Genkii appear to have had Sparkle in the works for quite some time, but they must have spat out whatever drink they were drinking at the time when Apple announced their inter-app micro-commerce structure for iPhone 3.0, which is perfectly tailored to Second Life's "pay 65 cents, increase penis length by 200%" mini economy.

Currently, Genkii has a $5 IM app in the App Store that ties into your Second Life IM account. They hope to expand their actual standalone virtual world later this year, preserving the ability to tie into pre-existing worlds like Second Life and Playstation Home.

If there is anyone out there who can't wait to get a mini avatar on their iPhone, buy it clothes and an apartment, and seek out other mini avatars to IM with, forgive my skepticism. But I think Sparkle has missed the boat by about a half decade. We'll see what happens. [TechCrunch]

The virtual city, or "Virtual Decatur" as the fine elected officials of Decatur are calling it, would be a networking hub for the city as part of a greater overall effort to boost the economy.

Virtual Decatur is only in the planning stages, but designers have already listed a number of MMO-type qualities they'd like to see implemented. There would be custom avatars and chatting, like there is in any number of MMOs today, but in Virtual Decatur the residents, non-residents and government officials would bear certain marks, so that they'd be easily distinguishable from one another. Business owners would have the option of a virtual storefront if they donated to the city.

The virtual world would also boast achievements (GovBlago2213, You've unlocked a senate seat!). Back in the real world, these achievement points could be turned into coupons or discounts for participating businesses.

Other Virtual Decatur features could include:

• Opportunities to gather citizen input on policies, topics of interest, city services, and happenings
• A Virtual City Hall Tour with multimedia capabilities.
• Streaming video of public meetings, ideally with a chat room feature that allows viewers to comment.
• Access to visitors information (store hours, directions, weather, etc.)

We eagerly await the first griefer-induced lawsuit. [Decatur, Georgia via Game Politics]

• Bargaining. And remember, this is for almost everything, lest you continue the very prevalent racial stereotype that laowai (directly translated: old outsiders) are here primarily to get fleeced. If you're planning on interacting with Chinese people at all, get used to that and the feeling that you got fleeced anyway, no matter how hard a bargain you drove. I recommend trying your hand at the return counter of failing retailers to get an accurate simulation of what you'll be doing in China.

• Censorship. You're not going to be able to surf the web the way you want to surf the web. Though there now is a Firefox plugin that'll help you deal with that. You too can now feel the power of the Great Firewall and wonder things like “Okay, what did the BBC say to anger the CCP this time around?”

•The Air Quality. You've probably heard that story about former President Ronald Reagan, where after he recovered from that assassination attempt and was released from the hospital, he remarked that he wanted to go back to L.A., where he could “see the air [he's] breathing?” If he was talking about Beijing, it would be more like “feel the air I'm breathing tearing up my nose like I just snorted a factory's worth of particulate matter.” No, it's not as catchy. Yeah, it's about as true. In fact, it's so true that I'm going to tell you not to get used to the air quality here—it's not worth the cancer. When you get to your destination in China, get any number of these air purifiers ASAP. (Flickr Credit: Kevin Dooley)

• The Sea of People. Remember how the Bird's Nest stadium seated something like 90,000 people during the Olympics Opening Ceremony and you maybe thought something like “Haha, that's more than the populations of some countries!”? China's full of statistics like that that you'll encounter first hand.

For instance, did you know that the Shanghai subway transports more than the entire population of San Francisco every morning during rush hour? Crazy, right? That's China! Luckily, Black Friday is coming up, and being in a Best Buy that morning will give you a feel for being one in a crowd of millions. (Flickr credit: Marc van der Chijs)

• Sad Cellular Options. While jailbroken iPhones are all the rage here in China, we probably won't be seeing the iPhone 3G anytime soon, thanks to China Mobile's desire for full control and the country's lack of a real 3G network. In fact, compared to our East Asian neighbors, we have the most terrible choice of cellphones ever. China seems more willing to focus on churning out iPhone fakes and gimmicks (like this hilarious but useless spaceship cellphone) than developing its own useful, well-designed tech. Oh well, at least the PRC's got an incredibly extensive network – I can use my mobile in subways and in the mountains without ever having to ask “Can you hear me now?”

