A Wider Net

The effects of Second Life on individual websites and desktop applications is starting to show in dramatic ways. Here are three examples:

First, retailer Brookstone has announced that they plan to launch a 3D Second-Life-like store using technology from Marlboro, MA-based Kinset. According to a ComputerWorld article, Brookstone plans to be the first to deploy the new technology, followed soon by Tweeter. It appears, however, that you may not be able to see or interact with other customers which would be a real shame since that’s much of the 2nd life appeal.

Next, Doppleganger has created vSide, a social network for music lovers that has a 3D nightclub front-end. Users can buy credits and use them to buy outfits, just like in Second Life, but the goal of this site is to bring music fans together, help them discover new music, and click through to the iTunes store to buy. Additional neighborhoods are being built for “after parties”.

Last, here is an email application that produces three different intricate and clever 3D visual metaphors - your 3D Mailbox. First, you can elect the “airport” metaphor where your email is depicted as airlines flying in and out of a massive airport. Email with attachments always fly in on a carrier like Fedex or UPS. It has sophisticated spam and junk handlers, too. In the second example, a beach scene, your email is shown as bathing-suit-clad beach-goers. If they don’t pass the spam filter, they literally get thrown into the virtual water to be eaten by virtual sharks. That just feels right. I may download it just for that experience alone.

I’m sure there are others and many more to come. Some analysts feel this is just the tip of the iceberg - that sites will all go 3D over time. It sounds crazy, but so did the WWW with all it’s heavy graphics and dependency on a visual “browser” to those of us who remember the days of Arpanet and Bitnet. And Peter Gabriel. And Vinyl Records.

Found Doppleganger’s vSide via Wired.