As traffic in the real-world museum is somewhat limited, the museum's curator, Avnet's Director of Multimedia Services, Bryan Carter, suggested an experiment with recreating the museum experience, down to the minutest detail, in the virtual world to bring it to more people, or avatars, as they're called in Second Life. "The result is a real geek-fest," according to Carter. "Visitors to Avnet's space in Second Life tell us they're fascinated with the in-world freebies on our giveaway table, with the ability to zoom in on objects in the museum and with the speedboat trips they can make around the Avnet island."

Highly interactive, the Avnet Second Life experience gives in-world visitors the opportunity to talk to the receptionist, an artificial intelligence greeter named Samantha, and also to ask for more information about Avnet, inquire about job openings and find out who the trading partners are that Avnet works with in the real world.

Carter says one of the recent visitors went giddy when he experienced the virtual recreation of the Leak Amplifier in the museum. "I had one of these!" the nostalgic visitor noted on his guest comment card.

"Resources allocated to Second Life are considered R&D investments, since the platform is new and many of the sales, marketing and training possibilities it offers haven't even been thought of yet," said Jan Jurcy, Avnet's vice president of digital communications. "We look at this as another piece of the social media revolution. In fact, all of the buzz we've created so far with Avnet's presence on Second Life has come from word of mouth among visitors. Wow. We've come full circle in the communications arena - all the way back to people simply telling other people. Well, ok, they're probably telling each other via their BlackBerrys."

Virtual New York City is all decked out for the holidays. A festive window display in a downtown department store stunned early morning shoppers when they saw a trail of broken snowflakes leading to a beautiful blonde angel drowned in a life-sized snowglobe.

The virtual CSIs have been called in to investigate, and they need your help. Visit the crime scene and gather evidence. Then analyze it and track down the angel's killer!

HBO said on Tuesday it has acquired the rights to a short-form documentary shot entirely within Second Life, as entertainment companies increasingly turn to virtual worlds as a source for new content.

"My Second Life: The video diaries of Molotov Alta" purports to tell the story of a man who "disappeared from his California home" and began issuing video dispatches from Second Life. The popular virtual world, which has its own currency and a growing economy, has drawn millions of users who create alter egos called avatars and interact with people from around the world.

HBO, the premium channel owned by Time Warner Inc, paid a six-figure sum for the rights, Douglas Gayeton, who made the film, said in an interview. Gayeton, who uses the avatar Molotov Alta in Second Life, said the documentary is scheduled for release in 2008.

Second Life has hosted dozens of real world companies in the past year, usually as a means of promoting products like cars or movies. However, Hollywood has been increasingly interested in using worlds like Second Life as virtual movie sets, a process known as machinima.

The MetaCard works in the same way as a normal first life credit card works. Applicants are provided with a credit limit and present the card when purchasing goods at merchants who accept the card.

MetaCard comes in two flavors: Basic and Gold. The Basic card is subject to a avatar check and provides a credit limit of L$5000 ($18.60) per month. A Gold MetaCard offers a credit limit of L$10,000 ($37.20) per month and can only be obtained by providing real world credentials and a real life credit card for automatic payments. Interest is charged at between 0.13% and 0.15% per day, which would we roughly 54% per annum, but compounding. Payments are 2% of the total amount used plus fees outstanding at the end of the month, and users have 21 days to make their monthly payment. MetaCard holders must also spend L$500 ($1.86) per month or face a monthly maintenance fee of L$300 ($1.12).

FirstMeta also offers MetaCard holders a savings account under the MetaSavings brand, offering interest rates of between 0.06%-0.09% daily.

People controlling animated avatar members of a self-proclaimed Second Life Liberation Army (SLLA) have set off computer-code versions of atomic bombs at virtual world stores in the past six months -- with their own manifesto.

The SLLA claims to be an "in-world military wing of a national liberation movement" devoted to replacing the rule of Second Life creator Linden Labs with a democracy representing the nearly four million residents.

