Open Source moves into the virtual world?

From Linden Lab Reveals the Future of Second Life

Blog post about discussing Second Life’s possible move towards open source and user hosted content. According to the author, Linden Labs is deliberating creating an open source server and allowing other domains to plug into it.

Here is the discussion on the Second Life Wiki

Edit: Some clarification, thanks to taotakashi: “In the end there might also be an open source server but right now it’s more about an open protocol to interconnect virtual worlds based on that proposed architecture…” Read more in the comments

Grape Jelly + Bacteria = Electricity?

From Electricity from bacteria, grape jelly in Ohio

Apparently, researchers from NanoLogix have found a way to induce bacteria to create hydrogen after devouring sugary wastewater. And what better place to get that than a Welch’s plant? The researchers had the microbes create enough hydrogen to power a 5.5 kW generator.

Same position, completely different job

From Economist explains move to virtual world

Interesting interview in which economist Michael Boskin, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under George H. W. Bush, explains part of what he is trying to do now as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors…of Gaia Online. The Council will be looking at everything from virtual money lending to establishing a virtual consumer price index to track the rising or dropping prices of items placed for auction. His team is attempting to develop metrics to gauge the value of the Gaia economy, similar to GDP for the real world. Unlike Second Life, Gaia Online users cannot exchange their Gaia gold for actual cash, which it makes it slightly more difficult for the Council.  The long and short of it is this: a man who is on the Board of Directors at Exxon Mobil is also studying the economy of a video game – nothing short of amazing.

Good News

From Republican senator predicts permanent Net tax ban will pass

The House is moving closer to approving a measure permanently banning taxes on Internet access (as the title of the article would suggest). Although there are some forces attempting to postpone making the ban permanent (the National Governor’s Association, for instance), no one is mentioned as opposing the ban outright.

The freedom to throw your money away

From Maybe the Internet is Good For Something After All?

Opinion piece I agree wholeheartedly with. As long as online gambling website are not violating any laws, why not let people gamble to their hearts’ content?

Partition of Iraq

From The Kurdish Secret and Watch the Sunni Tribes

Two articles by New York Times Op-Ed columnist Thomas Friedman, author of the widely renowned The World Is Flat, discussing the feasibility of breaking Iraq in three autonomous regions with Baghdad dispersing oil revenues between the three states. The first article explains the great success the Kurds have had rebuilding the northern part of Iraq into a fledgling democracy. The powers that believed Kurdistan, for lack of a better term, to be safe enough to open a new American University there. Unfortunately, the success of northern Iraq is very rarely mentioned due to friction between the Kurds, Turks, and Iranians, as evidenced by the struggle between Turkey and Kongra-Gel.

The second article discusses the newfound willingness of local Sunni tribal leaders to assist the US in purging radical elements from the Sunni region of western Iraq. One large problem that has only recently begun abating is lack of funds flowing from the central government in Baghdad.

Law 1: Never Outshine the Master

A Law many of us have to deal with every day: laboring under an insecure boss who can’t stand to be shown up by those whom he considers his inferiors. By allowing the boss to take credit for your work/creativity/anything that makes him appear better than he is, you make your boss grateful to you, rather than angry and paranoid that you are out for his job. By allowing your master to spread his experience and wisdom to you, you make him feel better and you may gain a valuable insight. Plus, if your master continues relying on you to make him look good, it grants you some control over him as he is now partially dependent on you for his image.

From Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power

Economics of Virtual Labor

Avatar Based Workers Unite?

Sweatshop Wages in a Virtual World

Two fascinating articles dealing with labor in Second Life. In the first, the article describes a strike by IBM workers at their virtual campus. The second discusses the rise of virtual service workers, such as receptionists, and the fact they get paid as low as $1/day in real world currency. The question one has to ask when reading these pieces is this: Will having a Virtual Job as your sole source of income soon be a viable means of making a living? It also gives a helluva twist to the meaning of the word “telecommute”

The 48 Laws of Power

48 Laws of Power

An absolutely fantastic book by Robert Greene. Particularly enjoyable to me is how the Laws are broken down into historical examples. I will be summarizing the book one chapter at a time, both for your edification and my own retention of the Laws.

For more Robert Greene, go to his blog Power, Seduction, and War

India: Leading globally, developing locally

From Business Week: Where to Next for India?

India is one of the world’s leading suppliers of IT services. At home, however, things are not quite as cheery. Historically, local firms have to deal with lack of infrastructure, lack of local talent, and government bureaucracy. As noted in another post, India is overcoming the first two problems and overcoming them at an astounding rate. The third problem has been reduced drastically by the opening of India’s economy and liberalization of the government in the early 90s.

Now, with the removal of these hurdles, both local firms and internationals are seeking to expand India’s IT success story to the rest of India outside the corporate compounds of the India multinationals. Companies like IBM and Intel are forming partnerships with local companies to spread computing technology out to rural India, which has by far the biggest technology gap.

With the arrival of huge numbers of technologically savvy graduates from India’s colleges, local IT firms can now compete with the multinationals for talent, allowing them to expand at the rapid rate they’ve been waiting for.

In short, we’re looking at an India that will, in the not too distant future, have many millions of users leveraging IT services.