, Zynga.
* 125 speakers covering the subjects of virtual goods, social media, digital law and 3D learning.
* Best Buy’s innovative social media strategy keynote: With Best Buy’s Gina Debogovich and Jason Parker.
* Super Social media case studies from leading brands: Walmart, Best Buy, Intel, H&R Block, and Kodak
* Virtual goods case studies from Playdom, Six Degrees Games, MyYearbook. Plus hear from Habbo, Zynga, Social Gaming Network, Playfish and more.
* The venture capital point of view: Hear from Lightspeed, Rustic Canyon Partners, SVB Capital and Venture Capital-Private Equity Roundtable
* Get the latest market research from from Strategy Analytics, Interpret, Pearl Research, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, VGMarket and ThinkBalm
* Get your hands dirty on the expo floor with demos of the top new technologies.
* Understand the critical legal ramifications pertaining to games, social media and virtual goods
* Learn how to use the latest 3D technologies within your enterprise to save money now.

If you’re planning on heading to New York for the Engage! Expo (formerly the Virtual Worlds Conference) on March 10-11 — as I am — you can still get an early-registration discount today. (Prices go up tomorrow.) My co-conspirator Jerry Paffendorf will be jowboning there, and it looks like I’ll be moderating a panel as well. The conference has undergone a name change, but it’s still one of the most interesting gatherings of metaverse-related personages going. Join us.

(And don’t be surprised if you see more 3pointD posts here in the near future. I know, it’s been a while and there’s a lot of cleanup to do, but I think things may be picking up speed, if not here then in a related location. Stay tuned.)

• ABC News - bush speech re: financial crisis (video)
  pretty good overview from dr president
  (tags: bush speech)

• Press Briefing Archives
  White House Press Briefings archive
  (tags: usa reference politics news media journalism government whitehouse)

• A $3 Million Round And A New CEO For Outside.in
  soo bullish on outside.in
  (tags: outside.in local blog)

• Cellphones - Third World and Developing Nations - Poverty - Technology - New York Times
  cellphone network licenses are the new land leases - “there will be cell towers!”
  (tags: mobile phones nyt nokia)
• django-mmo - Google Code
  drool
  (tags: business demo game google django gne mmo)

I’ll be out in California for a few days in mid-February, mostly for the Metaverse U. event that’s being held at Stanford. This is a spin-off or evolution of the State of Play conferences that originated at New York Law School, I believe. Should be some very interesting brains there, all trained on virtual worlds and what goes on within them. Details after the jump. Official announcement below:

ANNOUNCEMENT: Metaverse U Conference at Stanford University

* WHERE: Annenberg Auditorium, Stanford University
* WHEN: Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th of February 2008
* WEBSITE: http://metaverseu.stanford.edu More »

• Japanese Bug Fights .com
  yessss
  (tags: fight fun funny tokyo video)

• All We Are Saying - New York Times
  2007 - crowdsourcing your lifestream bacn by making it rain on lolcats ftw
  (tags: crowdsource lifestream bacn rain lolcat ftw)

• David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music
  Wired Magazine article
  (tags: art business byrne radiohead community culture economics music)

Edward Castronova’s MMO, Arden, is being released today. It’s available to play, download, and modify as you wish.

His new book, Exodus to the Virtual World, is also now available. I’ve been flipping through a copy, and it looks pretty interesting. Whether or not you agree with the thesis — that game mechanics are going to increasingly influence real-world governance and society — there’s a lot of fascinating research packed into its pages.

Arden is made possible through the generosity of the MacArthur Foundation. Read more on both at Terra Nova.

