Man vs Second Life

Wondering what is Second life??

Second Life, an online community run by a company called Linden Labs, is an electronic three dimensional universe (a virtural world) where people, with their digital persona, called avatars, can chat, fly, teleport, browse stores and purchase goods. One can explore various business communities, shop and enjoy plethora of experiences.

Its like being amidst millions of people in a world that looks, feels like the one we live in. Interact with people from various walks of life like programmers, attorneys, artists, doctors, students and discover a fast growing digital world filled with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunities. It’s easy and exciting to share experiences and views. Interact via text chat or even talk for free! Looks like the only thing we cannot literally do in there is a handshake.

Big names in business like NOKIA, IBM, Domino’s Pizza, AVID clothing etc. are doing their business expansions on Second Life by seminars, conferences and other services.

I had a chance to check how being in the virtual world feels like. I walked places, talked to people, attended a conference. I visited IBM and NOKIA islands and met people from their business on Second Life.

Experience with Nokia folks was quite exciting. I walked into a conference that was going out live on television unknowingly. The folks there welcomed me though. The chief Digistar Brouwer courteously offered me a seat. I got a chance to get my questions answered after the conference. I got to know quite a lot about what benefits Nokia has by its presence on Second Life. Click on the Nokia radio button at the top left of this page to read more about Nokia's presence on Second Life.

I talked to a person from IBM too. Click on IBM radio button at the top left corner of this page to get a crux of information that I found out about IBM's presence on Second Life

Second Life is a home to more than one million users and it boasts a strong currency – half a million US dollars change hands everyday through Virtual World .

Curious to know more??

Get started by creating an avatar, your identity on Second Life, and start talking to people. Click on the Second Life logo at the top left corner of this page to visit Second Life website. Click on the "View Second Life introduction video" link on the left side of the page to know more.

See you on Second Life :)

Locate friends electronically

How cool would it be to just turn your cell phone on and get to know where your friends are at? Google Latitude helps you do just that. Latitude, the new feature on Google maps lets you share your location information and status message with friends.

This is how you get started on this. Visit www.google.com/latitude on your mobile. From Gmail contact list, add friends and family you want to share your location information with. On acceptance of the location share request, other person starts showing up on the map.

Hold on, this is not quite it. Even after accepting the invite, you have control over your privacy. You wouldn't want your manager to be able to see you around on his map if you are on a holiday, would you? You can set the privacy level for each friend, sharing just the city level location or even hiding your location completely. Watch the video below for security tips on using google latitude.

If just viewing friends on your map doesnt sound exciting enough, there is more you can do with friends on Latitude - send an email/message, call or chat using Google Talk or even get directions to the location your friend is at.

If you are wondering how google does this, this section may interest you. Google does this by Wi-Fi mapping i.e. thru the help of the wireless communication network (hot spots). This would mean that there are chances that Latitude may misplace you on the map if you are at a place where wi-fi network strength is not quite strong enough. This may leave you pondering how accurate Google latitude is. It can figure out your location within about 200 meters if you are working with W-Fi access points (hot spots). The links under more reading should quench your curiosity about the working of Google Latitude.

* Images used in this post are borrowed from www.google.com/latutude