3pointD.com

I’ll be blogging as usual for the next few days, but I’ll be doing it from Berlin, where I’m headed this evening to spread the gospel of 3pointD in the form of a talk on virtual worlds I’m to give to a room full of advertising execs, creative directors and other marketing men and women. (Justin Bovington of Rivers Run Red will be there too, it looks like.) Berlin, of course, has some cool metaversal stuff going on lately, and I’m hoping to make contact with some of the people who are hooking it up. If you’re in Berlin and you want to get a coffee or a drink, drop me a line at themetaverse [at] gmail [dot] com, or SMS me on +1-917-749-6185. (I probably won’t have Twitter going on my mobile, just to save on international charges, which are stiff.) I’ve always wanted to go to Berlin, which first capitivated me something like 20 years ago in the form of a book by the artist Jorg Immendorf (on which the sculpture above is based), accompanied by a remarkable poem by the artist and printmaker A.R. Penck. And to my surprise I’ve just found that you can read the entire book online! It doesn’t have anything to do with 3pointD, of course, but it’s one of my favorite books, so I highly recommend it. See you in Berlin.

This flew by me in the run-up to SXSW, but Matt Mihaly caught it: it’s a new brainwave-based controller intended for use in developing computer games, from a company called Emotiv Systems. What’s interesting about this, and what seems to differentiate it from similar systems that have shown up on 3pointD in the past (but which I can’t find at the moment), is that it apparently tracks three discrete areas of brain activity: facial expressions, emotional states, and conscious thoughts. As Matt notes, it remains to be seen how effective this will be, but it’s an exciting prospect. Looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

The nose knows nothing in virtual worlds, but that hasn’t stopped Calvin Klein from launching a virtual version of their new ck IN2U fragrances for men and women in Second Life, according to a press release. The virtual launch accompanies the real-world launch of the same scents today, March 21. Since avatars can’t smell, the virtual perfume bottles will enable SL users to spray each other with bubbles that “initiate dialogue,” as the release puts it — probably requesting the sprayee to engage in a Calvin Klein animation. There will also be “graffiti bottles” available from the Calvin Klein build, put together by Justin Bovington’s Rivers Run Red on their Avalon island in Second Life, where Calvin Klein is holding a L$1 million photography contest to accompany the launch. Finally, if you’re in the UK you’ll be able to click through to a Web site and order a free sample. (more…)