Mike Liebhold was one of the participants at the original Metaverse Roadmap Summit last year, which produced the Metaverse Roadmap Overview, and I remember him as one of the more forward-thinking and impressive presenters. Now, he’s presenting tomorrow at the first Metaverse Meetup at Stanford University, talking about “3D data for real world virtual worlds.” Definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area — and you can also attend via the virtual world of Second Life Details below, from organizer Henrik Bennetsen: More »

To add to the fun we had at our book party this weekend, Daniel Terdiman is throwing a party of his own, to celebrate the publication of his own book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Second Life. If you’re around San Francisco this Wednesday (Nov. 7), crash the party at the CNET offices, where Dan works, pick up a copy of the book, and check out all you ever wanted to know about making money in the metaverse. Rather than the usual thin gloss on selling prim skirts, the book actually takes a deep dive into the process of building and running a business in the virtual world of Second Life, covering everything from laying foundations and writing a business plan, to entering the fashion world, the real estate business, the virtual construction trade, the “adult” industry and even running a business on SL’s teen grid. I know Dan worked his ass off on this one, and it shows. Check it out for yourself and let me know if you agree.

• FTC Office of Public Affairs - News Room
  video of FTC’s Behavioral Advertising Townhall
  (tags: advertising marketing media privacy)

• Futuristic Play by Andrew Chen: Technology always changes, but people always stay the same
  never put your hand in an old machine’s mouth. no matter what it’s relative value might be
  (tags: emotions games human behavior)

It seems like forever since we first started working on it, but at last our book about the Second Life Herald — and about the metaverse in general — is being published (in a matter of days), and we’re planning a party to celebrate the fact. In case you missed it, I’ve written a book with philosophy professor and Herald founder Peter Ludlow. It features a colorful cast of virtual characters from places like Second Life, The Sims Online, World of Warcraft, EVE Online and various other places, as well as numerous flesh-and-blood people. Titled The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid That Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse, the book not only chronicles the rise of the virtual world’s first and favorite tabloid, but looks as well at the increasingly important role that virtual spaces play in our everyday lives, and articulates the issues we’ll be facing as the societies now emerging in the metaverse grow in reach and influence.

It should be in bookstores momentarily, and you can already buy the thing online, but maybe the most fun way to acquire a copy would be to buy one at the party we’re having in Brooklyn on November 3. More »

Millions of Us, led by Reuben Steiger, has drawn an investment from global advertising and marketing agency Omnicom. Press release below. 3pointD hears the investment values MoU at quite a healthy number. More »

• The Fakebook Generation - New York Times
  “every Facebook act is a soliloquy to our anonymous audience.”
  (tags: facebook internet)

That’s Ludlow as in Peter Ludlow, who founded the Second Life Herald, and Wallace as in myself, who occasionally does some work over there. We’re interviewed on Episode #2 of the MIT Press podcast, which you can listen to via this link. (You have to listen through some advertisements for the podcast itself at the beginning, for some reason.) MIT, of course, is who’s publishing our book, The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid That Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse, which is due out any minute now — or anyway, at the end of the month. We talk about Second Life, of course, issues of governance in the metaverse, the future of metaversal technologies, and a few other things. I think we were spared any annoying furry sex questions in this one, which was nice. Check it out.

• NAVTEQ: Home
  the map the world turns to for directoin
  (tags: data google gps map maps software)

I’m off Monday for the Virtual Worlds 2007 conference in San Jose next week (online registration ends tomorrow! see below), where I’ll be moderating what should be a very cool roundtable on the future of virtual world platforms. We go on Thursday at 11am, on the strategy track, with a very flattering title: Visionary Panel: Where the Platforms Are Going Next. The panel features Christopher Klaus, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kaneva; Raph Koster, President, Areae, Inc.; Michael Wilson, CEO, Makena Technologies; Hui Xu, Founder & CEO, HiPiHi Co., Ltd; Stephen Lawler, General Manager of Virtual Earth, Microsoft; and Corey Bridges, Co-founder, Executive Producer, & Marketing Director, The Multiverse Network. Should be some pretty fascinating talk flying around about what’s going to happen in the near and far terms, and where all of the things these people and others are working on are headed.

As noted, online registration for the conference (of which 3pointD is a media sponsor) ends tomorrow, Friday, October 5. The online reg price is only $795. After Friday, you’ll be able to register onsite at the show beginning 7:30am, Wednesday, October 10, for $995. Reg now and save your cash for drinks with Corey!

