“Electric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. It’s run by thousands of people all over the world, and can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers “sleep”, the Electric Sheep comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as “sheep”. The result is a collective “android dream”, an homage to Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.”

via samples | electric sheep.

i still dream about her.

which makes me think about her.

and then i dream about her.

and then i think about her.

and i say her name. every morning. as i wake up.

my most formative year was 1999.

the unwavering ideals i live by to this very day were formed late at night during my junior year of high school.

it was dark and silent. everyone was asleep. we were wide awake and alone in my living room. you told me things my young mind couldn’t possibly understand. back then i thought i could grasp what you were talking about. i had no idea what was at stake.

the future you predicted reveals itself more and more with each passing day. it’s frightening.

if there was a time when i needed your help, it’s right now. i know you can’t hear me, but please keep the promise you made to me. and i will do everything in my power keep the one i made to you.

“mission accepted.”

My obsession with www.ravelry.com is growing… I log on to it more than facebook now!  But worryingly I seem to have stumbled across another potentially addictive knitting website – check out www.knitfinder.com and let me know what you think!

Also you should check out a knitting podcast called Electric Sheep.  If you go onto your iTunes store and type it in the search engine you will find it.  It is the one by Hoxton Handmade in London.  More info here: www.hoxtonhandmade.com

While blogging about fabulous knitting sites I should also point out that I have given the iMake website a little facelift too!  We also have some brand spanking new workshops on there so please, if you haven’t just come from it, check out www.imake.gg – thanks

TTFN – I’m back to College tomorrow so no doubt the beautiful weather will start….!  I’ll miss my knitting time….

As much as I don’t condone drug-induced trips, I must admit: they are awfully fun!  I lived out one of my my sci-fi fantasies on Wednesday as I had my wisdom teeth taken out.

The aliens descended upon me with their white latex hands and jammed my mouth open.  They must of had some knowledge of the workings of the human body because they placed an oxygen mask over my nose so that my brain wouldn’t explode from the lack of oxygen in outer space.  The pain was great, but oh so good.  There was a white light behind them as they looked into my mouth, searching for the wisdom that they knew was contained in my back teeth.  It siloueted their heads, elongating their necks and accentuating the enormous size of their heads.  Dark, beady, bi-focal eyes searched my face and I couldn’t help but reach out and touch them.  In a low voice they called my name almost unintelligably.  “Ana….biriririri….don’t.”  I giggled at this creature’s attempt at speaking my language.  There was a tug and blood, and I gave into the temptation to sleep.

I awoke slightly stupid and feeling vastly empty.

If anyone would like to empark on an expedition to recover the wisdom the stole, let me know.  I’m useless without it.

(**note: this will be filed under “electric sheep” because of its similarities to my dreams**)

'Home Sweet Home' Edition of 100 Size: 42cm sq £125 Each

Here is a wicked print being released by Electrik Sheep from artist Seb Lester, this print is called ‘Home Sweet Home’ This limited edition print was made using white ink on Mirri 160 GSM paper. This paper reflects back different colours on different angles. This creates a stunning effect that really elevates the piece. It is 42 x 42 cm in size with an edition of 100 and cost £125 each. The £25 version is an unsigned open edition with carbon black ink on bright white Colorplan 270 GSM smooth paper for £25. Below is a sample of the reflective colors of the Mirri paper. Check it out HERE

Seb Lester 'Home Sweet Home' Reflective Colour Example

I just started reading Boom! Comics adaptation of Phillip K Dick’s classic Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?. I’m a big fan of Blade Runner and I’ve never read the actual story it’s based on, so I figured this might be the best way to do it. I was right, this is a pretty good way of reading through some pretty dense narrative, especially at first about the mood organ dial. There’s a small review/article on the comic here.
What made me really happy was that the backmatter for the first issue is written by one of my favorite comics writers, Warren Ellis. Next issue will have backmatter from a new favorite of mine, Matt Fraction, who is the current writer of Uncanny X-Men and my current favorite, Invincible Iron Man (I’m going to have to write an article on him soon enough).

Besides that, all the other comics I’m reading are Deadpool and Green Lantern: Blackest Night ( I got suckered into the crossover event of the summer, damn it). so far, I’m getting more enjoyment from Mr. Wade Wilson doing his crazy thing. Pick it up if you can.

OK, on to non-comics things:

This is Brian R. Young fellow wrote this cool poem, PHILOSOPHY. Best line:
We’ll Freud like Wilde animals,

Speaking of Freudian things, check out this sex researcher’s list of his ten favorite fetishes. Never will think of peanut butter or ants the same way again. That’s all I’m saying, read the article.

