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The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life, 2008-2010 and beyond
This week, we cover the final installment of our summarized history of Second Life and Linden Lab (check out the first installment or the second, if you missed them). It's only possible to cover a tiny fraction of the events that took place in the space we have here, but the highlights paint an interesting picture. We'll be working our way from 2008 to June 2010, and looking at what future directions we expect from there.
RFID bugs found in the bottom of British "wheelie bins"
There's been a bruhaha a brewin' in Britain concerning electronic bugs found on the bottom of curbside garbage bins, or to use the British lingo, wheelie bins. Apparently without the citizenry's knowledge, two German companies, including Sulo and Deister Electronic, are mostly responsible for installing these bugs in cities north of London. For shame, sirs, for shame! The Daily Mail reports that the little buggers (which we assume use RFID) transmit info to the central company database on how full the bins are each time they're lifted by a garbage truck. And of course, the ever-entertaining Conservative MPs are all over this, particularly Andrew Pelling, who told the newspaper: "This is nothing more than a spy in the bin and I don't think even the old Soviet Union made such an intrusion into people's personal lives. It is Big Brother gone mad." We couldn't agree more, sir -- surely Stalin wasn't this diabolical.[Via SmartMobs]
