First, they have paid me nothing for this exposure. I just thought it was worth writing about for our readers in that it is the first I have seen a virtual world tool used in this way, and with the cleverness they have included. They have built an inventory of rooms that you can assemble to meet in. Each one with a different type of usage, a few for just visiting between avatars, a few more for meetings, and some for idea sharing with presentation spaces on the wall. If you have your video turned on, you can either see a video window with other participants, or you can have the video delivered as the head of your avatar. So if you space things right, you real head fits nicely on the Gumby like avatar. Or, you can just create an avatar like any other virtual space.

The sound is spatially accurate so as someone moves around, the sound changes locations in your headphone. This is a bit freaky at times as an avatar will move away from you while talking and you actually hear them change to a different side of your head, and then the sound becomes more distant as they move further away. You can set the avatars to walk together in case you are moving through the office and want to walk with a co-worker. When you want to show someone a video or graphic, you can just throw it on the wall or floor and view it. If you want to collaborate on a document, you just drag the document onto a workspace on the wall and you can take turns editing things.

If you cannot be at the meeting online, someone can record the entire meeting as a video file and you can view it later. Just to get an idea of the visual, take a look at the graphic below. As I mentioned earlier, it is immediately apparent that this type of application improves on both Second Life, and video conferencing as a method for allowing virtual teams to get together online. Now, just so you know I am not doing an infomercial, there are still a number of areas where they can improve the system. The bandwidth constraints make it difficult to work with some video files, and the more people that attend a meeting, the more strain you will put on the bandwidth and processing capabilities of the application. The standard Gumby avatars could be dramatically improved in the graphical look. And they could provide some improved capabilities around facilitating the actual meeting process. With all of that said, take a look at a demo if you get a chance and see what you think.

By the way, the cool social media Website of the week is www.namechk.com. Use it to see if your username is available on all the top Web 2.0 sites.

Scott Klososky
Scott@klososky.com

1. COMMUNICATING THE MESSAGE – The Internet with its plethora of social media and communication tools provides an almost free method for communicating the message of the importance of sustainability. The sad reality is that until a shortage, or lack of resources impacts people personally, they are not motivated to do much about the issue. This sets up a tragic situation where the people that have resources to help, are also the most likely to have no personal struggle with sustainability. The people that are most personally impacted are the least likely to have the resources to change things. In order to really create a worldwide movement that might actually get people to care about the long term effects, we have to paint the picture clearly to people with resources. This can be accomplished by leveraging the Internets capability to distribute video and pictures through either user generated content sites like YouTube, or through creating media elements that can be distributed organically through email and Twitter. The Internet has proven to be a powerful force for communicating messages at no cost, and to millions of people. We have never before in history had this capability and it must be used to promote environmental awareness.

2. USING THE INTERNET AS A TOOL TO MONITOR RESOURCES – At its heart, the Web is a transport vehicle for data. When combined with rules based software systems, the Internet can be used to help us better manage the resources we have in better ways. Already today there are many organizations that have monitoring stations around the globe that are using satellite technologies and the Internet to monitor changes in the environment. It is possible to simply go to a Website and monitor changes in the polar icecap in real time. But what if we took this a step further and brought it down to the individual level? We have been toying with the concept of smart homes for years – homes that contain appliances and HVAC that is completely Internet enabled. We also have cars that have computers built in that monitor thousands of pieces of performance – including emissions. With very little effort, we could build a Web-based tool that would monitor our vehicles and homes for the environmental impact and allow us to set rules and notifications when usage is our of tolerance, or when efficiencies could be found. It would be so simple to Internet enable the digital thermostats that many of us have now so that we could control the settings from our cell phone and could optimize resource usage based on weather changes. And how useful would it be for your car to tell you that it is not running efficiently instead of waiting until something breaks before we know that we have been wasting fuel for months.