Oh, and in genius creative ideas: Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer.

The other night I had a dream that I was getting dressed for class.  I found a stack of uniforms at the foot of my bed and felt this overwhelming sense of nostalgia overtake me.  I slipped on my loose navy shorts and buckled the worn out belt.  I could feel the cold metal of the buckle against my stomach as I sat on the bed to pull on my shoes.  The clunky brown sketchers slipped onto my feet easily and I didn’t tie them- they had a knot on the inside that I had made my freshman year.  I pulled on my long-sleeved cotton polo with the navy stripe that ran along my chest.  It was soft from all the washes and my fingers fell easily into the holes I had made on the wrists.

I wanted that again.  I haven’t been able to shake off that feeling. 

Last night, I dreamt that I escaped from a cult that was gathered in Tropical Park.  I ran, followed by this black man that transformed into my cousin, Luis.  My chest hurt, but I persisted.  I was bit by a dog, but I punched him out.  Somehow, I was aware of the fact that I could not go home because my house was on fire so we decided to run to Luis’s house, which is only a few block from mine. We get there, tell him mom that we escaped the cult, and I experience this sinking realization that I had forgotten my neice- MY NEICE!  I hopped in my blue Mazda (not quite sure how it got to Luis’s, but w.e) and drove back to the park.  I kill the engine a few blocks form the meeting area and hop out. I stealthily approach the group and catch a glimpse of my brother holding my niece’s hand.  I decide that I’ll tell my brother to make a run for it a few minutes after I leave with my niece- that I’ll meet him at the car.  But at that instant I woke up and never saved either one of them.  

I can’t believe I forgot my neice.  I still can’t shake the feeling.

1968 Philip K. Dick published a science fiction novel called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. The main plot follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter of androids, while the secondary plot follows John Isidore, a man of sub-normal intelligence who befriends some of the androids. The novel set in a post-apocalyptic near future, where the Earth and its populations have been damaged greatly by Nuclear War during World War Terminus. Most types of animals are endangered or extinct due to extreme radiation poisoning from the war. To own an animal is a sign of status, but what is emphasized more is the empathic emotions humans experience towards an animal.

Deckard, the protagonist, is faced with retiring six escaped Nexus-6 model androids, the latest and most advanced model. Because of this task, the novel explores the issue of what it is to be human. Unlike humans, the androids possess no empathic sense. By introducing organic and realistically humanoid androids in this novel, Dick asks what qualities, if any, are unique to or are able to define what is human and makes readers question their own humanity. Some of you might now think of a similar plot found in the movie I, robot. I, robot is a movie that makes androids dream.

Scott Draves, a well known software artist, created an outrageous screen saver run by thousands of people all over the world. When computers normally “sleep”, the screen saver comes on and the computers start to communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as “sheep”. The result is denoted as a collective “android dream”.

Anyone watching one of these computers may vote for their favorite animations using the keyboard. The more popular sheep live longer and reproduce according to a genetic algorithm with mutation and cross-over. Hence the flock evolves to please its global audience. You can also design your own sheep and submit them to the gene pool.

The example above shows a streaming sample in flash, but the software on the PC creates streams using the H264 codec.

The electric sheep screen saver is open source software, licensed under the GPL.  Source Forge hosts the SVN tree with the latest code from all three clients, and compilation instructions are in the wiki. The software can be downloaded here.

i was attending high school in north texas. it was lunchtime. my friends and i were sitting when i suddenly had to go do something. as i worked my way across the quad i saw him. a blonde man with a bit of a hunchback. no one noticed him. and no one noticed the two golden revolvers in his hands. i tried to warn people; they didn’t listen.

he walked up  to a girl in a white shirt and shot her in the back.

people started screaming and scrambling. he shot someone else. and then another. i wanted to get back to my friends, but i ran the other way.

there was a massive search, but he was never found.

