Opinion: Philharmonic orchestras in Second Life? Come off it…

stu-col.jpgStuart Dredge writes…

The biggest problem faced by classical music? The people who actually like it are all dying, and the only time The Kids are exposed to moving orchestral symphonies is if they hit the wrong button and accidentally tune into Double Clef FM in Grand Theft Auto III.

How to attract new audiences? One method is to hire a wind machine, a piano and get Myleene Klass in for another album session. Another option is *shudder* G4. And the third method is to turn your entire orchestra into avatars and have them play a concert in Second Life.

The Ten Tech Trends that will define 2007

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By definition, technology is always evolving faster than any expert can keep up with it, no matter how much of a boffin they are. But right now, in 2007, the pace of change feels more rapid than ever.

Around us, consumer technology products are evolving, converging and spawning new gadgets like mad. Simply keeping up with the main developments is an exhausting (not to mention expensive) process. Still, that doesn’t stop us trying. In recent weeks, I’ve been analysing the ten consumer technology trends that I think are going to be most interesting in the second half of 2007.

IWOOT opens up in Second Life

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Gadget retailer iwantoneofthose.com has opened up shop today in Second Life.

The store is housed on the IWOOT island and the firm say it’s the first within the virtual world that lets you buy over the counter with Second Life’s currency Linden Dollars rather than be pushed to an outside website to make the purchase.

As well as buying real products to be posted to customers at home, the shop will also sell virtual versions of popular IWOOT gizmos to be used in the online community. It was launched in 2003 by Linden Lab and has more than seven million registered users living an alternative existence there each day…

2007 Tech Trends No. 4: Virtual Reality

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Fourth in a series of posts highlighting Tech Digest’s pick of big technology trends for the second half of 2007…

Sadly, old-skool virtual reality isn’t going to make a comeback anytime soon, despite the joys of heading down the arcade to put on a big visor and flail about while a sniggering crowd looks on.