3. THE INTERNET AND WHITE-COLLAR LEAN – Information technology in general, when added to the communications power of the Internet creates a powerful tool kit for improving efficiency in the white-collar organization. Much like the Lean Manufacturing paradigm that has dramatically improved the efficiency of the manufacturing process (and environmental impact), White-Collar Lean can get rid of huge areas of waste in organizations. When a paper-based process is rebuilt to be paperless, we save millions of trees, the resources to create, handle and then destroy the paper. The reality is we have wonderful tools for truly going paperless with every transaction, yet many organizations just continue to do things the way they always have. The global impact that could be improved by creating electronic workflows would not only save all the physical resources, but would also lower the amount of people needed to support those processes. This in turn allows this staff to be repurposed on more valuable tasks like innovating new products, or to simply be more productive which will lower the FTE’s for many organizations.

4. USING THE INTERNET TO OFFSET THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF TRAVEL – As the use of fossil fuels becomes more expensive and damaging to the environment, we are also being handed tools that are enabling our ability to communicate “face to face” in very inexpensive ways. Tools like Skype, WebEx and NetMeeting allow users to have meetings over the Internet in place of getting in a car to drive, or jumping on a plane to fly. There are two specific areas that need to be leveraged in order to lower the carbon footprint of ones career.

­­a. The Virtual Workplace – For centuries, work had to be performed on location because there simply was no way to manufacture, farm, or construct thing any other way. Over the last few decades, we have moved more and more to a knowledge economy that simply does not require people to be at a specific location in order to do a task. Yet we continue to build huge office buildings that we require millions of people to attend so that they can all work at a computer, or talk on the phone. The basis for this is that we must have a team all in the same location so they can more easily be managed and so that they can have a sense of community and culture. If we will simply become more enlightened about building virtual teams that can work from home for the most part, we could dramatically impact the carbon footprint of a worker by lowering the amount of miles they have to drive, and the resources needed to support them in a building. Many companies are making progress in this area and learning that they can provide a very positive impact on the bottom line of the financial results as well. It is time for organizations to make a concerted effort to identify all the areas that could be staffed by people that do not have to attend an office from 8 to 5 each and every day.

b. The Virtual Meeting – Videoconferencing is continually improving on both the quality of the experience and the price. Companies like Cisco are now providing high end systems that mimic an in person experience to a large degree. There are even a few startups that are experimenting with holographic displays that have been used to allow keynote speakers to give speeches to a large audience as if they were standing behind the podium. The reality is that we have the technology to simulate a meeting to a large degree, we just struggle with using as much as we can because we have centuries of inertia that tell us we need to be there in person to have the proper experience. This is starting really change as the Millennial Generation is getting into the workplace because they have grown up using tools like Skype, and video instant messaging to talk (and see) their friends over the Internet for free. They also are perfectly comfortable holding meetings in a virtual world like Second Life using avatars to represent them at the meetings. Note that IBM is currently leading organizations in the effort to use Second Life as more inexpensive and environmentally friendly way to meet with people from multiple countries at one time.

Science fiction writers have long written about the concepts mentioned above. This is just a sign pointing towards how obvious it is that we will one day learn to leverage our technology know-how to lower our impacts on the environment. The real questions is whether we are enlightened enough to be proactive about it, or whether we will wait until the resources become scarce before we use the tools that are right in front of us…

Scott Klososky
scott@klososky.com

Why would Google put out a service that clearly is a dog, when they are obviously staffed with a lot of really smart people?  Either someone in management did not review this, or they just don’t bother trying to oversee all the new things coming out of Google Labs.  Did they have any kind of plan for actually making it better?  I guess not because it has only been public for a few months and is already being deep-sixed.  Or, is it possible that they really are committed to using the public for R&D?  Their model with Google Labs is clearly to let their really bright people come up with new ideas, put them into the wild, and then see how things stick.  Is there anything wrong with this approach?  Are they doing us a favor by developing lots of free applications and letting us try them out, and vote, with your loyalty to each one?  Or are they just too lazy to really think these products through, build a market strategy and then execute flawlessly?