Everyone’s all a twitter about Digital Hollywoood.  Watch it live at http://live.scribemedia.org   If you’re in LA, stop by the Loews.  Here are the highlights:

M 5/4  

10-11:15
Money Media Entertainment & Technology 
Seth Shapiro, New Amsterdam Media…

1-2:15
The New Hollywood - Content, Platforms, Agents & Commerce
Carlson Choi, Activision, David Goodrich, Universal McCann…
Hollywood 2.0 Reality Shows
Joerg Bachmeier, Endemol, Alex Barkaloff, Lionsgate, Jesse Csincsak, AB
C’s The Bachelorette
MEF Mobile – Video, Music, Communciations
Tom Conrad, Pandora, Matt Murphy, ESPN, Tom Ellsworth, GoTV, Ted Cohen, TAG Strategic, Dan Schiappa, Microsoft…

 2:30-3:30
 Hollywood Content, Distribution & Advertising
 Lori Schwartz, Interpublic Emerging Media Lab..
 Advertising Next:  Social, TV & Video
 Kirk Cheyfitz, Story Worldwide, Chad Stoller, Organic, Stephen McKenna, HP, Alastair Green, McCann Erickson, Bob Buch, Digg…
Selling Movies, TV and Video on the Web
Ted Hong, Fandango, Michael Siegenthaler, Microsoft…
Personalized Video, Web, Social, Advertising
Kirstin Rolla, AOL TV & Moviefone, Brad Auerbach, HP, Sean Doherty, Channels.com, Nash Parker, Alcatel-Lucent…

3:45-5
Cable TV Broadband – Streams, Platforms, Devices
Ryan O’Hara, TV Guide, Stephen Shelanski, Starz, Steve Stanford, WMA, Rob Hayes, Showtime, Don Steele, MTV…
Advertising Accountability- Metrics and Analytics
Richard Sussman, Nielsen
Celebrity Media
Sybil Goldman, Y!, David McMahon, NBCU, Todd Gold, Fancast, Angie Shelton, Wikia, Alex Ben-Block, The Hollywood Reporter, Ro Choy, Rock You
Personalized Media – Widgets, News, Feeds, Music, Blogs
Richard Jalichandra, Technorati, Dan Hart, MTV Digital..

5-6 Poolside Cocktails

Tu 5/5  

8-9
Breakfast – 21c Consumers
Strategy Analytics
Best of the Streamys
Jamison Tilsner 7 Brady Brim DeForest, The Streamy Awards

9-10:15
Content Labs
David Gale, MTV, Danila Koverman, HBOLab, Alexis Rapo, ABC, John Gilles, Method, Suzanne Stefanac, AFI…
Contextual Media/Advertising
Greg Johnson, WMA, Scott Brown, Nielsen, Jason Witt, MTV, Scott Ferris, Microsoft…
Hollywood Download Shifting Time, Platforms, Space
Evan Young, TiVo, Burce Anderson, Blockbuster OnDemand, Erik Ramberg, Microsoft…
Games Innovation
Bernie Yee, Electric Sheep, Spencer Hunt, Sony, Greg Mills, AOL, Brandon Barber, Zynga, Philip DeBevoise, Machinima.com, Tim Chang, Norwest Venture Partners..
 
10:30-12
Return of the Sponsor – Programming Brand Integration
Josh Bycel, USA Networks, Adam Armus, Heroes..
Hollywood and the Digital Consumer
Eric Berger, Sony, Patrick Barry, Yahoo!, Malik Ducard, Paramount, Cristian Cussen, MySpace, Ira Rubenstein, Marvel..
Video Advertising
Nada Stirratt, MTV, Kevin Yen, YouTube,  Jason Forbes, Time Warner, Mark Marvel, msnbc.com, Rebecca Paoletti, Y!
Media Platforms – Mobile, TV, PC, DVD, Games, Broadband
Derek Kuhn, ALcatel-Lucent, Scott Smyers, Sony, Tom Engdahl, Comcast, Adam Powers, Macrovision
Personalized Mobile Breakthroughs
Brandon Lucas, MySpace, Ajay Luthra, Motorola, Eric ANderson, Handango, Jesse Goranson, Nielsen… 

10:45-12
3D Films and TV
Dale Mayo, Cinedigm, Greg Foster, IMAX, Angela Gyetvan, 3ality…

12-1:15/1:45
WGA Creative:  Digitally Enabled Storytelling
John Hamburg, I Love You Man, Adam Drucker, Amazing Race..
Demos 
Marc Shedroff, Cooliris…
Hollywood Reinvented- Traditional Media Transformed
Mara Winokour, Starz, Richard Titus, BBC… 
Digital Blockbusters
Matt Candler, Paramount, Don Daglow, Stormfront Studios, Riley Russell, Sony… 
Broadband Economy
Josette Bonte, Cisco, Paul Greenberg, TV Guide Online, Martin Green, Meebo… 
Mobile Off Deck Content
Soren Shafft, Fox…

