Links for Tuesday, February 26, 2008

• PicLens – “PicLens instantly transforms your browser into a full-screen, 3D experience for viewing images on the web. Photos will come to life via a cinematic presentation that goes well beyond the confines of the traditional browser window. With PicLens, browsing and viewing images on the web will never be the same again.“
• Virtual Worlds News: IBM Launches 3-D Data Center in OpenSim – “The companies hope that the collaborative, multi-user nature of the environment will also make data center management more efficient, allowing multiple users to work together and analyze usage in real-time.“
• IBM Press Release: Made in IBM Labs: IBM 3-D Data Centers Show Virtual Worlds Fit for Business – “The 3-D Data Center allows experts to manage data center resources regardless of where they are or when these resources need attention, giving both employees and corporations enhanced productivity and freedom. The globally-integrated enterprise can deliver enormous economic benefits to both developed and developing nations, and new technology like this one can help companies seamlessly operate in such a distributed model.“
• Ugo Trade: The Wizard of IBM’s 3D Data Centers – “Virtual Operation Centers or more generally all manner of 3D information machines, have the potential to transform our wasteful industrial society, and eventually, together with 3D fabbers, will play a vital role in ending the unsustainable consumption of energy and natural resources. This kind of innovation will make virtual worlds fit for business.“
• SL Data Viz Wiki – “Welcome to the Second Life Data Visualization wiki!“
• Orange County Register: Second Life as a Simulation Tool – “She discovered that the simplified physics of Second Life are close enough to the physics of the real world that Second Life can be used as an inexpensive simulation tool by small- to medium-sized companies. It’s a low-cost alternative to the sophisticated simulation programs in use by industrial designers at big-bucks enterprises such as NASA and the military, as well as Boeing and other aerospace contractors.“
• Ponoko – “Got a great idea? Use our digital tools to make it real – then sell it to the world.“
• Melanie Swan: Data Visualization in Second Life – “The idea would be to use unique virtual world properties (real-time updating, data-streaming, camera zooming, interaction, 3d world aspects) to make data display and interaction tools that are complementary to traditional data visualization software.“