• Dealing With Rabid Nationalists Raised On The Propaganda Machine. One of the most important things to learn (especially as a diplomat) will be how to smile, nod politely, and present actual facts without being insulting when you're confronted with a Chinese person with a really, really distorted world view. Try to remember that they live in a world where information is one-sided and tightly controlled, the internet police is active on every student message board and the nationalism scapegoat is constantly used. To tell the truth, with all the telecom spying and appeals to voting like a "real American," we're perhaps not too far off from that world ourselves. [University of Florida via Dvice]

TOKYO, April 22 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI)
announced today that it will expand the Closed Beta testing for
PLAYSTATION(R)Home in Summer 2008, inviting a further number of registrants
from the PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(R)) users. Following completion of the Expanded
Closed Beta test, the PLAYSTATION Home Open Beta service will commence in Fall
2008.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020701/SFM066LOGO)
"We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a
bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to
refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience
than what it is today," said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony
Computer Entertainment Inc. "Our overarching objective is to provide users
with new gaming experiences that are available only on PLAYSTATION Home.
Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms
our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation(R)
tradition."
The PLAYSTATION Home Open Beta service that will become available in Fall
2008 will be built around providing new and fun community gaming experiences.
Details of the Closed Beta testing features, registration for the test and the
opening of the service will be announced as they become available.

The Apple patent at its core relates to improving the online shopping experience. While the company lauds online shopping in its filing, it also criticizes the medium's inability to offer consumers a truly interactive experience, calling it "sterile and isolating." (Uh, isn't the solitary, crowd-bypassing characteristic of online shopping part of its appeal?)

The Apple filing goes on to say that isolated, unhappy customers are more apt to be non-paying customers. However, if you provide them with "sunny" shopping experiences and virtual interactivity with Apple avatars, they might be more likely to come away with a positive impression of online shopping. Customers would also receive their own avatars, a la Second Life, and would be branded with letters to show their level of familiarity with Apple products. N is for New Users, or "newbies," and E is for Experts, or the entire Apple-loving Gizmodo staff.

There are still a lot of unknowns regarding the filing. Add to that the fact that most Apple patents never see the light of day. As MacNN expertly points out, this could also be a reincarnated eWorld, Apple's ill-fated online service launched—and then un-launched—in 2004 1994.

If the Apple Store does go virtual, however, our question for Steve this afternoon is pretty straightforward: How will the Genius Bar respond to a bouncing penis-filled griefer attack? [MacNN]

The camera works by translating hand and body motions into an avatar's movements in Second Life. Tip a bit forward and the avatar will walk, tip faster and the avatar will run, tip too fast and you'll fall down (presumably). The included demo also shows the camera translating various movements into jumping, flying and landing "gracefully."

Low-priced 3D cameras, such as the Zcam, will not only make playing Second Life more immersive than other peripherals out there , it'll also completely rethink human-computer interactions, Kapor said.

Well, we'll see about that. All I know is, if years from now I'm suddenly standing in a Los Angeles parking lot half naked and swinging away at things with my katana thanks to a particularly crazy bar fight in a virtual reality world - I'll know who to blame. [New York Times]

3Dconnexion 3D Mice Coming To Second Life

Linden Lab's support of the SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse brings new levels of direct control and immersion to the Second Life Grid platform

NEW YORK - April 3, 2008 - Today at the Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo, 3Dconnexion, a Logitech company, announced that its 3D mouse product line will be supported by the Second Life Grid , the platform behind the popular online 3D virtual world created by Linden Lab . 3Dconnexion's 3D mice - including the award-winning SpaceNavigator - will be supported by Second Life beginning in mid-April, offering Second Life residents better control and coordination with 3D objects.

While traditional mice control motion on a two-dimensional plane, 3Dconnexion's 3D mice allow effortless movement and control within a 3D environment. On the Second Life Grid platform, this means that actions such as moving, flying and designing are more intuitive. While designing, users can simultaneously pan, zoom and rotate without stopping to select commands.

"Being able to move freely within and around the environment is a crucial component of the Second Life world experience," said Joe Miller, vice president, platform and product development, Linden Lab. "3Dconnexion's 3D mice have the capability to increase the immersion and improve the overall experience of our Residents and we're always open to such developments."

"3Dconnexion's 3D mice make the Second Life world experience even richer because avatars can now move in a more intuitive and fluid manner - movement no longer needs to be predicated on keyboard commands," said Dieter Neujahr, president of 3Dconnexion. "Beyond supporting a more immersive virtual experience, 3Dconnexion's 3D mice bring professional 3D design capabilities into the hands of Second Life Residents who enjoy creating their surrounding world, as well as to groups using the Second Life Grid platform as a collaborative tool for education and business training."

