Google’s Lively Experiment Ends
12/04/08 01:12:15 PMThis summer, Google launched Lively within Google Labs. When we first looked at Lively, it seemed a close cousin to Linden’s Second Life. Users create virtual avatars within a 3D social networking space.
Recently, the Lively team announced that they will shut down Lively on December 31, 2008. The development team members will shift to Google’s core businesses–search and advertising. Honestly, this announcement didn’t come as any surprise to us.
Lively offered cool technology without a clear business purpose. Sure, you could possibly embed advertisements within the Lively environment (much like in-game billboards). Yet, would enough people use Lively to make the investment worthwhile?
The current economy takes some of the blame for the end of the Lively project. Yet, Lively was an experiment in “what’s possible.”In the future, we’ll see other multi-user virtual worlds emerge.
Interactive virtual worlds can serve viable purposes beyond games and entertainment–as long as the worlds allow people to solve real-world problems easily or more effectively.
Video Manipulation for the YouTube Generation
12/02/08 12:12:55 PMOver the past couple of years, we’ve become comfortable watching and posting videos online–through services such as YouTube.
However, what if you could easily manipulate objects within an embedded video? Recently, Dan Goldman of Adobe’s Advanced Technology Lab offered us a look at some new video editing technology.
Interactive Video Object Manipulation from Dan Goldman on Vimeo.
From what we can see in the video, using these tools look as easy as uploading a video or editing a text document. You don’t have to be a 3D modeler. Your average internet-savvy user could sit at a keyboard and add thought bubbles to their favorite family videos.
From what we can see in the video, these video manipulation tools seem easy to use for an average internet user.
I believe the 3D revolution will transform all of our lives in both subtle and profound ways. Not only will businesses will be able to deploy visual storytelling but also (and more importantly) everyone will be able to use these tools.
