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• Whyville.com Kids Eat Healthy or Get Scurvy
  who says avatars don’t eat
  (tags: whyville marketing edutainment virtual avatars)

Consultants McKinsey & Co. have launched a Virtual Venture Competition in the virtual world of Second Life. [Via Sebastian Kupers, who also provided the image above.] The competition is open to students and young professionals no more than 32 years old, and first prize is US$20,000 in training and career counselling. Teams get 45 days to build a business, but there’s no fixed start or end date, you can apparently jump in at any time. Only a limited number of teams will receive initial funding, however. Speaking of funding, McKinsey is so adamant that no outside funding be used that it will be monitoring account balances during the competition (see the FAQ), so if you want to play, you’ll have to roll a new alt for the purpose. I actually think this sounds like a great project; it should attract young people who aren’t necessarily SL residents already, and it’s a nice vote of confidence that SL is a place with real lessons to be learned. The build looks pretty nice too. Check out McKinsey’s »orientation island« and its »Infocenter«.

3pointD’s D-Briefs feature started just about a week ago, and in its second appearance I mused about possibilities for a briefs icon to mark the features. Well, that’s just what I got, from a reader calling himself (or herself) “anonymous.” 3pointD thanks you for your contribution, wherever you are. Herewith the news in brief: 24 hours of live music, plus Intel and Philips in SL. (more…)