Advanced navigational capabilities offered by 3Dconnexion 3D mice include:

* Fluid avatar control: Residents can effortlessly control their avatars by gently lifting, pressing and turning the 3D mouse control cap.

* Easy access to camera views: With a twist of the control cap, residents can navigate the camera view and enjoy fluid and highly intuitive control while in flycam mode.

* Quick-switch between flycam mode and avatar motion: The pre-configured buttons on the 3D mice give residents a streamlined navigation experience with the ability to easily transfer between flycam mode and avatar motion - without stopping to select keyboard commands. In addition, the Second Life interface includes default navigation settings for 3Dconnexion 3D mice, allowing people to adjust the speed and settings according to their preferences.

* Control of 3D objects in build mode: While working in build mode, users can pan, zoom and rotate 3D objects to view designs from multiple angles. The 3D mice's pre-configured buttons can be used to change the view to camera mode, providing advanced control of 3D objects and enabling a fluid design process.

3Dconnexion provides advanced and affordable 3D mice that are supported by more than 120 of today's most popular 3D applications, including Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended and Acrobat 3D, Autodesk Inventor , AutoCAD , 3ds Max , and Maya , Blender, CATIA, Google Earth and SketchUp , Microsoft Virtual Earth , NX , Pro/ENGINEER , SolidWorks , and many other CAD, DCC, AEC, and GIS applications. For a complete list of applications supported by 3Dconnexion, visit www.3dconnexion.com/solutions/cad/all_sup_app.php.

Pricing and Availability

Beginning in mid-April, the Second Life Grid platform will support 3Dconnexion's product line on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista , and Macintosh OS X 10.4.6. SpaceNavigator Personal Edition (MSRP $59), SpaceNavigator Standard Edition (MSRP $99), SpaceTraveler (MSRP $199), SpaceExplorer (MSRP $299), and SpacePilot (MSRP $399) are available from major online resellers including Amazon, Apple.com, Buy.com, CDW, Dell, and PC Mall, as well as directly at www.3Dconnexion.com.

About 3Dconnexion, a Logitech Company
3Dconnexion, a wholly owned subsidiary of Logitech (SWX: LOGN) (Nasdaq: LOGI), is the leading provider of 3D mice for 3D design and visualization. 3Dconnexion devices support today's most popular and powerful 3D applications by offering users a more intuitive and natural way to interact with computer-generated 3D content. 3Dconnexion's award-winning 3D mice serve a wide variety of industries and are used by 3D designers, animators and artists worldwide. 3Dconnexion is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with European headquarters in Seefeld, Germany and offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.3Dconnexion.com.

Sure, there have always been the badge-wearing nerds at the back of the forensics lab who knew how to "Google" things and check the "e-mail" of bigger, dumber cops. But now other officers are wising up, according to an AP story. Homicide detectives and beat cops are going online and just poking around, and the dumbasses who think they won't get caught by blabbing on their public pages are, well, getting totally nailed.

In one recent example, a detective in Newark, N.J., tracked the alleged killers of three college students by mining MySpace pages maintained by the suspects and their friends. In another, pictures and prose posted online by the killer of Taylor Behl, a 17-year-old Virginia college freshman, connected him to the victim and ended up revealing where her body was stashed.

When the user just thinks about moving his arm or leg the BCI system correlates the movements to a keyboard emulator, which then controls the action in Second Life. Since the system is limited to basic actions, there are plans to improve the BCI for more elaborate movements. Even though the researchers hope this will help psychically impaired people communicate and do business in Second Life, we still think the first life, real life, is more important. [Nikkei Net via Pink Tentacle]

Ok, so our USBCELL bunny tried to find some folk at the Sony CEBIT 2007 event to chat. Sadly Kinda of empty. So thats a several hundred thousand dollar spend by Sony Ericcson in SL, but it's kinda off empty. Shame. Might as well go to the real Cebit show Sony Ericsson...

UPDATE: We have more. Hit the jump.

I checked out the Sony Ericsson pavilion in Second Life. When I arrived, there were nine people there, including one staff member who was very good at saying "No problem :-)" and "Push the red button!" but couldn't answer many more questions about the project.

There were free t-shirts to get, and a contest where you can a W880 a day (that's where the button pushing comes in). There are also "live" photos from the conference and a dance pad where you can rock out to one of a dozen dances.

This build is a decent recreation of the real world, but there was nothing that really leveraged the advantages of the SL platform or the SL community.

Thanks Simon & Hilary! You did a great job.