The reason this is worth writing about is that it takes what Microsoft does with their product strategies to the next level.  Our friends in Redmond pre-announce products when they are nowhere near completing them, then put them on the market in unfinished states, and eventually get everything working on version 3.  In this case, we are again guinea pigs, we just have to pay for the right. With Google, they let us use their experiments for free, and get input and a view into how well they might be able to leverage our eyeballs when we use the tools.  In some ways, I like what Google does, because at least it is honest in it’s approach.  What bothers me is the laziness part I mentioned.  Now that Google is large, smart, and market leading, it seems to me they should take more responsibility to make sure that the services/experiments they “let us have” actually work, and are valuable.  Absent this, they are wasting our time while trying to crowdsource their next valuable money maker.  Further, all software companies, Microsoft included, need to be much better about getting product right before they are handed of to us civilians.  I am not alone in getting tired of having to evaluate services that are not well thought out, don’t work, and are missing obvious features they would need to be valuable.

I thought Google was better than what they showed us with Lively.  I guess I was wrong.  I hope they do not choose quantity over quality, because if they do, they will soon enjoy all the warm feelings people have for Microsoft user products.

Scott Klososky
scott@klososky.com

On the Mobile Internet Device front, I personally think that Amazon and Apple could corner the MID market overnight with a Kindle built upon the same OS as the iPhone.  The Kindle is too large to replace the iPhone, G1 or any other smart-phone, but Amazon could offer us the larger screen we want for web browsing, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a cellular phone.  Not to mention the idea that the titles bought for the Kindle could come from the iTunes store or Amazon, then be stored inside the Amazon cloud for when you need more space on the Kindle device.  This is a wishful stretch, I know, but it is a nice thought.  Not to mention all of the other problems that would stand in the way of these two companies working together, like the Amazon MP3 store, and Apple’s long-term goals of cloud-based computing as well.

There has been some movement in taking the virtual world platform Second Life to the mobile market.  Both Sun and Samsung have demonstrated working applications of the online world in the past, but just last month Vollee released a Second Life client for the Nokia N96 3G phone.  This ties into the idea that our online world is coming closer and closer into synch with our real life persona.

If you have ever spent any time in the Google Earth application, you might have seen the 3D buildings inside the application.  To the left, I have included a screen captured image of downtown Denver, Colorado.  Notice anything peculiar about the 3D building?  They have accurate images of their exteriors!  People went out and built factual representations of those structures, right down to the images on the exterior walls.  The current problem is that there are no interiors within the Google Earth application.  So if you office on the 38th floor of a building in your downtown metro, too bad… people will never see your logo in that area.  Google Earth has no way to get someone into a building.  Oh wait, Google bought an in-game advertising company called Adscape almost two years ago, and has recently been rumored to be in talks with Valve, maker of fanboy favorite Half-Life.  So why don’t we just assume that Google is serious on the virtual words front? And we already know that Google is serious about mobile.

Lastly, I want to consider the paradigm of the Three Screens.  It all began on the all mighty television screen.  Content was created for that screen in abundance, and still is, but then something happened.  The Internet sprang forth the second screen, the computer screen, and for a long time we were content with those two screens. Then we wanted a convergence of the content between screens one and two, and so we had that, too.  Then the the mobile phone market gave us faster download speeds and more power processors — so now we want that same content there, too.

Only AT&T has made a concerted effort to develop a Three Screens strategy so far.  The rest of the providers seem to be attacking on disconcerted fronts, under leadership of various offices and without a noticeable strategy.  If you have seen some good examples of a combined Internet, television, and mobile content delivery mechanism, share it with me in the comments below.

By the way, if you are not already on Twitter, start tonight.  If you are in the twitterverse, follow me here, and also follow Amazon MP3 for some really great music deals.  Amazon is using marketing on Twitter to huge benefit, is your company?

