Metaverse One

ExitReality , a London headquartered start-up with offices in Australia and Los Angeles, is another open standards supporter making its entrance into the immersive web targeting social networks. ExitReality is a social media company with an enhanced 3D, multi-user, immersive messaging environment. After signing up for the beta, and installing the player, one enters with an avatar in a 3D plaza at sunset. Carls Jr and Hardees have 3D spaces here, the Match.com ice cream truck (??) is off to the side. Now before I can agree that this is " just another VRML world ", I cant help but think of the player. The ExitReality player displays X3D / VRML and COLLADA content. It supports interactive Flash as a polygon texture. The interface has a stylish look that seems like a mash-up of Vista and Itunes . It allows you to drag/drop assets into any world for personalization with standard editing tools (move, rotate, scale, clone, delete, save). It has a buddy list, chat, and ot...

On June 25, 2008, Dr. Chi Tau Robert Lai , Chief Scientist of China's Cyber Recreational District (CRD) passed away in his sleep at the age of fifty. Robert understood the way the Metaverse would shape our world, blur the line between fantasy and reality, and bring us all closer together. " There is no virtual, just one ." He had the passion for the Metaverse, you could tell within thirty seconds. He was an advocate for the "open" 3D web and showed China's interest in supporting the current standards of web3D. In November 2007, I was among four U.S. speakers invited to China by Robert to speak on "Open Standards, Open Metaverse" at the official launch of the CRD, a part of the ICCIE Summit . As guests to China, we all I got to know our host and new friend well. He was someone who made me feel very welcome in China and I am sorry to know my friend wont see his dream for China first-hand. Greg Howes...

I just finished reading " The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse " by Peter Ludlow and Mark Wallace . The book starts off covering the interactions between Urizenus "Uri" Sklar (Ludlow) and the citizens of the virtual world community of TSO- The Sims Online . Uri, a muckraking journalist, founds the Alphaville Herald, a blog that reports on shady in-world activities and controversial stories. Much of the book takes place in TSO until Uri is banned in late 2003, terms of service violations, for what seemed to be retaliation for critical coverage of EA and its approach to specific in-world issues. Ludlow then journeys to Second Life (SL), changes the name of the blog to the Second Life Herald and hires on Mark Wallace to help run the Herald. Despite the name, the last 1/3 of the book covers his dealings with SL and to this day the blog is still one of the most important sources of news for SL. More than anything, the ...

Let us take time to appreciate the individual pioneers and Sherpas in 3D, gaming, and web3d and all they have done to get these technologies where they are! *CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP As the next gen of developer I salute and support those companies and institutions that have stuck with supporting the collaborative "open" mindset. Their applications and brands echo across many a coast and eyes. Keep making what you do cooler. Hold firm your niche and use your powers for awesome. Help foster more growth in the industry in whatever way you feel for corporate social responsibility. Why not make a learning application and give it to the web, or work with a non-profit to build a 3D web presence? This will only make your echo louder. I sit in the grumbling noise of enlightened to this "new" technology. Immersive Information or " Infomersion " that connects us, directs us, and allows access to a more personalized highly interactive web experience. It will be grea...

Back in November, China officially launched the China Recreation District (CRD). An initiative to create a virtual economy providing infrastructure and platforms through which any business from anywhere can come in "world" and sell their real-world products and services. CRD is a partnership between private industry and the Chinese government operating in an 80-square-kilometer complex in West Beijing that is still under development. This huge facitily houses 200 game and multimedia content producers, incubators, room for virtual worlds partners (China Mobile, Everbright Bank), data centers, entrepreneurship centers, training facilities, in time a real-world amusement park, a game center, and more. I had a chance to interview CRD's Chief Scientist Robert Lai at the Virtual Worlds Expo and Conference 2007 in San Jose,Ca to find out what he thinks about virtual worlds. CRD operates under the "DOTMAN" brand with six virtual spaces: DOTLIFE - provides 3D models and...

Lets time travel back to Oct. 10 2007. Perhaps you remember this headline: IBM and Linden Lab Launch Collaboration to Further Advance the 3D Internet . IBM and LL plan to collaborate on: 1. "Universal" Avatars: Exploring technology and standards for users of the 3D Internet to seamlessly travel between different virtual worlds. Users could maintain the same “avatar” name, appearance and other important attributes (digital assets, identity certificates, and more) for multiple worlds. The adoption of a universal “avatar” and associated services are a possible first step toward the creation of a truly interoperable 3D Internet. 2. Security-rich Transactions: Collaborating on the requirements for standards-based software designed to enable the security-rich exchange of assets in and across virtual worlds. This could allow users to perform purchases or sales with other people in virtual worlds for digital assets including 3D models, music, and media, in an environment with robust ...

Today is a great day to start a blog about the open 3D web and open Metaverse if one had to set a date. What makes today different than any other is that it marks the begining trend of true "open garden" virtual worlds coming into the mainstream market place. By "open gardens" I mean virtual worlds based on open standards. Is this necessary to be a successful platform, well no. Is this necessary for a platform to be a portal into the much bigger 3D web? Well it's a must. Like the World Wide Web, the Metaverse is not going to be just one website, one big company, one virtual world, or one platform. It is going to be as varied in content, context, developer, and platform as the people using it. A convergence of technologies and platforms that work well together without exposing whats under the individual hood. Starting this evolution is Vivaty - a Silicon Valley based company that is exposing the video game and Internet generation to true immersive 3D web. Read m...