BusinessWeek’s Kenji Hall recently sought Reuben’s input on Joi Ito’s still-relatively-new role as head of Creative Commons. Reuben has known Joi personally and professionally for some time, and we’re especially happy to participate in conversations about online IP given the July launch of our IP-protected celebrity virtual goods business, Virtual Greats.
Bart Cheever, our VP of Production also happens to be Bart Blackstone the DJ. I beamed him into my virtual studio the other day and we talked about his Kill Bill mashups (download Hanzo Steel Vol. 1), The Postmarks, Yo Gabba Gabba and more.
Several current MoU employees and alumni had the good fortune to study under Randy Pausch at Carnegie-Mellon University. Dr. Pausch has become widely known over the last year for his “final lecture” delivered on Sept. 18, 2007. This was a very affecting - to say the least - presentation in which he urged his students to treasure and protect their sense of childlike wonder. He also spoke of his love for his wife and kids and the curiosity that essentially drove him forward in life. Dr. Pausch gave the presentation because he had recently been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. He died this past Friday.
We became familiar with Randy before there was a book or a segment on Oprah. A couple of our colleagues, former students both, had heard of his final lecture through the CMU community and encouraged us to watch it streamed live from Pittsburgh. We had no idea it would become such a sensation - credited with helping people move on from divorce, choose life over suicide, or escape from abusive relationships - but it’s hardly surprising.
It so happens that Randy was one of the world’s pre-eminent experts on what The New York Times called in his obituary “computer worlds that students could use to create games. [His students] were learning sophisticated computer skills. His annual virtual reality contest was highly anticipated, and work on virtual reality by some of his students won them the chance to experience weightlessness on an aircraft. They then used virtual reality techniques to mimic weightlessness.”
The technical and creative skills that Randy taught are at the heart of our virtual worlds industry. What a pleasure it is to work in a business defined by thinkers motivated by wonder, curiosity, whimsy, and imagination. I personally treasure my sense of childlike wonder and think that losing it to cynicism, emotional exhaustion, “sophistication,” or anything along those lines would almost be worse than death itself.
But let’s not take ourselves too seriously, because life is short. After learning that his lecture was being compared to “Tuesdays with Morrie,” a popular book about wisdom its author gleaned from a dying college professor, Randy told USA Today he “didn’t know there was a dying-professor section at the bookstore.”
Eric Caoili over at Worlds in Motion was among those picking up today’s big MoU staffing announcement: adland veteran Brian Dunbar, most recently with Goodby, Silverstein in SF, joins us as EVP for Client Services. Read all about it here.
Last Friday we had a BBQ out at Paradise Beach in Tiburon so, of course, I had to bring my camera along (reposted from my videoblog).
Given the ongoing conversations he has across the interactive advertising, social media, entertainment and virtual world spaces, Reuben is fast becoming an oft-cited authority at the messy intersection of these disciplines. MediaWeek’s Mike Shields today quoted Reuben weighing in on the implications of the recent reorg at Fox Interactive for advertisers pushing into social media. MySpace is obviously central to this discussion.
Be sure to check out Reuben’s first contribution to AdAge’s new DigitalNext blog, which AdAge describes as follows: “a collection of news and opinions on the emerging media and technology space and its opportunities and impact on marketers. The group’s esteemed (and opinionated) contributors run agencies, startups, and creative departments and hail from all sorts of disciplines, including design and user interface, social networking and community, mobile, gaming and virtual worlds.”
Already the recipient of an LACP Spotlight award, last fall’s WWE SummerSlam in Gaia campaign has been recognized as an Honoree by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, best known for putting on the Webby Awards, aka “The Oscars of the Internet.”
Back in October 2007, Electrolux in conjunction with Gronstedt and Millions of Us announced a grant program for Second Life residents to submit ideas for useful devices designed to solve a specific challenge. After several months of hard work from Ann Enigma (SL name) / Hilary Mason (RL name), Electrolux is proud to present the Infofez, a cool fez that you wear, designed to let you experience the cultural and educational information in any build that contains the distribution nodes. Come get your own Infofez on April 7th, 2008 at noon SLT in the Electrolux Innovision Hub. Ann will be there to answer questions and talk about the Infofez which will be set up to display information around the Innovision Hub.
As you travel around the Innovision Hub, information will appear on the bottom left of your screen or your “Near Me” chat box when you approach specific areas. You can also turn it on/off whenever you choose by clicking on the fez to configure it.
During the launch party Electrolux will announce another exciting opportunity for SL residents to get involved in helping shape the future of SL innovations.
Contact: Mat Small
Telephone: 415-332-3054
Email: mat@millionsofus.com
It’s been a crazy week! Monday morning, bright and early SLT we had the ribbon cutting for virtual Palomar West. An excellent crowd joined us for the event, including some rather notable members of the SL press! Mat beat me to the punch about linking the Massively article, but I wanted to share some of the others I’ve found as well:
The Grid Live: Combining a slew of wonderful pictures with a quick description of the build and his experience, Stone Culdesac writes about his experience at Palomar West.
Cisco Newsroom: Announcing the opening of the sim at the HIMSS Conference, this site has some great facts about the future of the build, and details on the amazing technological additions to the hospital.
Your2ndPlace: Evansmom Goodspeed is not only a fun person to talk to, she’s also an excellent writer! Check out her scope of the project at this popular Second Life blogging community.
New World Notes: Last but not least, a late entry, for I am blind. The formerly embedded but still journalist Hamlet Au explains how Lauren is evil to him. Poor guy.
Thanks to everyone that attended throughout the day for making it a fun and education experience!
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