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Ever wonder what goes into the creation of an elaborate build in the virtual world of Second Life? You can find out starting Thursday morning, when noted SL builder Versu Richelieu will spend 72 hours building in Second Life while living in a store window on New York’s Fifth Avenue. The event is a marketing effort (dare we say “stunt”?) mounted by Intel to promote their Centrino Duo-based laptop line, on which Versu will be working. No matter how much of a stunt it may be, the idea — dreamed up by virtual world services company Millions of Us — is very cool. Building things is, of course, one of the core activities of Second Life, and watching an elaborate castle, neighborhood or post-modern tower come together is a fascinating thing. Now you can witness the action live in New York, in Second Life, or on the Web. (more…)

We’ve been chatting on the blog here about the idea of a 3pointD meetup in the virtual world of Second Life for some time. Now there’s a date: Sunday, October 22, at 5:00pm SL time. (Location TBD.) What will we be meeting up about? Well, that’s a bit of an open question, but the original idea was to discuss virtual world sustainability and related matters. I’m going to put together a format for the meeting over the next week or so (look for updates here on the blog), but if anyone has any ideas for things to discuss or sessions we could hold, please leave them here in the comments thread. One thing I’d like to do is hold a brainstorming session on metaversal technologies we’d like to see come into Second Life. So that’s two tracks/sessions: sustainability, and wish technologies. Got any more?

If you want to attend the meetup, an RSVP is definitely suggested. Log into Second Life and send an IM to Walker Spaight, or leave a comment below with your Second Life name. See you there!

Check out the latest episode of SecondCast to hear us chat to Aimee Weber about the work she’s doing to bring the United Nations’ campaign against poverty into Second Life. We also cover the news, of course, this time in the company of special guest co-host Chance Takashi, high bidder on a Second Life Herald profile to benefit the American Cancer Society. Chance’s appearance in voice settled a bet that had been going on for some time among residents of the Caledon steampunk sims. Read Chance’s profile for more details.

Mobile telecomms company Vodafone plans to open its own Vodafone Island in the virtual world of Second Life later this year or early next, according to virtual world services company Rivers Run Red, which is building out the project for them. The company is being brought in as part of a campaign designed by ad agency BBH, which Rivers brought to Second Life in September. Vodafone content should start appearing on the Grid in coming months. Besides activities like sports, music, film and events that are planned for Vodafone Island, the company will also try to give SL residents new ways to interact with each other and with the real world. Vodafone will apparently be working up applications that allow instant messaging and/or other forms of communication between SL and other online and mobile locations. While these won’t be the first such apps, they will have the weight and marketing power of a real-world telecomms company behind them. It will be interesting to see whether they gain broader adoption as a result. If they add to the functionality available in-world, so much the better.