kevin-alderman
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Second Life designers burned at Burning Life
Remember Kevin Alderman (known in Second Life as Stroker Serpentine), CEO of Eros LLC who is one of the plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit against Linden Lab for negligence with respect to security and failing to act in accordance with their obligations under the DMCA? Well, it can't be a good week for either him or for the Lab. During Linden Lab's Burning Life event in Second Life this year (a sort of living pop-art showcase and party that draws many spectators) persons only presently known to the server logs left a cache of copied content, including at least one of Alderman's latest products, and a whole swag of other content belonging to other designers – free for the taking. It isn't really Burning Life's fault, but if you had to place the stuff somewhere where many people would take it, none-the-wiser that it was unlawful content, that would be the best place at this time of the year.
Eros LLC, Shannon Grei form class action against Linden Lab for infringement
Eros LLC, and graphic designer Shannon Grei (Munchflower Zaius) have filed a class-action lawsuit against Linden Research Inc, more commonly known as Linden Lab, developers and operators of popular virtual environment Second Life, on behalf of themselves and of copyright/trademark holders and Second Life content creators. Filed in the Court of the Northern District of California yesterday, the complaint defines four groups of class action and alleges: four counts of trademark infringement (two direct, one contributory, and one vicarious), four counts of copyright infringement (two direct, one contributory, and one vicarious), a breach of California Business Professional Codes §§ 17200 and 17500, one of Intentional Interference with Economic Relations, and one of Negligent Interference with Economic Relations.
Phatland for sale: Famous island to go on eBay
Phatland (aka Phat Cat's Jazz club) was originally founded by Dilbert Dilweg and Charity Colville, two people who met in Second Life, worked together, fell in love, and forged a successful and lasting relationship in the physical world -- not an uncommon story. Indeed, it seemed like Phatland and its club grew with their romance, up until mid 2007 or so Phatland was one of the single most popular places in Second Life by any reasonable reckoning. When the couple moved to be with each-other in the physical world, they needed to make some changes in their lives, as one might expect. And that included the sale of Phatland. The sale went through, but not everything went smoothly with Phatland after that, and Dilbert and Charity were banned from the site. Phatland's traffic started to fall significantly. Where there had once been 90 or more users at all hours of the day, soon the site seemed to be a mere shadow of its former success. Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.
Goodbye, virtual environments. Hello, real environments.
With all the talk about virtual environments (virtual world is, after all, something of a misnomer), what if you could use the real environment and bring the virtual to you? That's been the fundament of Augmented Reality for some time, and the core of many a spirited discussion -- the overlaying of information, images, representation onto what we perceive of the real world. Information about products, places, people, directions to destinations. What about games? What if you could layer a gamespace into your physical environment? Or a non-game virtual environment, like Second Life, for example? The Escapist's Howard Wen talks to Blain MacIntyre, Associate Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology who has been one of several researchers there hacking on the Second Life viewer, adding Augmented Reality features to the software. Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.
The emperor's new suit
Back in the day, when Kevin Alderman (Second Life's Stroker Serpentine) was selling his hugely successful and popular virtual Amsterdam setting, he hinted that he was moving into a related line of business. Well, we know now what business it is that he's been getting into: wearable, affordable, consumer-grade motion-capture suits. Frankly, the expensive professional capture systems that have largely been de-rigueur for motion capture for most of the history of the art require a ton of space, huge amounts of computing power, and that you dress like a luge sled pilot that's been infected with evil-alien-mime DNA and is being assaulted by amorous Pythagorean solids. Those days are soon to be over. Alderman's company Strocap is working on a simple, wireless, wearable motion-capture suit that doesn't make you look any more retarded than the average outfit of expensive athletic gear. You can wear this with regular clothing -- or without it, depending on just exactly what sorts of motions you want to capture.
Cinemassively: Stroker Serpentine Interview
(Given the fact that this is a morning show, language, nudity, and anything potentially offensive is missing.)When I first met Stroker Serpentine, the king of adult products in Second Life, at SLCC 2006, I was expecting someone creepy. However, he was one of the kindest people I've ever met. He was supposed to speak at SXSW last week, but ended up cancelling due to this CBS Early Show interview.In the video, Tracey Smith asked Stroker some candid questions about his profession in SL. What struck me most is that they portrayed it objectively, instead of sensationally. They even featured viewpoints from escorts and a cyber law expert!
Leatherwood misses response deadlines. Likely win for Eros LLC
Texan teen, Robert Leatherwood, who is being sued by Eros LLC as being behind the avatar Volkov Cattaneo, has failed to respond to papers served to him last month. Eros LLC's attorney, Frank Taney is petitioning the court for a default verdict. In many cases, if you fail to respond or appear, you lose. The default judgement would run at a bit over two thousand US dollars, plus costs. If you're wondering what all this is about, allow me to sum it up.
