Edmunds (via edmunds.com) is reporting some interesting news about Scion.

From the article: “The Scion xD, a compact sedan, is slated to replace the outgoing xA and is expected to hit showrooms in spring 2007. In an unusual part of the Scion reveal, the automaker will also stage a simultaneous press conference in Scion City, in the virtual world “Second Life,” to introduce the computer-simulated versions of the ‘08 models. The Scion unveilings will take place February 8. “

There is lots of news today about two of our clients working together, Sun and Intel, for Sun x86 server sales. This is yet another data point indicating that Intel has retaken the lead in CPU architecture with its Core 2 Duo and new Xeon line of processors. I’ve been a fan of Sun hardware going back to my first summer-job at Xerox where I worked exclusively on Sun hardware. Now I just need to get my hands on some of the new gear!

It’s now been over 2 months since I last posted here. What is sad about the lack of posting is that it wasn’t for lack of content. So without further adieu..

First off, I have to mention one of our clients, Fox Atomic, who we are creating an amazing series of backdrops for over on the Fox Atomic region. The region has been mentioned here before on the blog, but I think it’s worth mentioning again. For all you machinimists out there, if your looking for some cool backdrops to use in your narratives, here they are! Including the Hills Have Eyes (desert, cliffs and mine backdrop), Combacks (your college football field), 28 Weeks Later (Infested London), and of course or launch set Touristas (tropical island). Come, film and let us know about it!

On a completely different topic, my mission for the last 3 months has been to synchronize my Google calendar with my Blackberry 8700. Up until today I have had no success, but alas, Companion Link has finally come through with a solution via the Outlook <-> Blackberry Desktop software and some automatic scheduling, I’m finally in email, calendar, contact heaven on the 8700. About time (slight pun intended)!

I’m really excited to announce that Sun’s Tim Bray and Simon Phipps alongside Mark Shuttleworth will be hosting a Q&A session in the Second Life Sun Pavilion http://tinyurl.com/m338r this coming Monday, November 13th, at 1:00 PM PST. The Q&A session is to follow an announcement that morning by Sun via webcast and other media channels. We will be broadcasting the webcast at the Sun Pavilion to kick off the Q&A session.

A bit more about the hosts, as these guys have really interesting backgrounds: Tim Bray is Sun’s Director of Web Technologies and a co-inventor of XML and Simon Phipps is Sun’s Chief Open Source Officer. Joining them will be Mark Shuttleworth, the Founder of the Ubuntu project (and one of my favorite Linux distributions), and odd tidbit, the version of Linux I used to run (and test) the Second Life Linux Alpha when I worked at Linden.

We hope to see you at the event. Please RSVP via Second Life Instant Message to Ted Millionsofus or myself (Chris Millionsofus) if you are planning on attending.

First off David Kirkpatrick, Fortune senior editor, published a piece about Second Life with the premise that Second Life is not over hyped, it’s important, and not going away.
The following quote really captures the power behind this medium “… one of the great things about Second Life is that whenever you are doing anything, you can see the other people who are nearby as well. This brings a dimension of social life - so elemental to how we live our lives offline - to the Internet in a way that up to now the Web has not. In Second Life everything you do is done in a social space, though you can get privacy if you want.”

But that’s not enough for a Friday! Gina Chon, of The Wall Street Journal, published today an article about Scion’s and it’s strategy to stay cutting edge. A part of that strategy is Scion’s entry into Second Life, which of course we have blogged about considerably here. The bulk of the article goes into the details of Scion sales strategy for the upcoming year and the challenges faced by an upstart brand when it has the potential to become to popular for its own good.
That all said, I can’t write about Scion and not post some of the latest virtual Scion that I have seen aroun Scion City.

You really come to appreciate the power of the platform when during your launch party, people already show up with customized cars. Congrats Dedric Mauriac for being one of the first to get their Scion xB modified!

Today, Millions of Us launched “Inside Millions of Us”, a new open-enrollment group within Second Life. This group will be the social hub of all Millions of Us activity.

If you are interested in what Millions of Us is up to and want to be the first to hear of the exciting events and launches then you will want to join “Inside Millions of Us”

For developers interested in joining the Millions of Us fold, we will also be making early announcements of potential openings via Inside Millions of Us

Lastly, we want there to be a tangible benefit for being a member of our extended family. So for example, for invitation-only events, members of Millions of Us we have preferential invitation treatment over non-members.
What are you waiting for? Join “Inside Millions of Us”!

This Saturday’s National Post has an article on Virtual Worlds, most specifically Weblo and Second Life. I think the most interesting thing this article brings up is the obvious desire to compete against Second Life. Companies like Weblo are so desperate to get a piece of the puzzle that they are launching and selling space without having even launched a virtual world yet.

But I think what is most telling, and indicative that the metaverse is going mainstream, is that people are willing to speculate on these virtual worlds. They are investing into them on that probability of large returns over time on their investment.

All in all, this is great news for Millions of Us. Competition in the metaverse will ultimately benefit the consumer. How? Eventually companies creating virtual worlds will be forced to compete on price, performance and features.

As a social media company, our medium of expression is a combination of the metaverse and web. Through competition, more features will allow us to expand the amount and availability of the metaphorical brush streaks we can use in expressing our campaigns. This will inevitably allow Millions of Us to create more interesting experiences for our customers and their customers in turn. In theory, everyone wins.

There is a great article in this week’s Economist on Second Life. It contains, among other things, an interesting break down of the Web 2.0 Ad-driven business model vs. Second Life‚Äôs business model. It also mentioned some of the companies coming in to SL to create awerness of their brands or to hold events around their companies. Of course, I‚Äôm thrilled that it mentioned many of our clients, including Toyota, Sun Microsystems and Mark Warner.