Via (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/17/new-funding-for-a-new-world-erepublik-raises-e2-million/)
At eRepulik (http://www.erepublik.com/en) you can “Change the world and rewrite history” “Become your country’s president” “Become a citizen and change the world” “Build the biggest virtual company in the world” “Be a hero by leading your country to battle”. Let’s try it!
Via (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/17/new-funding-for-a-new-world-erepublik-raises-e2-million/)
Stratim Capital (http://www.stratimcapital.com/) buys out a Second Life(tm) (http://www.secondlife.com) investor, to . Partner in the firm Zach Abrams states “it doesn’t look like it (Second Life) will need to raise another VC round.” This seems like a good sign of the stability and maturity of Second Life, amidst a lot of recent naysayers, most of which don’t choose to use the world anyway.
Via (http://www.pehub.com/42270/stratim-buys-stake-in-linden-lab/)
and
Via (http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/06/16/investor-virtually-sneaks-second-life-s-equity-pool)
Read more about the predictability of established entities roundly criticizing new technologies in the Metaverse Manifesto !
I found this reference to Opera Unite (http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/an-introduction-to-opera-unite/)being called “Web 5.0” The quote is from SFGate (http://www.sfgate.com) from Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner. Released on 06/16/09 (http://labs.opera.com) Opera Unite allows you to set up a mini-web server right from your personal computer, to host pages, share files, chat, and more.
Of course this brings a couple of questions to mind…
Barely a couple of years into Web 2.0 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0) which has even been proclaimed dead (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/14/the-death-of-web-20/) by lots of folks, did we ever define Web 3.0, and 4.0 ?? A lot of people call virtual worlds Web 3.0, but others have posited different definitions, such as:
“Web 1.0 was primarily a publishing and transactional environment. Web 2.0 as a space where users co-create value. Web 3.0 as a semantic space where machine intelligence combines with human intelligence to create new insights. Web 4.0 as a mobile space where users and real and virtual objects are integrated together to create value. Web 5.0 a sensory emotive space where we are able to move the web from an emotionally flat environment to a space of rich interactions.” Via (http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight)
and “Web 5.0 will scoop up all this new knowledge and the intelligence offered by Webs 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 and deliver it in an ethical, self-aware and sentient framework, embedding all biological and artificial life within a global cooperative intelligence.” Via (http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4940:future-of-the-web-will-web-50-take-control-&catid=92:david-tow&Itemid=122)
What if…. you can host a virtual world from your personal computer with this degree of simplicity?