The Hollywood Reporter profiled Reuben as one of five innovators setting the entertainment industry’s agenda.
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CEO Reuben Steiger’s thoughts on advertising and Millions of Us’ role in the industry.

Join Alcatel-Lucent on Thursday November 15^th at 2pm (slt) for a special speaking event with Ajay Pande, Director of Content Partnerships, Convergence Business Group.The Consumer trends have begun…Are we able to deliver a converged platform with a user-driven experience? Ajay will share trends and market drivers that influence device manufactures today and in the future. Be sure to join us and don’t miss out.

Link to event location.

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We were recently able to help out the hosts of Fox Business Channel’s “Money for Breakfast,” Alexis Glick and Peter Barnes, in creating their Second Life avatars, much to the glee of their fellow anchors. Check out the clip.

Early this month Adrienne Haik of Metaversatility founded the group Women Metaverse Developers. What follows is my short interview with Adri, with minor edits for clarity.

Mega Millionsofus: What is Women Metaverse Developers (WMD)?

Adrienne Haik: WMD is a support, networking, and discussion group for women working in virtual world development: programmers, marketers, project managers, producers, women who work either as individuals or with companies. Our purpose is to increase the visibility of women developers in the industry and to provide a space to discuss common experiences, issues, and challenges.

It’s a commonly studied phenomenon that there are more men working in the sciences and technologies than there are women, and we’d like to not only provide support for our own members in this environment, but also act as an example to other women and girls who may aspire to become virtual world developers.

Mega: How did you come up with the idea to form Women Metaverse Developers?

Adri: What I first started noticing was how I felt like the only female developer at most conferences I was attending, like the only woman standing up to talk. That made me consider how feeling alone and isolated tends to perpetuate a gender bias. What finally pushed me to start a group though, was hearing Metaversatility (MV) Community Manager, Haver Cole talk about how happy she was to have found female friends outside of MV who are also developers, who she shared common experiences with. That made me realize that I wasn’t the only person feeling isolated, and also that women in our industry could and ought to become more visible to each other as a group.

Mega: What sort of events, discussions, conferences, etc. are you planning to organize?

Adri: We want to organize at least monthly discussion meetings, as a primary purpose of the group is to provide networking opportunities for our members. These discussions may be topical or may be meet-and-greet style events. We’re planning an ‘unconference’ day of discussions on women’s issues in virtual worlds for early next year, which will take place entirely in Second Life. We also plan to hold face to face meet-ups adjacent to major industry conferences.

Mega: Is this group for and focused exclusively on women developers in Second Life?

Adri: No, we want to appeal to women working in all aspects of the industry, regardless of platform. Second Life is one medium for our discussions, but we also have a Facebook group and will be launching our blog soon.

Mega: How does one get involved in WMD?

Adri: Women (meaning female-identified in daily life) who work in virtual worlds development roles should contact one of the group organizers: Adrienne Haik (SL: Adri Saarinen, adri@metaversatility.com), Katherine de León (SL: Mega Millionsofus, mega@millionsofus.com), or Rebecca Small (SL: Haver Cole, rsmall@metaversatility.com) or join the Facebook group Women Metaverse Developers for more information.

(Note: While we respect immensely the work our in-world business-running colleagues do, this group is primarily focused on business and businesswomen who work mediating the boundaries between worlds.)

Mega: Thanks for your time, Adri!

Adri: Thank you.

Adrienne Haik is a co-founder of Metaversatility where she focuses on business strategy, marketing, and making sure projects run smoothly. Other development companies participating in WMD include but are not limited to: Electric Sheep Company, Linden Lab, Makena Technologies, Massively, Millions of Us, and the New Media Consortium.

In some of the more tech-oriented industries that surround the bay area, there are often cruel stereotypes used to describe the culture of its residents. “Geek,” “nerd,” and “dork,” are just some of the harsh monikers often visited upon those of us who choose to seek out work that involves heavy computer proficiency. But I take exception to these names. Just because we create experiences inside of virtual worlds does not mean we’re automatically a slave to the nerdy cultural trends. We can work in cutting edge social media spaces on the internet all day without becoming geeks.

With that said…

The new film, “Battlestar Galactica: Razor” is fracking awesome. Here’s a few pics from our little company outing last night to check it out…

Theresa andThomas excited to be going into the theater to watch the not-at-all-geektastic film chronicling the story of how the Battlestar Pegasus survived the Cylon genocide.


A bunch of people waiting to watch “Battlestar Galatica: Razor” who are probably geeks… unlike us.

Bart points out the theater sign for a film that is not necessarily nerd oriented at all.

The title screen to a gripping film that tells the story of military leader Admiral Cain and her tragic fall during the exodus from the 12 colonies… and NOT some nerdy science fiction film.

Me attempting to blend in among the geeks. Notice the clever disguise.

Hope all you Battlestar Galatica fans get a chance to check this movie out soon. In the meantime, Michael Verdi, I know you were synchronizing with us and planning to watch the movie simultaneously at 9pm central time. Please let us know how your own not-nerdy-at-all film viewing experience went.