• http://www.thuletrail.com
  slacker Oregon trail
  (tags: advergame flash free game retro)
• Amie St Facebook App for Your Fantasy Record Label
  not really a “fantasy” record label
  (tags: amie st facebook fantasy music label)

Turner Broadcasting System has signed a one-year deal to use Kaneva to build out virtual-world extensions of its entertainment properties, according to a press release. “The agreement will grant Turner access to Kaneva’s technology and tools to create and use Web communities and Virtual Spaces on the Kaneva Web site and in the virtual world of Kaneva. Each Turner Web Community and corresponding Virtual World space inside Kaneva will be enabled with embedded video players for video streaming of select Turner network content. One of the foregoing Turner Virtual Spaces will be an external space that will link to the other Turner Virtual Spaces, as well as other areas within Kaneva’s Virtual World.”

It’s interesting to see a year-long deal being signed in this way. I’m not sure that’s been done before. Most of the projects we’ve seen so far has been one-offs, or involve the purchase and/or licensing of software.

Full release below: More »

• Defrag:\ Agenda
  …the first conference focused solely on the internet-based tools that transform loads of information into layers of knowledge, and accelerate the “aha” moment…
  (tags: conference)

Michael Arrington is reporting that the AOL Games Group may be getting ready to launch a social network for World of Warcraft players, since the company owns wow.com. Could AOL’s reach make wow.com a category-killer? Sean Fanning’s Rupture, another WoW socnet, hasn’t particularly taken off, as I understand it. New entrants to virtual world social networking include Koinup as well. More on the subsector at GigaOm.

• Carnegie Mellon Libraries:Library Arcade
  “i’ll get it” is a great educational library/time management game
  (tags: game video)

• Gametrailers.com - Eye of Judgment - Setup, Tutorial and Battle Gameplay
  preview of Eye of Judgment, one of the PS3’s first titles utilizing the Playstation Eye camera peripheral.
  (tags: ps3 game camera)
• Twitter Blog: Tracking Twitter
  twitter tag tracking
  (tags: twitter tag tracking mobile privacy social status)

• Xobni - Email organization, search, and navigation for your Outlook inbox
  its inbox backwards
  (tags: apps design email free information management)

• Brooklyn Daily Eagle :: Brooklyn SPACE
  From Madison Avenue to Flatbush Avenue?
  (tags: advertising school brooklyn)

Is Google building a Second Life-like virtual world? Google-watching blog Google Operating System thinks they might be, given that Arizona State University students will have the opportunity to test a new product that sounds very virtual worldy and that also sounds like it will require a Gmail account. Apparently to be “publicly launched later this year,” the product is developed by “a major Internet company” and, says Google Op, “there are hints that the application is related to social networking, 3D modeling and video games.” Want to know for sure? Enroll at ASU. That’s the only way to get in. You know Michael Arrington (from whom I first read this) has his spies crawling the campus already.

• The Piracy Paradox: Financial Page: The New Yorker
  The fashion industry is not alone in its surprising mixture of weak intellectual-property laws and strong innovation
  (tags: brand capitalism community consumerism copyright culture design economics)

Despite the cancellation of at least 2 virtual worlds conferences in Germany this year, it seems there is still optimism among event organisers. I recently received a notification about Metaverse Summit 2007, to be held at the Estrel Convention Center in Berlin, on 6th and 7th, December. The notification, from Helmut Reul, the organiser, reads:

The Metaverse Summit is a two day conference focused on the emerging Metaverse and 3D-Web. One purposes of the summit is to bring together business leaders, venture capitalists, technologists, and industry participants to spend the two days discussing the present and future of the Internet. Estimated attendees, speakers, moderators are up to 500 from all over the world.

The recently published Metaverse Roadmap Overview looks at four key elements of the Metaverse future. According to this evaluation tracks of the summit are the four key elements:
+ Virtual Worlds
+ Mirror Worlds
+ Augmented Reality
+ Lifelogging

As with other events of this type, vendor space will be provided in which companies can promotes their various wares.

If you want to know more, or participate as speaker or sponsor, then head on over to their website.

[UPDATE: As Bridget points out in the comments below, the summit is not associated with the original Metaverse Roadmap Summit. The Berlin summit lists some findings from that meeting, and gives them proper credit, but the two are not associated.]