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Long Live The Avatars(Information Week Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) While some businesses have ended their brief infatuation with the 3-D, animated world of Second Life, IBM and Google aren't ready to give up on avatars. IBM and Linden Lab, which runs Second Life, recently demonstrated "virtual world interoperability," which would let avatars move between Second Life and other online worlds. They herald it as a milestone that could turn online virtual worlds into more open environments where avatars cross virtual worlds the way people browse from one Web site to another today. That's key for uses such as collaboration and education, says IBM. Google, meanwhile, launched a virtual world called Lively that, if you like text-chatting via an avatar, is tempting. Lively uses a browser plug-in to present a chat room, pre-built or self-designed. Most clever: You decorate rooms using Google tools, putting photos from Picasa on the walls or YouTube videos on TVs. Companies could embed Lively chat rooms on their Web sites, which visitors could then enter to chat with each other. For the time being, though, the biggest business impact will likely be one more potential online distraction for companies' employees. http://informationweek.com/ Copyright 2008 United Business Media Limited. All rights reserved. Copyright ? 2008 CMP Media LLC |