ChangeWaves / Social Technologies
Making Money in the Metaverse [Change)Waves newsletter]
By Hope Katz Gibbs
Change)Waves newsletter
Summer 2008
When Daniel Terdiman set out to write a book about Linden Lab’s virtual world Second Life (SL), the award-winning CNET News.com reporter was hoping to answer
one basic question: Can you really make money in the metaverse?
The answer is yes, and Terdiman proves how in his 309-page glossy trade book published last October by Wiley. In 11 chapters, he offers a multitude of ideas about what it takes to become a successful cyberpreneur. He also covers the history and economics behind Linden Labs, and even offers case studies and business plans.
But Terdiman doesn’t sugar coat the reality of making money in the land of avatars and sims. “Despite some breathless press reports that suggest that making money in Second Life is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, that really isn’t true,” he insists. “The reality is that conceiving and running a Second Life business is, in many ways, very much like doing so with any kind of business. Those who do well are the ones who come up with a plan, commit to it, put in the time required, and are willing to be flexible as conditions demand.”
How exactly does all this work and what is the future of Second Life? Change)Waves managing editor Hope Katz Gibbs recently interviewed Terdiman about that and other aspects of his book.
The Future of Youth Happiness [Change)Waves]
by Andy Hines and Hope Katz Gibbs
Illustration by Jason Forrest
Change)Waves newsletter
Social Technologies
Winter 2008
What makes 12- to 24-year olds happy today and what will make them happy in the future? That was a question MTV hired Social Technologies to look at earlier this year. The findings were fascinating.
Read entire article to learn more.
Anthropologist Helen Fisher on “Why We Love” [Change)Waves newsletter / Social Technologies]
by Hope Katz Gibbs
Social Technologies
Winter 2008
What is love? Why do we choose the people we choose? How do men and women vary in their romantic feelings? Is there really love at first sight? How did love evolve?
For decades, Rutgers University anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher has been working to answer these eternal questions. The 62-year old has traveled from the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa to Tokyo, Moscow, and back to her home in New York City to determine if one culture perceives love differently than another.
“My research has proven to me that everywhere, people fail into romantic love,” she explains in her current book, Why We Love. “And I have come to see this passion as a fundamental human drive. Like the craving for food and water and the maternal instinct, it is a psychological need, a profound urge, an instinct to court and win a particular mating partner.”
Change)Waves: The Future of Consumer Life, Business, and Technology
A Quarterly Newsletter
Published by Social Technologies.
Premier Issue / Fall 2007
STAFF
Executive Editor: Chris Carbone
Managing Editor: Hope Katz Gibbs
Art Director: Daniel Klein
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Josh Calder, John Cashman, Andy Hines, Christopher Kent, Natalie Ambrose, Kristin Nauth, Kyle Spector, Jon Tumminio (intern)
Will Newspapers Survive the Digital Transition? [Change)Waves / Social Technologies]
by Hope Katz Gibbs
Social Technologies
Change)Waves newsletter
Premier Issue / Fall 2007
Will newsrooms and magazines across the country make the transition to digital media, successfully adapting the way they gather news, deliver content, and generate revenue? Witt the printed publication disappear? Will bloggers and “citizen journalists” replace journalists? Martin Nisenholtz just might have the answers. For starters, the senior vice president of digital operations at The New York Times Company rejects a comment made by his friend, retired Microsoft VP Dick Brass, who suggested the last print edition of the Times will be published in 2016. “I think he has missed the point.”
Plugging Away: Felix Kramer's CalCars Initiative
by Hope Katz Gibbs
Social Technologies
Change)Waves newsletter
Premier Issue / Fall 2007
If you saw Felix Kramer zipping around the roads of Palo Alto, California, in his white plug-in Toyota Prius, you might guess the founder of California Cars Initiative
www.CalCars.org prides himself on being an early adopter. In the last 30 years, Kramer has launched a handful of what he calls “first ever” companies, and invested much of the profits in CalCars, an organization of entrepreneurs, engineers, environmentalists, and consumers launched in 2002. Its mission: to convince the world’s largest car builders to manufacture autos that plug into the wall and use even less gas than today’s hybrid cars. Kramer admits that it isn’t cheap to convert a hybrid to a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). He paid $15,000 to turn his top-of-the-tine $26,000 Prius hybrid into a plug-in. But once carmakers start mass-producing PHEVS, he predicts, the incremental cost will drop to $3,000-$5,000 above that of a standard hybrid.
Howard Gardner’s “Five Minds for the Future” [Change)Waves / Social Technologies]
by Hope Katz Gibbs
Social Technologies
Change)Waves newsletter
Premier Issue / Fall 2007
In his latest book, “Five Minds for the Future,” psychologist Howard Gardner breaks from his usual approach of describing the operations of the brain. Instead, the author who is best known for his controversial theory of multiple intelligences focuses on the skills and understandings people will need to develop to thrive in the future. “Why the shift from description to prescription?” he asks in the introduction to his 196-page book, published by Harvard Business School Press. “In the interconnected world, in which the vast majority of human beings now live, it is not enough to state what each individual or group needs to survive on its own turf. “Further, the world of the future—with its ubiquitous search engines, robots, and other computational devices—that demand capacities that until now have been mere options. To meet this new world on its own terms, we should begin to cultivate these capacities now.”