Virtual Worlds

Until a couple of years ago, the idea that games could make people's lives better was heresy. Everyone knew that games were a massive waste of time and that, if anything, they were harming those who played them the most.

But then word began to spread of new research that showed just the opposite: that games, and playing games, could have a positive impact on people. And while there was still plenty of skepticism, the woman behind the research, well-known game designer Jane McGonigal, began to attract a lot of attention with her new claims. Especially the idea that … Read more

In the two-plus months since the creation of open-source drivers for Microsoft's Kinect made it possible to hack the popular motion controller, the device has been used as a sophisticated piano, to add voice control to popular video games, to create 3D renderings of a car's path, and even for a demo of soft-core porn.

Indeed, the open-source tools have snatched control of the device from Microsoft's proprietary hands, and each new day sees the emergence of some new kind of Kinect hack. But as the community of techies investing time in these types of imaginative--and unauthorized--works … Read more

editor's notebook OK, this whole Kinect-hacking phenomenon is starting to make my head spin. (Funny that--the system is thus controlling my movements, rather than the other way round.)

First we started to see Minority Report-style interfaces, by way of which one could browse the Web with nothing more than a gesture or two.

Now things are getting really trippy. Thanks to Web site Kinect Hacks, we can watch as humanoid robots are controlled by users of Microsoft's gestural-gaming system.

How long before this setup gets combined with some sort of BattleBots competition for a true robotic smackdown? And … Read more

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that a World of Warcraft-playing bot violated the online game's terms of use, upholding a lower court's 2008 decision against the so-called Glider software, and issuing a permanent injunction against its use.

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled (PDF file) that the MDY's Glider bot--which helps WoW players by automatically playing early levels of the massively popular game--is a breach of a contractual covenant. In a post on their Virtual World Law Blog, lawyers at the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman explained that the decision largely follows … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Since the famous "Fail Whale" is known for signifying that Twitter is down, it might surprise you to know that there are a lot of people out there who appreciate seeing it.

"People are actually looking forward to [Twitter] downtime," said Yiying Lu, the artist who created what came to be known as the Fail Whale. "I'm [always getting] tweets from people telling me it makes them happy" to see the whimsical image of a whale being hauled out of the water by a group of small birds.

Lu may be best … Read more

To hear Rodger Raderman and Doug Penman tell it, one of the biggest shortcomings of the modern toy industry is that it has little in common with Silicon Valley. And the two are here to remedy that situation.

Raderman and Penman are the co-founders and co-CEOs of Nukotoys, a San Francisco-based company that is aiming to take the best elements of the Silicon Valley startup--rapid prototyping, interactive technology, nimbleness, financial efficiency, and scalability--and apply them to the business of making fun, engaging, and educational toys worthy of the second decade of the 21st century.

For sure, that means a mixture … Read more

Just as catching a whiff of fresh coffee beans can trigger cravings for my own addictive habit of choice, many environmental cues can create a very real physical response in drug addicts.

Studying cravings is an important part of designing treatments for addictions, and scientists have long studied the way in which cues like videos and drug paraphernalia trigger those cravings. Now, one group of researchers are trying to find out if cues in virtual environments like Second Life can produce real drug cravings in addicts as well. And if so, are those cravings neurologically similar to ones resulting from … Read more

reporter's notebook SAN JOSE, Calif.--Can math make art? Can logic inform patterns and sequences that are visually compelling? Is light a medium suitable for the artistic canvas? Clearly, the answer to all those questions is yes, and people like James Turrell and M.C. Escher have offered years of proof of that.

But now anyone in or near Silicon Valley has a chance to take in a fantastic collection of light works by the New York-based artist Leo Villareal at the San Jose Museum of Art (see videos below). And having gotten a chance to see the show … Read more

Editors' note, Wednesday 6:52 a.m. PDT: TheChive.com has fessed up: It's a hoax. "We couldn't have pulled this one off without the help of this adorable young woman," an actress named Elyse Porterfield, the Chive-sters said in a short, photo-filled blog post.

Heroism is in even shorter supply than employment these days.

So how can one not be transported to a better place by the story of the personal assistant who seems to have had enough of her boss and decided to reveal his true being? Which, as Mark Zuckerberg has taught us, … Read more