1:15-1:45
Lunch with the Streamys

2-3:15/3:30
Grow Your Audience: Doc Distribution/Marketing
Slava Rubin, IndieGoGo, Steve Savage, New Video, Peter Yared, iWidgets, Rick Allen, SnagFilms
Content & Commerce
Sandy Grunshow, Filmaka, Roy Bank, Merv Griffin, Michael Davies,Lew Henderson, Davie Brown, Embassy Row Who Wants To Be A Millionaire..
TV Ecosystem
Curt Mavis, Lionsgate, Shannon O’Neill, Golf Channel, John Najarian, Comcast…
Next Wave:  Enhanced  Advertising, Brands, Messaging
Joseph Eibert, Universal Studios Home ENtertainment, Barry Frey, Cablevision, …
Mobile TV
Mike Bailey, MediaFLO, Madeline Herdrich, Paramount, Edward Skolarus, News Corp, Jim Eadie, MTV, Jack Hallahan, MobiTV, Katharine Linke, Disney ABC, Frank Chindamo, Fun Little Movies..

2:15-3:30
DRM 101 Content Rights Primer
Richard Berger, Sony, Jim Burger, Dow Lohnes, Ton Kalker, HP..
Virtual Worlds
Steve Hoffman, RocketOn, Sibley Verbeck, Electric Sheep, Joe Hyrkin, Gaia Online, David Christensen, SOE 

3:30-4:45/5
Animation – Zack, Boom, Pow!
Jorge Gutierrez, Nickelodeon, Glasgow Phillips, South Park, Kung Fu Panda …
Entertainment Advertising
Erik Enberg, Goodby Silverstein, Graham Daniels, Addictive TV..
Flat Panel TVs – HD, Downloads, Widgets
Nick Cosley, Sony, Martin Stein, Motorola, Scott Burnett, IBM, Russ Shafer, Y! Connected TV…
Ad Strategy, Expenditure, Analysis – VOD, PVR, Social, Mobile, Broadband
Warren Schlichting, Canoe Ventures, David Zucker, Naked Gun, Airplane! Scary Movie..
The Hollywood Producer – Reinventing the Revenue Streams
George Ruiz, ICM, Stan Rogow, Electric Farm, Kim Evey, The Guild, Zachary Posner, National Lampoon…

 3:50-5
 Everyone Live Stream
 Daniel Graf, Kyte, Perry Wu, BitGravity, James Segill, EdgeCast…

5-6:15
Filmmaking through Social Networking
Robert Bahar, Made in LA, Melissa Fitzgerald, West Wing, Juan Devis, KCET…
Poolside Cocktails

6-7
Keynote with Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia

 7-8
Keynote with Michael Rymer, Battlestar Galatica, interviewed by Seth Shapiro, New Amsterdam Media

9
HBO Screening of Burma VJ
1401 Ocean/Santa Monica Blvd (3 blocks away)

W 5/6

9-10:15
Video Advertising
Jack Rotherdam, Metacafe, Thomas Tafuto, Digitas..
Smart and Connected TV
John Gildred, SyncTV, Tim Twerdahl, Roku, Avner Ronen, boxee, Mark DePietro, Motorola 
Content Rights
Arnaud Robert, Walt Disney, Stuart Rosove, Digimarc, Ann Chaitovitz, Future of Music Coalition, Jim Burger, Dow Lohnes…
Invention of an Industry:  Apps
Jim Louderback, Revision 3, Dale Ty Roberts, Gracenote, Francisco Varela, YouTube

10:45-12
TV Content, Interactivity, Commerce
Tara Maitra, TiVo, Phil Wiser, Sezmi, Mitch Berman, ZillionTV, Tracy Geist, OpenTV, Vic Odryna, ZeeVee, Greg Gudorf, Digeo..
Piracy
Jim Williams, MPAA, Paul Jessop, RIAA, Albhy Galuten, Sony, Jason Oxman, CEA, Daivd Mathias, Deloitte
Music 2.0
Vita Iala, Ticketmaster, Daivd Marcus, Warner Bros Records, Matt Nelson, The Nelsons… 

12:30-1:45+
Korea IPTV
John Ham, Ustream.tv, Emma Brackett, ATT Uverse..
Branded Media Marketing
Simon Kelly, Story Worldwide..
TV Commerce
Matt O’Rourke, McCann Erickson, Jen Robertson, WEtv, Will Richmond, VideoNuze, John Zahner, PermissionTV
Content Rights
Shawn Ambwani, InterTrust
Music Power Shift – Artist, Label, Technology
Michael Spiegelmann, Y! Music, Ali Partovi, iLike, Kevin Arnold, IODA, Ronald Safran, KPMG ICE..