"As Linden Labs is functioning as an authoritarian government the only appropriate response is to fight," the SLLA said in a message on its website at http://secondlla.googlepages.com.

"When the SLLA succeeds in its aims it will disband and hand power back to the political wing of the movement."

Creative dissent is welcomed in Second Life as long as it doesn't interfere with the ability of other residents to enjoy the virtual world, according to San Francisco-based Linden.

Second Life said it stopped charging a tax on items created by residents after avatars fashioned in the images of American revolutionaries recreated the Boston Tea Party in the virtual world about three years ago.

The virtual bomb blasts in Second Life explode in hazy white balls, blotting out portions of a screen and battering nearby avatars, animated figures that are residents' proxies in the virtual world.

The project is being run by the Swedish Institute - a promotional body which works alongside the foreign ministry.

Institute director Olle Waestberg said the virtual embassy would reach many young people and provide information about Sweden.

Second Life has about three million users worldwide, who create and develop virtual characters - called "avatars".

Several real-world companies have created virtual shops in Second Life.

The Swedish Institute says the embassy will not issue passports and visas, but it will inform users how to get them in the real world.

Virtual world Second Life just surpassed two million registered users, exactly two months after it hit one million residents. Yes, the churn rate is high and only 829,537 have logged on in the last two months, but that is still phenomenal growth.

The question is, Can Second Life get enough people to come back a second time or more? If $850,000 is truly changing hands every 24 hours and that money can be taken out of Second Life, then I think the answer will be yes.

Mr. Pasick's avatar, Adam Reuters, was modeled after the reporter, and sports a press pass so others know he buys his pixels by the barrel. He will set up shop in a virtual building made to look like a hybrid of Reuters' London and Times Square buildings.

While players who drop in (flying is one of only a few superhuman aspects of Second Life) can access Reuters news from the real world, the articles Mr. Pasick files will be strictly about - and addressed to - Second World players. One of his first examines Second Life's biggest lender, who charges 40 percent annual interest. His dispatches will be posted at secondlife.reuters.com.

"I've been playing in Second Life since it was a relatively small community," said Thomas H. Glocer, Reuters' chief executive. Mr. Glocer allowed that some might question the wisdom of parachuting the legendary 155-year-old news agency into such a geekfest.

"This is a very serious, old brand that stands for things and has principles, but that doesn't take itself so seriously that it wouldn't play in a gaming space," Mr. Glocer said. "This appeals to a younger demographic. Even for people who don’t go in and play in Second Life, it shows Reuters has a certain with-it-ness."

Congratulations to the whole SL community and all of us at Linden Lab on reaching 1 Million residents signed up!! Second Life is growing because together we are all building content, welcoming new people, expanding the community, and adding new capabilities to the system. It is amazing to be a part of such an experience - I can't possibly imagine any job I'd more love coming to every day. We’re trying hard to find a moment here at the office to celebrate...

Now, on the not-so-mushy side, our performance and experience right now for new users is not good! We’ve been able to handle 10,000 new residents or more every day (which is a mind-altering 10x increase since April of this year), but right now the media coverage we are getting is taking us to unreal levels of new users - we will probably sign up more than 50,000 new people today. The new user system is fairly scalable, but it will take us a few days at least to adapt to this level of load. As a result we’ve got slow website performance, way too many people on the orientation islands, and an overloaded set of new user landing points in the main grid.

To date, Linden Lab has doled these real names out on a very selective basis. Many "Second Life" residents have been asking about the company's policy, but to date it has been mum, largely because it didn't seem to know what it planned to do.

Now, according to an internal source, Linden Lab has finally settled on its plan for real names. And if you're a single mother on a budget, you probably won't be benefiting.

That's because the company has decided, CNET News.com has learned, to charge individuals who want a real last name a $100 setup fee and a $50-a-year maintenance fee. Companies that want their corporate name can have unlimited accounts for a $1,000 setup fee and $500 a year.

