Sharp-eyed reader KMeist Hax has spotted a grid of telehubs far to the north of everything. When selected, the text reads 'CSINY Orientation Island East, with coordinates. It's all there for you to see, but teleports are blocked, of course. Are you excited yet?

While I missed Mr. Zuiker's keynote speech at the Virtual Worlds Conference in San Jose, I have to say I was impressed with the short clip that I saw. At least one of the characters of the show is willing to defend SL, when so many other shows denigrate it. Mr. Zuiker also has had a hand in the experience awaiting us all on the CSI sim, which sounds as though you'll be helping the characters in the show track down the killer. I'm willing to believe. Let's keep our eyes open.

(Thanks, KMeist!)

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)

As this article speculates, Microsoft might be throwing its hat into the ring. Daniel Schiappa, general manager of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft, and reportedly in charge of MSoft's virtual worlds strategy, attended the Virtual Worlds Conference in San Jose, with the enigmatic line " ... by this time next year, you'll probably know more about why I'm up here."

Well, so much for speculation. That's pretty much an open invitation to assume that they're going to have some form of virtual space, whether for a PC box or the XBox 360. Will this signal to the world that it's time to take virtual worlds seriously? Or will it seem another nail in MSoft's coffin to those who say the giant company just doesn't get the online model?

(Via tech.co.uk)

I've met a few Lindens in my time, and more and more with each passing day. I've always been curious as to how a Linden name gets chosen. At the Virtual Worlds Conference on Wednesday, I met Red Linden, who was adorable. She's got a head of vibrant, fiery hair, hence the name (I presume; I didn't ask). But the derivation of other names are less obvious. Pathfinder? Zero? Iridium?

I'm not asking for a bunch of stories of how the various Lindens chose their names (though that'd be fun, if any of you have some good ones), but rather to ask: If you became a Linden, what would your Linden name be, and why?

In Hollywood, things never happen in a vacuum. If one studio has a thriller involving time travel, chances are another will have one ready shortly. To wit: Those of you horrified by the recent episode of Law and Order, in which a SL-like virtual world played a major role, might be equally frightened by this news: CSI: NY will feature its own whodunnit, but this time it really is Second Life that's involved.

Unlike the Law and Order episode, this sounds like it might approach SL with a little more respect. In a nutshell, ace investigator Mac Taylor is called upon to track down the killer of 'the Paris Hilton of Second Life', who has taken over the victim's avatar and assumed her identity. More intriguing than the plot, however, is CSI creator Anthony Zuiker's ideas on pushing viewer involvement further, with the help of the Electric Sheep Company.

There will be follow-up interactivity for viewers to pursue, including visiting NBC's website to try to guess the murderer's identity -- which will remain unknown until the resolution of this episode's cliffhanger, which will be in February of 2008. One of the best things about the embedded clip from that episode is the rundown of SL given by a younger member of the CSI team, talking about the things you can do in SL. When one of his colleagues asks 'Why?', he replies in an isn't-it-obvious-voice: 'It's ... fun?'

For full details, visit the New York Times story on this episode, which airs Oct. 24th. Side note: Mr. Zuiker will be giving the keynote speech at this year's Virtual Worlds Conference in San Jose. It's not too late to register!

(Thanks, John!)