2:15-3:30
Consumer Reach
Lon Otremba, 360 Media, Joy Marcus, DailyMotion, Mark Rotblat, TubeMogul, Eric Elia, Brightcove
Venture Funding
Jon Chait, Dace Ventures, Matt Turck, Bloomberg VEntures, Richard Wolpert, Mall Room Fund, Richard de Silva, Highland Capital Partners, Yair Landau, Jerusalem Venture Partners…
Creating a Viable Electronic Sell-Through Marketplace
Mitch Singer, DECE, Derek Bores, Paramount, Jeff Lawrence, Intel, Mark Coblitz, Comcast, Kevin Morrow, Samsung, David Ring, UMG…
Music Industry Morphs
John Loken, BPM (brands+music), Dave Ullmer, Motorola, Ted Cohen, TAG Strategic

3:50-5
Mobile Video
Bettina Sherick, Fox…
TV Commerce
Robert Quicksilver, TidalTV…
Monetizing Digital Content
Craig Peters, Getty Images, Mike More, Nabbr, Tom Gorke, MTV
iPhone Apps
Walker Fenton, NewsGator, Brad Pelo, i.TV, Danny Passman, Joost, Wendy Feldman, Sony, Michele Edelman, Warner Digital, Steve Polsky, Flixster..

5-6 Poolside Cocktails

Th 5/7

9:30-10:45
Personalized Media:  Mini Apps
Allen Billings, MobiTV…
Social Advergaming
Ranah Edelin, Raptr, Rajat Paharia, Bunchball, Robert Norton, King.com..
Content Delivery
Shalini Govil-Pai, YouTube, Jason Henderson, Verizon Games, …

11-12:20
Casual Gaming
Matt Lizst, Glu, Spencer Hunt, Sony…
Advertising Innovation
Shane Ginsberg, Organic..
All-Video
Diaz Nesamoney, Jivox, Bud Rosenthal, TurnHere..
Broadband Platform
Allen Duan, MTV, JT Klepp, Storyz…

12:50-2
Marketing Hollywood – Cross-Platform Branding, Live Events, Enhanced Media
Julian Aldridge, Freestyle Interactive…
Social Media
William Alena, MyYearbook..

2:15-3:30
Episodic Programming
Allen DeBevoise, Machinima.com, Tony Valenzuela, EQAL..

Stack Magazines is  a new service that delivers a series of specialist indpendent titles direct to your door. All you have to do is pick the subscription you want and leave the rest up to them. They’ve got a great list of magzines and the beauty of it is that you never know what you’re going to get through the door. Physical mags are a dying breed however, and one of their titles ‘Electric Sheep’ has already gone digital…

In the second part of our series which looks at alternative revenue streams for publishers, this post focuses on the potential of ecommerce and market places.

Last week, I caught up with Steve Watson who recently launched Stack Magazines.

Stack it up

Stack Magazines is a new venture which according to its website, brings together the world’s best independent magazines.

And it’s an interesting concept.

I recently signed up to try the service. I paid £18 upfront which entitles me to six magazines posted to my door.

A route to market

The concept is similar to LOVEFiLM, just the magazine equivalent.

Although Stack is still in its infancy (it was launched in December 2008), this model of delivery has potential.

For publishers, it is providing them with a route to market and for consumers, a new channel to find and subscribe to premium independent titles.

Profiling the customer and reader

I received my first title last week, Electric Sheep. Although I enjoy film, it had some appeal though in the future I’d like to receive an independent title which is even more relevant to my interests.

And this is the opportunity for a business like Stack; profiling your customers according to the magazines they want to receive.

In the future, I’d like to be able to tick certain interest areas and receive magazines relevant to this. For example sport and music.

For the paying advertiser, we can go one step further in the data capture process.

What niche is the reader interested in? Is it music and if so what area? Is it sound systems or is it independent music artists?

This kind of intelligence builds real value for the advertiser and it can be charged at a premium.

Stacks of potential

The priority for Stack this year is to build its subscriber base and prove the concept which we feel is spot on.

I’m looking forward to receiving my next magazine and it’s worth checking out.

Let us know your thoughts when you try it out.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Stack: A lifeline for those niche indie magazines (guardian.co.uk)
• 5 small ideas for music related startups (ac-idealog.blogspot.com)
• As Blender magazine shuts down, are lifestyle magazines on the way out? (dailyfinance.com)

it’s been weeks since i’ve seen her. she was here again last night.

she’s intoxicating. i’m happy. and i laugh. but sometimes she’s too much, and i get dizzy. but i never swear off of her completely.