Second Life

Sony's taken the best of various community aspects and blended it into a theme called Game 3.0. Not an official trademark or anything, it's just their idea that video game equivalent of Web 2.0 and its user-created content would be Game 3.0 (goes along the three in PS3).

So how does it work?

Well, you have private and public areas. Imagine the Sims and the ability to customize your home, your body, your clothes, and your face. The 3D avatar and 3D environment actually looks pretty great, considering it's actually PS3-level graphics and not just something quickly thrown up (like Second Life). You can customize your personal apartment however you wish and invite buddies (other avatars) over to chat, play arcade games, launch multiplayer games, or just hang out.

There are loads of public spaces as well. These can be generic arcade halls where you can play pool and bowl, or game company sponsored areas where you can play demos of their latest games and chat with friends at the same time. There could even third-party non-game areas like movie theaters and clothing stores where you can watch trailers, movies, or try on the latest overpriced shirt from A&F.

Speaking of commercialization, there's going to be ads. Yes, there are 3d Banner ads and HD Video ads embedded inside "appropriate" areas in the public spaces. Fortunately for you, you can bring up a virtual PSP interface from anywhere and warp back home to the (presumably) ad-free space. But in your space, you can load your own pictures from your PS3 hard drive onto a picture frame or your own MP3s onto a jukebox.

This is definitely something we can see people sinking a lot of time into as far as socializing. It doesn't seem to have an economy in it like Second Life, as far as we saw, so all your money will be sent to Sony when you purchase arcade games, furniture, and more clothing for your avatar.

How about for the hardcore gamer? There's the "Hall of Fame", an actual hall with display cases that show the "achievements" (Sony's not calling it that) that you've unlocked by playing games. Not only can you browse what you have, you can go to a gigantic hall (imagine the Star Wars Imperial Senate) and view trophies for games you don't have. Or you can see what your buddies have and compare.

It doesn't have as much depth as Xbox 360's achievements, which has possibly 50+ achievements for each game, but it does give you a neat way to walk around a room and admire just how much time you've sank into playing video games.

Although PlayStation Home probably won't be a big enough feature to actually sell the console by itself, it may just be one of many features that Sony's adding to make it quite tempting to even non-gamers, a segment the Wii seems intent on dominating. – Jason Chen

We're happy to report that Gary Coleman (in animated Asian form) has found a job promoting Pioneer's super duper gadget that's so awesome they couldn't even show us what it is. Apparently, Pioneer's customers are virtual Second Life characters and are only too happy to show off virtual products. Can you tell that we felt gypped sitting there when nothing exciting was announced? – Nicholas Deleon with video by richard blakeley

Pioneer

If you're so deep into this thing you feel the need to carry around a little talisman proving that your avatar exists, more power to you. It's your $199. To us, it's just playing with dolls. – Charlie White

Product Page [Fabjectory, via Boing Boing]

In OLPCities, kids have a gameboy-styled avatar can walk around in the streets of OLPCity, taking place in many fun kid-related activities. The cities and activites will be user-generated, and have various communities and "worlds" based on language and nationalities.

Pretty interesting idea to get the OLPC-using students to make some ties with students in other developing countries. – Jason Chen

OLPCities: A Second Life for Students? [OLPCNews]

Those amongst you who spend all your waking time on Second Life: rejoice! Simon Spartalian and Mike Beradino of Recursive Instruments are launching a milling service for SL users on June 1, so you can have actual physical representations of your avatar, builds or favorite SL objects made out of anything from foam to wax to stainless steel, up to 9"x5"x5". They're using Eyebeam OpenLab's Blender. Blender then exports a stereo lithograph file for Desk Proto, which controls the mill. But why go through all this trouble?

Part of the goal of the project is to bridge the virtual and the real "by developing a cultural authority in the virtual that till now has been reserved for the physical," Spartialian says. The service will allow residents to create physical objects that can take on personal importance or perhaps even come to have financial weight around the edges of SL's in-world markets.

Now, there are lots of people making a lot of money offering services in and around of Second Life, and 3pointD correctly points out that 3D milling might appeal both to users just looking for real-world SL tchotchkes as well as companies that use SL for protyping. All well and good, but we tend to think the sign of a healthy enterprise is when sextrepreneurs start getting involved—3D milling for Second Life might be most fun in conjunction with the many prostitutes in the service, so johns can have souvenirs from their visit more tangible than virtual herpes.

3D Milling Service Offered for SL Residents [3pointD via MAKE Blog]