mixedrealities posterous

On the intersection of philosophy, business and virtual worlds

Also Twitter wants to be fast, easy and fun

So Twitter should be fast and easy. And fun of course. If not, they won't ever go mainstream. For someone covering Second Life, it all sounds very familiar.

One of the interesting points I learned watching Robert Scoble's live video stream during the Twitter press conference this week was that the overwhelming majority of Twitter users just use the website, there where no self-respecting member of the tech-elite ever go. The social media and tech people think it is so self-evident to use clients such as Tweetdeck or Seesmic that they cannot even imagine that everybody else just goes to www.twitter.com.

That silent majority is rather, well, silent. They (okay, many of them) use Twitter as a kind of social RSS-reader without engaging in a conversation or even without retweeting stuff. Twitter itself seems to consider their service as a real time news network rather than as a social network. A news network like CNN let's say, but more customizable. But many users are there to consume news, just as they consume news watching CNN.

Let's compare this with Second Life. The most vocal residents are the builders and scripters, the traders, the organizers. They are a minority - even though without them there would be no such thing as Second Life. This is not surprising: on web forums, discussion boards and chat rooms the really active people are a minority, and the bulk of the activity comes from a tiny group of very active people.

The challenge is to keep that minority happy while realizing that the needs and expectations of the overwhelming majority are different. I guess the web version of Twitter will be a success among the majority, while the power users will stick to their sophisticated client where they can manage all their different social media accounts. 

The same probably applies for Second Life and similar virtual worlds. One needs viewer versions or settings which cater for the socializers or for users of devices such as the iPad, other versions can focus on the heavy users and content creators.

"Fast, easy and fun" will be crucial criteria for new media wanting to gain traction. "Fun like the iPhone" Philip Rosedale said during the Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) in Boston. "The iPhone is slower (...) but it's delightful" he said. Just like reading Twitter or Facebook on Flipboard is maybe a bit slower, but more delightful. Don't look down on that - making things delightful is the way to really change things. 

Here is the video Scoble made at the Twitter conference:

Haptics for Everyone and upcoming Immersive Technology Summit

via immersivetech.org

Seems pretty cool... and more about this stuff on "the world's first ever Immersive Technology Summit" at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

Let me quote from the press release:
"Hosted at Los Angeles Center Studios and organized by ImTech, a new Los Angeles-based non-profit think tank, Immersive Tech will feature a full complement of industry speakers, panel discussions, interactive exhibits and product demonstrations, theater presentations in a 50-foot hemispherical dome, networking events and insider access to new technologies.

“Immersive technology” refers to software and devices that blur the barrier between the physical and digital worlds, thereby creating “immersive” experiences. Immersive Technology Summit 2010 has enlisted remarkable individuals who are leading the vision and providing resources to expand human experience, with the aid of technologies that range from augmented reality to virtual worlds, gesture tech and other immersive environments.

Highlighted speakers at the event include Dr. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, founder of UC Santa Barbara's Allosphere; John Smart, Chairman of the Acceleration Studies Foundation; and Greg Hyver, Vice President of Business Development, for BCINet, Inc.

Adobe and Virtual World Web are event benefactors. Among the sponsors and exhibitors: Big Look 360, Blict, Doppel Games, Fixed 8 Lighting, Global Vision Communication, Immersive Media, Metaio, Monster Energy, Ogmento, Social Animal, SynLabs, TOOB, Total Immersion, UPrinting.com, Virtusphere, Vortex Immersion Media and xRez Studio."

I won't be there, but I'll sure keep an eye on their site. Maybe these immersive tech guys will enable people from all over the world to attend virtually... shouldn't they?

3D Newsroom Debuts in Second Life - Hypergrid Business

via hypergridbusiness.com

Interesting use of shared media in Second Life - the integration of web content in the 3D space. It seems the project uses kiosks, which makes sense because it does not depend on specific meetings. However, in order to really benefit from the 3D environment, I guess having social events - lectures, meetings, discussions etc - will be crucial. Those events ideally should be on a regular basis, facilitating connections between those interested.

Roland Legrand

This Is a Very Different Future Than The One We Have Been Living In Up Till Now | Beyond The Beyond

via wired.com

Great talk by Tim O'Reilly: it's about the data, not just about databases, but about the data, who owns them, how do we get them and share them, what are the business models and use cases, and what are the many amazing ways in which processes and objects generate data.

It's about open government, augmented reality, the cloud, real time net, all those buzzwords as Bruce Sterling says on Beyond the Beyond (Wired.com), yet it's visionary.

Roland Legrand

Intel guru says 3-D Internet will arrive within five years - Computerworld

Computerworld - A technology guru at Intel Corp. predict that the internet will look significantly different in five to 10 years, when much of it will be three dimensional, or 3D.

Sean Koehl, a technology evangelist with Intel Labs, said technology is emerging that will one day change the way we interact with electronic devices and with each other. That could come as soon as five years from now when, he predicted, there will be realistic-looking three-dimensional applications.

(...)

"The Internet may never go fully 3-D, but making 3-D environments broadly accessible is probably capable within five years," noted Koehl. "I think it remains to be seen but there are certain kinds of interactions people will want in two dimensions, like reading text. The things we'll do in three dimensions may be things that we don't do at all on the Internet today because it isn't feasible."

He explained that speeches at large conferences certainly aren't personal experiences to attendees. Creating a 3-D virtual world, ont he other hand, could let an audience member feel like he or she is sitting at a table with the speaker.

(...)

Sharon Gaudin

via computerworld.com

That exactly is the exciting thing about all these evolutions: things we'll do in three dimensions may be things we don't do on (mainstream) internet today because it isn't feasible.

One example given in the article is the virtual meeting, giving more interaction possibilities than huge conferences in the physical world.

Or imagine sports events, the article points out how one could attend some football game in 3D and watch what happens from any viewpoint in the stadium.

I'd say, imagine also that you combine the 3D images and flexible viewing of those images but in the social context of a bunch of 3D avatars in a virtual space where the 3D real life images are integrated.

Of course, we'll be able to experience all this on a wide variety of devices, because the heavy computing will happen in the cloud.

Maybe those devices will be tiny and wearable, hardly observable by others, yet enabling easy access anywhere anytime.

Sounds rather sci-fi, but it's becoming reality, in incremental but accelerating steps.

Roland Legrand