She knew my name and called it as she walked up the path. I didn’t know hers.  Her eyes were green. Her skin, fair. Her hair straight and brown.

From afar it must have looked violent;  it wasn’t. Grabbing shirts. Gasping.  She told me to lick her. I did.

I’ve been dreaming more than normal; I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m just remembering more.

What is the aquivalent to real live running in a virtual world?
How does Hazlo get the very specific void you may have experienced?
Is it SIM-hopping?
No – not a serious alternative.
I am not sure if Hazlo ever will find out….

Communiqué de presse

L’acquisition stratégique de ces plateformes de commerce en ligne permet à Second Life d’intégrer le e-commerce à son monde virtuel Second Life

Paris, le 21 janvier 2009 – Linden Lab®, créateur du monde virtuel Second Life®, annonce aujourd’hui un événement clé dans l’expansion de sa plateforme Second Life : l’acquisition de deux sites de e-commerce de biens virtuels, Xstreet SL et OnRez. Ces acquisitions viennent à la suite de plusieurs autres initiatives stratégiques telles que l’amélioration de l’expérience du nouvel utilisateur sur Second Life. Ces initiatives permettront à Linden Lab d’ouvrir le monde virtuel à une audience plus large en 2009. Linden Lab a décidé de regrouper les deux plateformes de e-commerce sur la plateforme de Xstreet SL, offrant ainsi un seul site d’achat en ligne pour les clients et les webmarchands. Cette nouvelle plateforme permettra aux résidents de Second Life de trouver plus facilement les biens virtuels qu’ils souhaitent acheter. Quant aux vendeurs, ils auront davantage de canaux de distribution à leur disposition pour vendre leurs produits.

Le marché global de biens virtuels génère approximativement 1,5 milliards de dollars par an* et Second Life joue un rôle significatif sur ce marché. En 2008, les résidents de Second Life ont acheté et vendu pour plus de 360 millions de dollars de biens ou services virtuels. Le commerce de biens virtuels est devenu un des aspects de l’expérience Second Life les plus attirants et populaires. L’acquisition de ces sites de e-commerce permettra à l’économie de Second Life de continuer à se développer, notamment en rendant les transactions de biens et de services en ligne encore plus simples pour les acheteurs et les vendeurs.

Xstreet SL est un site de e-commerce similaire à Amazon ou eBay. Il procure un catalogue en ligne que les résidents de Second Life peuvent utiliser pour rechercher, acheter ou vendre des produits ou services virtuels en rapport avec Second Life. Tout comme les sites de e-commerce qui sont un moyen complémentaire de faire des achats dans la vie réelle, Xstreet SL propose de compléter l’expérience d’achat des résidents de Second Life avec la visite de boutiques en 3D, de magasins ou de centres commerciaux leur permettant d’acheter des biens et des services créés par les résidents eux mêmes. Linden Lab intègrera Xstreet SL à Second Life de façon à rendre plus accessibles sur le web les biens virtuels pour les consommateurs. Le lancement de cette expérience de e-commerce incitera les résidents de Second Life à aller dans le monde virtuel pour collecter et utiliser les biens achetés en ligne, offrant ainsi aux webmarchands la possibilité d’aller plus loin dans la promotion de leurs magasins virtuels. Enfin, les webmarchands bénéficieront davantage d’options pour commercialiser plus de 680,000 produits Second Life actuellement mis en vente en ligne, incluant des vêtements, des animations, des véhicules, des bâtiments et des meubles.

« Second Life étend son empreinte dans l’industrie des mondes virtuels à travers quatre initiatives majeures : la localisation de l’expérience Second Life dans tous les marchés clés, la simplification de la ‘première heure d’utilisation’ pour retenir plus d’utilisateurs,, le lancement d’une plateforme dédiée aux entreprises et la construction de notre marché de biens virtuels », déclare à cette occasion Mark Kingdon, CEO de Linden Lab. « Les créateurs de contenu et les webmarchands sont les piliers de l’économie de Second Life. Avec ces acquisitions, nous seront maintenant capables de leur offrir l’opportunité de booster de façon substantielle leurs affaires, tout en améliorant l’expérience Second Life pour tous les résidents. »

« L’économie ‘inworld’ vibrante fait partie de ce qui rend Second Life une expérience aussi attractive pour les résidents », déclare Jay Geeseman, fondateur de Xstreet SL. « De même que le e-commerce améliore l’expérience des acheteurs pour les biens réels, il peut également le faire pour les biens virtuels. Grace à l’intégration de la plateforme de commerce Xstreet SL à Second Life, les résidents auront la possibilité de trouver des biens plus facilement et feront leurs achats en toute simplicité, tandis que les webmarchands profiteront de canaux de distributions plus larges pour la vente de leurs créations. »

