Oddcast is taking its talking avatars to the next logical place: virtual worlds. The company is launching a new product called AvatarSpace, a Web application that enables custom avatars to talk to one another through voice or text. However, as opposed to massive services like SecondLife or Club Penguin, Oddcast is targeting individual brands, allowing them to launch their own mini-virtual worlds as opposed to either developing their own or buying ad space in an established one.

The features of AvatarSpace aren’t nearly as advanced as those of some of the larger virtual worlds – it’s more of a group chat that utilizes Oddcast’s existing avatar technology. Using your own voice, you can talk to other avatars in a given chat room, or type them a message via text. Users in the room can also watch videos simultaneously. Moving around is simple enough, and can be done either via your computer’s arrow keys or mouse.

Meanwhile, as opposed to a service like Google Lively, where individual rooms around the Web can still be inter-connected, Oddcast’s rooms are strictly meant to live on the website where they are published. This is because the company is not looking to build a massive virtual world, but rather, provide an inexpensive solution to companies that want to keep visitors on their websites longer.

For Oddcast, AvatarSpace opens up a whole new line of business beyond the one-to-one interactions previously offered for functions like sales and e-learning. While CEO Adi Sideman tells me the technology will be used mostly for promotions with things like multi-user game shows and karaoke, it could also conceivably create a new way to do sales or customer service, especially with the built-in video player.

AvatarSpace launches today in beta, with an official launch expected to come late this year, when the company will also move to 3D avatars from the current “2.5D.”

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Picture Yourself a Bridezilla, with WE.tv and Oddcast VideosOddCast’s New API: Talking Avatars Are Coming To A Community Near YouMySpace Avatars from SitepalMake Your Pet Do the Talking with allaboutpets’ Version of Elf YourselfOddcast Launches Voki: The Right Avatars for MySpaceBuild Your Own Avatar Community with the Voki PlatformNickelodeon Adds Social Networking Features to its Casual Gaming Sites

Metallica’s new album has leaked out a week or two early, unsurprisingly.  It isn’t surprsing because it’s Metallica, but that it happens to most every artist these days.  Some record store somewhere will sell a copy or two earlier than they should, one of those folks will share it with their friends, and lickety-split, it’s all over the Intertubes.

In this case, that’s almost exactly what happened, according to Blabbermouth

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich has commented on the premature release of the band’s new album, ”Death Magnetic”, via a French record store. A shop in Paris reportedly sold a number of copies of the CD this morning well ahead of its official September 12 worldwide release date — with illegal ”Death Magnetic” MP3 files making their way online by this afternoon.

During a guest appearance earlier today on ”The Woody Show” on the San Francisco, California radio station Live 105 (KITS 105.3 FM), Ulrichstated about the French leak,

“Listen, we’re ten days from release. I mean, from here, we’re golden. If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days. Happy days. Trust me. Ten days out and it hasn’t quote-unquote fallen off the truck yet? Everybody’s happy. It’s 2008 and it’s part of how it is these days, so it’s fine. We’re happy.”

This is the happy face that Metallica seems to be putting on this particular leak, and I’m not buying it for even a minute. Consistently since their role in the demise of Napster, they’ve maintained an adversarial role with their fans that continues to this day.  

If you remember, they were handed accolades in the blogosphere several months ago when they agreed to release their album free of DRM in digital format. Sean P. Aune wrote a post on his personal blog that at the time I thought was a little harsh, essentially saying the band was still clueless, and was nowhere close to “getting it.”

Their cluelessness a few days later was futher confirmed when they had their management issue takedown requests to all who reviewed the album based on invited advanced listenings.

I think our president once said something like “fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” With eloquence like that, you have to wonder, but I think even he would be a bit wary of Metallica’s true feelings on this.  

I’m guessing they aren’t going to get involved in another ridiculous lawsuit or criminal pursuit against the pirates of the world, but mark my words: if Metallica’s album sales aren’t simply spectacular, look for an irritated and enraged Lars Ulrich coming soon to a press conference near you to blame all the pirates of the world for preventing Metallica fans from keeping his private jet fueled up.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:RCMP Says: Piracy OK (for Personal Use)Metallica Has Smoked Themselves RetardedDon’t Download Illegally in France AnymoreDRM-free MP3s from Warner Music Now Available on AmazonStudy Confirms: Piracy Is Better Than The Real ThingHey, I Know A Way To Get Windows XP After June 30NBC Exec Heats Up Battle Against Piracy

Source:Mashable!

It didn’t take long for Second Life, a leader in 3D Virtual Worlds, to respond to There.com’s announcement of new features.The most compelling new feature There.com revealed was its innovative ThereIM which would allow its members to chat in 3D and 2D worlds at the same time. Not to be out-done by their competition, Second Life has announced their own instant messenger called SLim™ (Second Life Instant Messenger) that will work in the 2D and 3D worlds.

A whole New Virtual World

The thin client SLim™ will be a voice and text instant messaging client that will enable Second Life Residents to conduct voice or text conversations with members of their Second Life Friends list in and out of the virtual world. While the Second Life viewer will still serve as the primary communication engine, SLim is capable of running on any computer and offers users a voice-enabled instant messaging client that extends the value of the Second Life platform beyond the virtual world.

Breaking down the Barriers

Allowing communication between the virtual world and the regular online world is a major hurdle that has hampered wider acceptance of that platform. Taking down this barrier will be a boon not only for entertainment purposes but also for commercial and corporate endeavors. Enabling interaction between these two separate worlds will surely take 3D virtual worlds to the next level.

Additional features of the SLim client:

- Provides residents with access to their Second Life Friends list with real-time “presence” status updates

- Enables users to seamlessly migrate a text conversation into a voice call

- Allows SLim users to leave voice mails for offline friends

Availability

Linden Lab and Vivox will be demonstrating the benefits of SLim at this week’s Virtual Worlds Conference in Los Angeles, California. The official release date has not been made public.

Conclusion

The future of 3D virtual worlds looks brighter than ever thanks to the two announcements made by There.com and Second Life. We can all expect more innovation to come from this platform as it becomes more integrated with the rest of our online experiences.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Armani in Second LifeSecond Life Gets Identity VerificationThe Future Of Linden Lab Following Executive ShuffleSecond Life Teams Up With IBM for Virtual World InteroperabilitySecurity Experts Expose Costly Vulnerability in Second LifeNew App Merges Facebook and Second LifeDoes Second Life Need a Reuters Office?

HiPiHi, China’s answer to Second Life has opened its doors to the public with a beta test that includes free features. We first wrote about HiPiHi in August 2007 when the company called for the establishment of virtual world standards and interoperability.
German’s are famed for their ability to clone sites, but the Chinese aren’t […]

I met up with Robert Scoble last night at an Orange party in San Francisco (my photos from the party are here). He brought along his Amazon Kindle and let me and others test it out. It was the first time I’d held one - the Kindle I bought hasn’t arrived yet and my co-editor […]Source:Techcrunch
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