I was invited to an early peek at wireless service provider Orange's new island, and man, it's beautiful. This is a build that you can spend some quality time in, whether it's by taking a stroll to look at the sights, playing with the many little fun interactive toys, checking out the streaming music available at the listening stations, or dopping in tomorrow, October 26 at 8 AM PST for the Grand Opening, which will feature live music from up-and-coming indie band Clint.

MDC Metaversatility really made some magic with this build, and their commitment to quality shows. It's an elegant combination of nature and technology that blends well. The best part? Orange built this island just to connect with the community; you won't find any hard or soft cells for products or services anywhere! This company Gets It.

Part of the fun of this place is exploring it on your own, so I'll just leave you with this gallery of shots. Go check this place out tomorrow morning!

New World Notes embedded reporter Hamlet Au steps out-world to cover the Virtual Worlds Conference in San Jose for GigaOM, and has written up a summarized list of his top 5 Conference highlights here. Among the 5: news on HiPiHi, the Sheep's new viewer, and the diversity of the attending crowd.

I was only there for Wednesday, and only got to see a few people, and I'm sorry I missed meeting Hamlet in RL. His work has been inspiring. He also asks of those who attended: What were your highlights? For me, it was just getting to meet my favorite SL residents face-to-face, including Adri Saarinen, Peter Newell, Haver Cole, and Colleen Desmoulins of Metaversatility; Spin Martin of Saijo City; Satchmo Prototype of the Electric Sheep; and even Philip Linden himself, chatting with Eureka Dejavu!

As always, it's the people who keep me coming back to SL.

(Via GigaOM)

Hot on the heels of the previously-mentioned survey, MDC Metaversatility brings a resident survey on behalf of an undisclosed 'established technology company' gathering information on how best to approach SL. This is a good thing, and deserves your feedback and honest response, even if only for that reason.

However, for the more mercenary among you wondering 'what's in it for me', the answer is: quite a lot! Participation in the survey enters you into a sweepstakes to win a prize. To the right of the main field of text that describes the survey, you'll see a substantial list of potential prizes to be won. There are many, but you only win one, so presumably more than one person will come away a winner. The prizes include books, CDs, and opportunities for advertising your business in SLExchange.com or The Metaverse Messenger, to name just a few.

If you have any questions, please contact Aaron Delwiche at aaron@metaversatility.com. The survey is brief and worth your while. Get to it!

(Thanks, Adri!)

The more astute among you will have noticed a new ad to the right of the posts: it's for the upcoming Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo, which runs October 10 and 11 in San Jose. All manner of industry leads will be there, with many of them speaking, including Adri Saarinen from Metaversatility; Corey Bridges from the Multiverse Network; Giff Constable from ESC; Edward Castronova; Jeska, Robin, and John Zdanowski from LL, and a bunch of other MMO players.

I plan on being there as well, so anyone in the area or already planning on going to this event, drop me a line and let's have our own mini-SLCC right there in SJ! For those of you planning on going but without your ticket yet can take advantage of this great discount code when registering online. The code is VIPATTENDEE, and it will save you 10% on the registration rate! You can check out more information at the conference website.

I'm excited; are you excited? I can't wait to meet representatives of MMOs that I've made fun of! If I don't return from this event, you all know why!

(Thanks, Tim!)

John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Go, and Charlie's Chocolate Factory, spent 30 minutes in Second Life on August 20^th, answering questions about his upcoming film, The Nines. The movie plot explores the intersection between the real and the virtual, while the promotional methods are heavily using transmedia to engage fans into alternate reality games. August announced that he is hoping to release a version of the movie that would allow fans to re-edit it.

The premiere for the The Nines is set for August 31^st in New York and Los Angeles, and September 28^th in Austin, TX.

Metaversatility and AMD bring us the AMD Summer Tech Mixer, an event on AMD's Dev Central island on Sunday the 29th from 1-4 PM. From the press release:

"The event will feature keynotes on AMD Careers, AMD's connectivity outreach initiative, 50×15, and a half hour panel discussion on open source coding and LibSL. The three hour mixer will be Dj'd and Mc'd by Doubledown Tandino featuring Slim Warrior so come out to AMD Dev Central for an afternoon of fun, swag, discussion, and music!"

The panel discussion will feature Marc Millar of AMD, John Hurliman of LibSL, and Jonathan Freedman of Pleiades. I know many of the people involved; go check this out!

(Thanks, Adri!)