Dans un futur immédiat, Xstreet SL continuera de fonctionner tel quel et ne connaitra que peu de changements. OnRez restera actif quelques semaines afin de donner aux consommateurs et aux webmarchands la possibilité de faire migrer leur compte et leur inventaire sur Xstreet SL. Plus d’informations sur la transition et les plans futurs de développement de Xstreet SL sont disponibles au lien suivant : http://xstreet.secondlife.com

Pour plus d’informations sur les initiatives stratégiques de Linden Lab, incluant ces acquisitions, n’hésitez pas à vous rendre sur le blog officiel de Second Life : http://blog.secondlife.com/

* Source: New York Times, 7 décembre 2008

À propos de Second Life et de Linden Lab
Second Life est un monde virtuel en 3D habité par un nombre croissant de Résidents répartis dans une centaine de pays à travers le monde. Dans Second Life, les Résidents créent eux-mêmes leur propre monde constitué de maisons, de voitures, de discothèques, de magasins, ou encore de paysages.

Second Life Grid est une plateforme de développement élaborée. Elle a été créée par Linden Lab, société fondée en 1999 par Philip Rosedale, afin de proposer une forme unique d’échanges en 3D. En mai 2008, Mark Kingdon, ancien CEO de Organic Inc, a été nommé CEO de Linden Lab, aux côtés de Philip Rosedale, désormais Chairman of the Board. Mitch Kapor, pionnier du marché du logiciel et fondateur de Lotus Development Corporation, est également membre du Board. Basée à San Francisco, Linden Lab emploie une équipe expérimentée qui bénéficie d’une expertise confirmée en physique, en graphisme 3D et en problématiques réseaux. Second Life® et Linden Lab® sont des marques déposées de Linden Research, Inc.

Contacts presse :
LEWIS pour Linden Lab
Elodie Lefeuvre – elodiel@lewispr.com
Anne Taudin – annet@lewispr.com
Tel : 01 55 31 98 04

XStreet SL and OnRez to Join Linden Lab!

It was forty years ago now when author Phillip K. Dick first posed the provocative question “Do androids dream of electric sheep?” We all know how Ridley Scott answered the question.

But it turns out the prescient master of science fiction still inspires and challenges. In 1999, Scott Draves invented a free, open-source screensaver called Electric Sheep that allows a network of users’ machines to communicate with each other via the internet to collaboratively weave together morphing abstract animations known as “sheep.”

Not satisfied with simply facilitating the dream-time communication of computers, Draves set to work on a “painting that evolves” entitled Dreams in High Fidelity. This limited edition computer installation that is self-sustaining and self-renewing based on the network of computers that feed “sheep” into the project. Dreams in High Fidelity can be seen at Google Headquarters, and it’s also cataloged as a part of MoMA’s Design and the Elastic Mind website, which in itself is a mind-blower of a site, check it out ASAP.

Draves told MoMA: “The goal of the project is to create a self-supporting, network-resident life form: to make the soul of the machine visible.” Who says computers can’t dream?

Moving Pictures is an occasional series on the far reaches of film as art:

[Moving Pictures: Attaining Underground Momentum with Bill Brand's Masstrasiscope]
[Moving Pictures: Two recent projects grapple with the Internet’s impact on storytelling]

Suite à quelques échanges entre bloggers sur l’intervention au Web08 de Susan Wu, j’ai décidé de donner mon petit point de vue qui n’a pas beaucoup de valeur mais qui est le mien J.

Tout d’abord, concernant le Web08, ce type de conférence avec des speakers de hauts vols limités par des interventions de 10 minutes ou en débats ne m’apporte généralement pas grand chose. Cependant même s’il y a eu apparemment des loupés, l’organisation d’un tel rassemblement à Paris reste une réussite en terme d’audience et de notoriété. Donc si Loïc Lemeur en agace plus d’un, son dynamisme apporte quand même de bonnes choses à l’ensemble des acteurs numériques en mettant la France sur la map des grandes confs. En plus, j’ai un bon sentiment concernant l’attitude générale de Monsieur lemeur ayant travaillé en partenariat avec ce garçon sur le lancement d’un service de blog pour un éditeur. Par contre, la place occupée par les mondes virtuels lors de cette conférence me paraît assez légère. Suivant  l’actualité et les acteurs des mondes virtuels et autres réseaux sociaux, j’avais il y a un bout de temps proposé ici un lien vers une conférence dédiée et organisée à ce titre par Susan wu). Notre ami Susan est un VC (venture Capitalist), c’est à dire un investisseur et non un praticien ou quelqu’un travaillant pour une société générant déjà des revenus ou des transactions conséquentes via une plate-forme identifiée.

