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Second Life resident Rik Riel has a good wrap of a press conference today at which the Macarthur Foundation announced “plans to build the emerging field of digital media and learning, committing $50 million over five years to the effort.” Perhaps to show their seriousness, the foundation simulcast the press conference via Second Life. One of the first grants they’ve made is to virtual economist Ted Castronova of the Terra Nova blog (nice going, Ted!), to help fund his creation of Arden, a Shakespearean virtual world in which Ted will be able to conduct economic experiments on the unwitting population. More to follow, so get your grant-writing hat out of the closet and get to work.

There’s a long piece in today’s New York Times about the virtual world of Second Life and the fact that real-world corporations are increasingly making their way there to explore promotional and other possibilities. Not a bad read, though of course it raises the question of how much value we bloggers can add while people like the Times and Reuters (not to mention CNet and Wired News) have their eye so closely on SL these days. Sharpen your keyboards, kids.

Tony Walsh flags an interesting new service called Synthtravels, “The 1st online virutal travel agency.” It’s just what it sounds like, a service that offers guided tours of virtual worlds — rather than just show you some screenshots, you create a character in the world, and Synthtravel’s guides show you around. There are about 20 virtual worlds listed, from Second Life to World of Warcraft to something called ROSE Online, which I’d never heard of before but which seems to be a kind of anime EVE Online or Freelancer, if Freelancer were an MMO. You can also offer your services as a guide. No indication as to whether the tours cost money, but I’d assume they do. Cool service, and just in time to capitalize on the huge influx of visitors that will probably result from the huge outpouring of press from these places recently.