That means that we'll be seeing more instances of companies like Sun populating the world with last names like "SunMicrosystems."

The NOAA's sim is called Meteroa, which is derived from the Greek adjective meteoras which means 'suspended in the air' (Full disclosure, I'm Greek). On this lovely island sim you can find fully interactive educational demonstrations about the ocean and weather. Examples include a sea life submarine ride created by The Magicians, and two different tsnuami demos by Aimee Weber Studios and Electric Sheep Company. Other fun stuff includes a demonstration of a real-time temperature map powered by Yahoo, narration by Exploratorium Chief Scientist Paul Doherty, an airplane ride into a hurricane, and a melting glacier demonstration.

If you already know a little something about the surname Linden, you should check out our shiny new blog just for you: Second Life Insider. If you haven't tried Second Life, you might want to check out the blog anyway, as it made me try the game. Here's a sampling of the posts so far:

Virtual ride sold for $2k USD

Wanted: Second Life Tour Guides

Suzanne Vega to Perform Live in Second Life

Slash Fiction Comes to Second Life

"The aloft brand is about providing an escape from the ordinary and reinventing everyday experiences," said Brian McGuinness, vice president of aloft brand development. "Our debut within Second Life will give digital travelers a chance to dream in another dimension, and unwind their virtual selves in our social spaces, such as w xyz, our aloft bar. They will be able to provide feedback on our designs and self-service features like the re:fuel grab & go gourmet food area - all before the first groundbreaking."

Created in 2003 by San-Francisco based Linden Lab, Second Life is a virtual online world where trendsetters are flocking to exchange ideas, egos and virtual property using "avatars," or highly-customized 3D representations of themselves. The act of placing a real-world entity, such as aloft brand, into the fantasy realm of Second Life has becoming a growing trend. Most recently, American Apparel became the first retail chain to open a virtual store in Second Life. Major League Baseball also created a "Baseball" island on Second Life, which hosted live television coverage of this year's MLB Home-Run Derby on virtual stadium Jumbotrons while the event was simulated on the virtual field.

Through Second Life, the aloft brand is educating thousands of potential customers about its differentiated lifestyle brand. In the same way W Hotels broke through the clutter of conformity in the upscale hotel arena, aloft will raise the bar in the select-service category, offering loft-style guestrooms, bright, airy environments with 9-foot ceilings, oversized windows and energetic social centers. By the time the real-life hotels open, aloft hotels will already feel like home for many.

In addition to the aloft brand's debut inside Second Life, the new brand's technology focus includes large, HDTV ready flat-panel televisions, plug & play (the aloft brand's one stop connectivity solution incorporating power and audio/video connections for multiple electronic gadgets), and Wi-Fi internet access throughout the hotel.

The gaming community calls them "griefers": people who like nothing better than to kill team-mates or obstruct the game's objectives. Griefers scam, cheat and abuse, often victimising the weakest and newest players. In games that attempt to encourage complex and enduring interactions among thousands of players, "griefing" has evolved from being an isolated nuisance to a social disease.

The players of World of Warcraft were left with a similar conundrum in March, when a group of gamers performed an act whose only purpose was to cause emotional pain. The death of a member of the community inspired her fellow gamers to hold a virtual funeral, which was raided by a malicious mob that made short work of the mourners, all of whom had relinquished their weapons as a sign of respect. Since the funeral was naively held in a zone designed for combat, few could question the legitimacy of the attack within the game's rules. None the less, the mourners were outraged, not at the penalties their characters would have to suffer, but at the brazen attack on their feelings.

"I expect we'll see more and more self-government," says Scott Jennings, game developer and author of Massively Multiplayer Games For Dummies. "The reason is fairly obvious if not particularly noble: it's less expensive for game companies to have their customers police themselves than hire people to do it. The trick, and why you don't see it generally, is to construct self-policing schemes in such a way that they don't enable unscrupulous players to use them as tools of grief."