Metaversatility Island will see an interesting blended reality art exhibit this Saturday, the 9th of June, stretching to the 16th, between 6-9 PM. Entitled 'Perspectives from Central Texas', it features artists Joey Castillo, Richard Yanas, Matthew Daly, Drew Smith, and Brandon McKelvey.

I wanna see more of this kinda thing! Why isn't there more of it in San Francisco? Good Lords of Yummy Things, do you realize how many New Media companies live here? Where's my jetpack, anyway? Are you sure this is the Future? PM Bliargh Dada to find out!

[UPDATE: Experiencing technical issues; working on it!] [UPDATE 2: FIXED!] Welcome to the fifth episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast! This episode features our interview with Adri Saarinen and Peter Newell, co-founders of Metaversatility, Texas's coolest MDC. Aimee Weber co-hosts with me, and we discuss the challenges of developing for SL, There.com, and Hello Kitty buttplugs. As always, feel free to leave your questions and comments!

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to On the Inside directly in iTunes (MP3)
[RSS] Add the SLI Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly

Before you guys send me angry letters, I'm well aware that Techno and Electronica are separate subgenres of music. I went for that merely as a clever title, 'kay? 'kay. At any rate, Metaversatility's Bliargh Dada will be hosting Electronica musicians A.M. Architect tonight at 8 PM at Metavsersatility Island's KRTU Studios.

From the press release: "Bringing a great mixture of progressive electronica styles from Nu Jazz to Lounge and Hip-Hop, we will play their original material, as well as a selection of similar electronica from our favorite artists. Our avatars will be broadcasting from the KRTU complex on Metaversatility island. Come sit in and participate in an evening of discussion, interview, and great electronic music."

SL residents are notorious dancing fiends; shower these guys with your love!

(Thanks, Matt!)

Metaversatility, the newest of the MDCs, has announced that fan-favorite musician Frogg Marlowe will be playing two live shows, in actual Real Life! He will perform at Limelight Music and Drinks on February 15, 2007, a gig which immediately precedes the Second Life Texas Meetup in Austin on the following Saturday afternoon.

The virtual merriment will ensue at 8:30 p.m., at Limelight Music & Drinks, 2718 N. St. Mary's St., with the Meetup being hosted by Mozart's Coffeehouse. Additionally, both of Frogg's performances will be simulcast on Metaversatility Island.

For more information, check out the Metaversatility blog and by joining the SLTX Meetup group. RSVP to Adri Saarinen. Have fun without me, you guys! I'm not bitter! If you need me, I'll just be over here, weeping quietly under my desk.

There's a new player in town, brushing up against Metaverse Development Companies like Electric Sheep Company and Rivers Run Red: Metaversatility! I'll let the press release speak for itself:

San Antonio, Texas, December 11, 2006 – As virtual worlds receive more and more serious media attention, it has become apparent that development and service companies are needed to build virtual spaces and brands. Metaversatility, Inc. was formed to meet this need. With five founding shareholders, Metaversatility brings a unique blend of skills and experience to the virtual world development sphere.

Metaversatility founders Adrienne Haik (known as Adri Saarinen in Second Life), Dr. Aaron Delwiche, Peter Haik (known as Peter Newell in Second Life), Dr. John Plevyak, and Matt Daly represent a combination of creativity, experience, and academic credentials. Other team members include Rebecca Small (known in Second Life as Haver Cole) as client liaison, Brian Hayes as sales and business development, and Inga Munsinger Cotton as general counsel. They are well prepared to serve the needs of both traditional and exclusively-virtual clients.

Metaversatility offers a full range of metaverse services that spans multiple virtual worlds. Equipped to work in Second Life, There.com, Multiverse, and Open Croquet, Metaversatility also keeps a close watch on developments in other virtual worlds as they emerge. Metaversatility specializes in promotions, branding, and application development as well as metaverse orientation and business strategy consulting. Recent clients include Creative Commons, PopSci.com, the Metaverse Messenger, ICANN, SL Bank, and Dublin in SL.

While excited about the possibilities of the broadening metaverse, the Metaversatility team is also concerned with the social and cultural implications of this expansion. As long-time metaverse residents, they feel it is vitally important to maintain the freedom of imagination and intellectual development virtual spaces often represent.

Metaversatility Inc. is incorporated and headquartered in the state of Texas. For more information about Metaversatility, the team, services offered, and a portfolio of work, visit http://www.metaversatility.com.

Congratulations, Adri and Peter! This couldn't have happened to nicer folks, and I look forward to seeing what you bring to SL!