Links of Interest:

• Google Earth
• Second Life
• Twinity
• Intel Mobile Internet Devices
• Vollee
• Amazon MP3

Matt Williamson
twitter.com/mattwilliamson
matt@technologystory.com

It has been rumored that they want to integrate virtual functionality on top of Google Earth and let people create a parallel virtual universe that sits on top of the real globe.  In other words, I could teleport to the headquarters of the company that I want information from and just walk in the front door of their 3D building represented in the StreetScape environment, and talk to an employed avatar. Maybe I am right on with this, or maybe they have other plans, like letting their avatars walk through the Internet in new ways.  I just wish they would be clearer about what their intentions are because the Lively site smacks of an early beta.  Not that I am against early beta’s, I just wish I understood more of how they see this capability really being leveraged.  I actually would have been happier had they bought Second Life from Linden Labs and used it as a launching pad for future plans…

Another new site on the virtual front is Vivaty.  Their angle seems to be creating virtual spaces that can be used inside of platforms like Facebook and MySpace.  Although they get points for mixing two popular paradigms, I still wonder why creating yet another set of virtual rooms makes sense.  If they cannot be connected to other virtual worlds, it just seems like an orphaned use of the technology.

Providing a space for avatars to talk, while not standardizing the avatars across platforms just does not seem to have legs to me.  I am sure that we will see many players enter this game, but only a few large ones survive.  People will want a robust world, with robust capabilities, and one avatar.  No way are they going to create multiple avatars across 5 different platforms.

Scott Klososky
scott@klososky.com

For now, let’s just look at the current state. The first thing you would notice is that it is a pretty complicated process to figure out how Second Life works. It is vastly more complicated than one might suspect. It must be learned in stages. First you have to figure out how to move around, then how to dress, then how to talk and finally, how to deal with Linden Dollars in order to buy things. The second thing I learned is though only a few years old, there is a tribal set of rules forming around what is acceptable. Many real world rules apply – for example, keep your clothes on in public places, and be polite to strangers. Then there are the differences… It is not difficult to copy the code from a building someone else has built in order to construct you own.  Advertisements can be put on walls so that you can buy products simply by touching the screen. I am actually somewhat surprised that we are not seeing more written on the social aspects of how a new world of sorts develops under a new set of physics and social rules.

The next thing one must learn is how to buy land, build buildings, and furnishings. There are constant auctions, and a busy market of buying and selling all of the above. In this other world, you not only buy the land, but also a certain amount of “prims” that come with the land in order to build whatever it is you want to build on the land. Since land is a restricted commodity, there are the normal market forces involved, including land disputes that have ended up in the real world courts. I know what you are thinking, where is this land? Can it really have value if you can’t touch it and feel it? I suppose the same could have been said about Website names 12 years ago. Today, some of those properties are selling for millions of dollars, e.g. business.com. And one more interesting thing, you may a monthly fee just to hold the land even after you purchased it. I am OK with this since Linden Labs needs get revenue to keep improving the environment.

The scary thing about that comment is that the Chinese have no such issue. The government is funding the building of their synthetic world and that makes me nervous because I suspect that they will progress much faster than the US. While this may mean nothing to people in the US today, it could be devastating in the future is the Chinese end up owning the virtual world that everyone works in.

Cool site of the Day: – this is the Chinese virtual world – at least take a look at the front page and see what they are doing… http://www.hipihi.com/

Scott

WordPress.com is utilizing the Amazon S3 offering for online access-as-you-need-it storage, something Scott and I think is one of the waves of the future: cloud-based infrastructure.

Second Life Wants You to Build

Linden Labs has made developing your online presence a more robust experience. As they say, “Second Life Grid is a platform that enables your organization to create a public or secure private space using the leading 3D online virtual world technology.” Wordy, but basically this means they are offering a tool set to help organizations and companies, build and deploy online representations of themselves within the Second Life universe.

Linden Labs, founded in 1999, launched Second Life in 2003 and wants you to know something about Second Life: it is a virtual world, not a game. To demonstrate this just look at a small list of those companies who are using Second Life for communications, training, market research and sales, to name a few reasons to jump in: Aididas, Dell, Pontiac, Reuters and Sun.

