Panel @ Film Festival

Had the chance to speak today at the SF Film Festival on the future of media and technology. Hosted by Will Hearst, our panel included me from Google, Akimbo, Revver, Nokia, and consultant Shelly Palmer. I think Revver is experimenting with good ideas and it'll be interesting to see if they can innovate past others in the ad-supported video space.

The post-panel lunch also gave us the chance to sit and talk with some folks from the Film Festival board and staff. Thanks to Tom Grams for the invite.

My last six years

Struck me that my last six years are neatly summed up on the homepage of Business Week's website. Second Life, Google and an article about fuel economy (i drive a prius).

They must have a great personalization engine ;-)

Holy Cow! BusinessWeek cover story on Second LIfe

Wow, Second Life has been in just about every major publication but I think this is the most notable cover story thus far.

More SL Love

Second Life will be around for a long time, because it is malleable enough to support all sorts of crazy human projects.

- Mitch Ratcliffe's cool piece on SL in ZDNet

Don't buy a "chimney sweep" on Craigslist unless you're into that sort of thing

Every once in a while you hear about an enterprising drug dealer busted for selling their wares out of a fast food drive through. The most common method is to arrange some codeword order ("eight chocolate milkshakes") that corresponds to the illegal substances. Obviously you need something that is suitably rare, otherwise awkward mistakes occur and some soccer mom gets an eightball instead of chili fries.

Equally, I'm convinced that similar shadow economies exist on places like eBay and Craigslist. I mean it's pretty well established that "doing fences and gates" means you're hiring a submissive bottom for adult pleasures. And "smog check" means "I'll show up at your place in a diaper and clown makeup. We'll watch Battlestar Galactica. And then you'll throw somewhere between six and a dozen cheese slices at my chest while I dance" ("smog check test only" means that the cheese will be vegan organic).

And it's not just services. If you buy a "vintage pearl pin" expect a litter of illegally imported Bengal tigers to be delivered (the photos accompanying this item represent the number and lineage of the tigers you're purchasing).

Oh, and I'll forewarn you that "hot fun with this playmate (outcall)" is actually a young man offering temporary stenography services. Imagine my embarrassment.