It’s been nearly a year since that serendipitous United Airlines flight I took from NYC to San Francisco. I sat down in seat 5C, only to take a seat next to these two crazy but brilliant internet guys who would later come to change my life. It started out as simply hysterical conversation. If I remember correctly, the first interaction involved us making fun of a guy wearing zebra patterned loafers. Yeah‚Ķwe didn’t get it either. But those gotti loafers just may have gotten me my job with Millions of Us.

Nearly a year later, I come to find myself back in the city where my virtual life began, this time, however, to open the MoU New York office. I look back on the preceding year and a few distinct thoughts come to mind. First, which goes without saying, it went incredibly quickly. We’ve grown from a company with 8 or so people to one with over 30. We’ve worked with some of the largest brands on the planet and have simultaneously created some of the most engaging branded experience across virtual worlds. Our small, talented group of employees has grown into a team of experts with incredibly diverse and rich experience in video game, interactive media and film design. More importantly, we’ve created a team of people who more closely resemble a family than a group of employees at a company. Second, I’ve never worked so hard and had so much fun in my life. The life of a bus dev guy at a successful start is by no means a walk in the park. But it is a good time. And finally, and this is only more recently learned from a New York native (thanks Nathan), Brooklyn is considered to be “in the city.” I won’t get in trouble with that small mistake, again.

So with all this new knowledge, here I am, one year later heading down the oft referred and a tad clich√© rabbit hole. This time, however, I’m taking MoU with me. Where will we go and how we will do it? What is going to happen in 3, 6, 9 and 12 months? I think I’ve got a pretty good idea. But in an effort to keep everyone on their toes and yearning for more‚Ķ

For all those reading that happen to be in NYC or on the East Coast (or anywhere for that matter), please feel free to reach out and say hello (jeff@millionsofus.com). I’m looking for interesting people doing interesting things with interesting experiences‚Ķvirtual or otherwise. I’m looking for people who want to join me for a drink (or 3), lunch, or perusing of my new city. I’m looking for people who want to join me at MoU in New York to help us grow our once small company into the world’s leading agency specializing in connecting brands with online communities. I’m even looking for people who have an interest in rock climbing, hiking, even skiing wherever it is you East Coasters ski. Finally, I’m looking for people who want to show a lifetime West Coaster how things go on the other side of the country.

I leave you now with a quote that one of our producers, Emma, lent to me. Cheesy maybe, but I kind of like it. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” -Muriel Strode

We couldn’t be prouder to announce that we’ve helped the world’s leading
cable news service - CNN, naturally- to launch a hub in Second Life. CNN
will look to those most familiar with the virtual world - SL residents
themselves - to determine what constitutes news in-world. CNN’s presence
maps to its existing and very successful iReport initiative, in which
user-generated content submitted from cell phones, computers, cameras
and other equipment is solicited for distribution on TV or on CNN.com.

When Second Life residents observe an in-world event they deem
newsworthy, they can take snapshots, shoot video, or write a report
about the event and submit to CNN with a click. Submissions selected by
CNN iReport producers will go back into Second Life as SL iReports for
residents to view throughout the virtual world.

The in-world hub includes a news desk where weekly editorial discussions
will be held and an amphitheater for in-world events, such as training
sessions and appearances by CNN anchors and correspondents. During the
weekly editorial discussions, held each Tuesday at 5pm (ET) / 2pm SLT
(PT), one of CNN’s SL iReport ambassadors (CNN producers and editors
with experience in virtual worlds) will moderate a conversation with
residents about the prior week’s SL iReports and upcoming in-world
events that might be interesting to cover.

The hub will include CNN kiosks that supply residents with a host of
tools to help with gathering news in-world.

It’s an honor to be working with CNN. But will James Earl Jones’ voice
resonate quite as deeply in-world? You’ll have to see for yourself…

Splenda is now open and offering a proposal to all in Second Life! Think to yourself what you would want in Second Life to make it better. A HUD that does amazing things? New animations that allows you do to tricks? Or even a building or sculpture? It is up to you. Now, the contest takes place on Splenda Island ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/Splenda/90/113/29/ ), and if you are chosen as the winner you get a 4-day/3-night trip for two to Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona! How awesome is that?!

So here is what you need to do: Go onto Splenda Island: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Splenda/90/113/29/ touch the caramel apple to get the details on submitting. You need to submit a description of your idea on what would make life sweeter (in SL) via note card to the caramel apples throughout the land. If you want to submit a picture, that is perfectly cool too, just make sure your name is on it. The last day to do this is the 30th of Nov. so you have to hurry! We will then judge with a panel on five finalists. From there, we will set out either a mini model or a picture of the proposal and the community will get to vote on it! The winner will not only get their idea built out, but they will get that trip for two to Canyon Ranch in Arizona!!

You have less than three weeks now, start getting those ideas in!

Until then, look out for the fun things to do! The Shake slide, the Lemonade pool, ferris wheel, and inside the cafe, some of the food, when touched, gives out the recipes! Not only that, by going on Splenda island, you get a code for a coupon from their site!

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Millions of Us and¬†Crayon¬†realize the winning design for Coca-Cola’s “Design a Coke Machine” Contest, concepted by Second Life resident¬†Emerie May.