Virtual Wimbeldon = Shamp Writer, roving SL reporter

Big blue is buying into Second Life (SL) big time. They see it as a great way to promote their product and brand – and sell more computers too. They have tackled some pretty ambitious projects in SL but this week I saw one of the coolest. Wimbledon is in full swing (get it) and IBM has built a special pavilion about the huge tennis tournament on its island. Here is a link to a YouTube video about the project – a little grainy but you can get the idea <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wu3j4-2W3w>. There is real time weather, video screens, and live audio commentary. But maybe the neatest thing I saw was the ball trajectory – you can choose a seat at the court and see the ball tracks live as the game is played. Wild! This is an example of how smart content creators are building hybrid events in real and Second Life. If you have Second Life installed (and if you don’t, why don’t you!) you can click on this SLUrl (Second Life URL) to teleport there <http://slurl.com/secondlife/IBM%207/117/227/23>. Check it out this week while they are playing matches. And thanks to IBM’s Tony Johnson for bringing this to my attention.