A sa décharge notre pauvre amie doit expliquer plusieurs concepts encore flous pour l’audience en 10 minutes. Le thème est  “Virtual Goods make REAL money” et la première question participative « combien d’entre vous commercialisent des services de contenus, combien d’entre vous commercialisent des biens virtuels » paraît un peu naïve et le résultat évident. Elle va donc en principe s’employer à expliquer l’intérêt de ce type de monétisation ou d’usage (slide : Why would people spend hard earned cash on “objects” that have no tangible substance ?).

En ce qui me concerne je ne partage pas son défilé de présentation car le but originel est de donner une image du marché des biens virtuels et de sa viabilité en terme de revenues. Or le speaker part très vite dans l’approximatif et le conceptuel. Face à des dirigeant ou décideurs et venant d’un VC, j’aurais préféré un slide sur le nombre d’utilisateurs de mondes virtuels, MMORPG (état du marché et évolution), une explication sommaire de mondes virtuels et applicatifs dérivés , la part des investissements consacrés aux sociétés du secteur, le montant globale des transactions générés par l’achat ou l’échange de biens virtuels et deux trois exemples de sociétés prouvant l’efficacité en terme de monétisation. En gros un slide impactant et accrocheur.

Exemple

Exemple de chiffres 2007 de société prouvant l’efficacité en terme de monétisation:

Création de 206 Millions de virtual pets (Neopet)

Plus de 100 Millions de membres pour Habbo hotel dont 90 % de leurs 60 millions de revenues annuels proviennent de la vente de biens virtuels.

Tencent operateur Chinois génére plus de 100 millions de dollars au premier trimestre 2007 dont 65 % proviennent de ventes et de services de biens virtuels.

Nexon génére 195 millions de dollars de revenues sur la base de vente de biens virtuels.

Le poids des transactions inworld de Second Life ( 60 millions de ventes d’objets par mois) et ses marketplace (ex Xstreetsl, Onrez)

…

Hélas on part dans une explication du coté intangible de la chose qui peut être évoquée oralement en 5 secondes en première question participative.( cf : la montre par Bill Gurley).

L’application Superpoke de Slide est mis en exergue mais connaît on le nombre d’utilisateurs passant en mode payant ? Quelles sont les revenues ? sinon quelle différence pour l’auditeur avec un système d’envoi d’e-card de 1999 ?

J’aurais préféré un slide focus sur Habbo hotel entant que plate-forme dont l’actualité (instauration de monnaie virtuelle, principe de reprise et d’échange d’objets…) en ce domaine est riche et le modèle prouvé. Un autre sur les spécificités de développement de branding de marque ou d’individus via les objets crées dans Second Life qui est encore et toujours le plus vaste laboratoire in vivo en terme d’expériences diverses pouvant être étudiées sur ce point. (notion de freebie, mode de viralité, appartenance et réseaux (j’achete parce que je te connais ou t’apprécie), marketplace, personnes vivant de cette activité (ex : gagner sa vie en étant jardinier dans second life : Lillith Heart ), goodies de marques, notion de droits de proprietés et cession de droits, pricing, objet identitaire et revendicatif (associations)…)

Un slide sur l’interconnectivités des reseaux et mondes virtuels (vendre sur plusieurs plate-forme)

Un arrêt sur image par exemple sur une société commercialisant les droits de personnalités ou la notion de vente d’art virtuel et donc l’évolution en cours (Virtual Great)

Et finalement un lien vers 5 heures de conférences en ligne sur le sujet avec des case study.

Au sujet de la petite polémique « apologie du goldfarming » :

La jeune Marjorie fait comme son mentor, une accroche dans le titre qui amènera de la réactions et de la popularité et ça marche cependant je reste sur le fait que la présentation un peu bancale de Susan wu est l’essentiel du problème et que les allusions au goldfarming est un exemple de la confusion et du manque d’efficacité de sa présentation. Après, cette notion d’industrialisation à bas coût a toute sa place au cours d’une intervention plus longue car divers exemples existent et vont perdurer de façon inéluctable.

5 heures de conférences en ligne sur le sujet avec des case study