Getting started has been turned into a procedure any IT group can manage as a project, visit this page to find out more: link or view a PowerPoint slide show about Second Life here: PPT

Matt

So back to outsourcing and crowdsourcing… Technology has had a lot to do with the whole paradigm of outsourcing work. It’s only because of the ability to easily and cheaply communicate with people around the world that we can even use this model. Add to that the fact that a large amount of the outsourcing that is being done relates to or uses technology in some way. We are now able to create computerized workflows that let US based people do part of a task, and then automatically route other parts overseas. I see no reason that outsourcing will not continue to flourish, and that the workbases will exist in countries all over the world. In fact, we will one day stop thinking of workbases in terms of India, China, Malaysia and the like. We will simply deal with companies that specialize in different forms of outsources and services. We will look at quality and price statistics and make a choice as to who we want to hire to do a task based on our needs for quality, speed and cost.

Technology will continue to facilitate our ability to advance the outsourcing model. And maybe the next really interesting step is crowdsourcing…

Crowdsourcing is a word that has been in our vocabulary for 18 months or so and it first appeared to describe the method by which Wikipedia and other user-built sites got created. Then we began to find interesting business ways to leverage the Internet herd. We started tapping them for opinions, and to answer questions for each others (yahoo answers) and even to create indexes for pictures on Google through games. The natural progression had to be finding ways to crowdsource work that is now being outsourced. In other words, spread it out over hundreds of disparate workers around the world and let them be paid in small pieces for the bits they do within specs. Last week I read a story about a major company that has divided up a large software project into small pieces and has posted the work on the Internet with the associated pay. Programmers around the world can simply apply for a piece, write the code, and submit, and once it is tested and passes, they get paid. Over 100 programmers are going to build the application and they will never sit next to each other and will never set foot in the home office. This is sign of things to come, and you heard it here at Technology Story. Ten years from now, this type of work dispersion will seem a normal part of life.

So what do you think that will do to change the way people are “employed”?

Scott

Editor: Picture Credit: Prokofy Neva (a.k.a. Catherine Fitzpatrick)

In the last few months we have had a tsunami of software platforms opened up for use, or announced. Facebook started the run up by opening their platform for 3rd party people to develop applications. Within days, a professor at Stanford developed a whole course around building Facebook applications and had 25 students enrolled and writing code. At the time of this writing, one students work has over 1 million users already. The application is a simple on, but effective with young people. It provides a way to send kisses to your friends over Facebook. This was followed closely by Google making two huge announcements with platform standards in the mobile phone world, and social networking space. Less publicly, a few other platforms have announced that they are, or have opened up to 3rd party developers, including Second Life. This paradigm is going to radically change the way we think of software because we will less and less think if it as a packaged product, and will more and more think of it as simply pieces of the global plumbing capability.

Web addresses getting scarce, better lock in your inventory now…

I have been gathering Web addresses for months now. The thought dawned on me a while back that it was going to be virtually impossible to find an available Web address without buying it on the market. Since the price difference is generally the delta between $9 and whatever you can negotiate with a broker (most often starting at $2000), and I am cheap, I have been gathering an inventory rapidly. The striking thing is how many options are already gone. The statistics I just checked showed that in the last 24hours there wer approx. 700,000 new names registered. Note, that was in the last DAY. Click here to see the entire picture. Although ICAAN may open up new extensions so that .com is not so overloaded, I think .com will long be the prime real estate. We are still in the early days of this land grab my friends, so I suggest that you assign someone to build your inventory today…

The interesting Website of the day is www.eswarm.com. As new ways to purchase products emerge, note this play on an old concept. This is simply an automated way for creating an ad hoc buying group. As I watched my wife and daughter get up at 3:00 AM to go shopping on Black Friday, I am reminded the lengths to which people will go to find a bargain…