The best kept secret at Pop Tech was tucked away in a small dark room on the third floor of the Opera House. But once word got out crowds swarmed it; touching, twisting, and tilting the Geo Explorer Table. Scott Minneman and Dale Mac Donald, two Xerox PARC alumni, now with Onomy Labs developed the Geo Explorer Table. They said the original idea was sparked while watching a Seinfeld episode; the one where Kramer is obsessed with making a coffee table book. Scott and Dale said it made them think, “What if the coffee table was a book”. Scott and Dale took that idea and imagined the world as a “coffee table” and have made it happen.

The table is about hip height and you navigate by twisting it clockwise to zoom in, twisting it counter-clockwise to zoom out and tilting it to rotate the earth. You can fly over zooming out to see earth as a blue marble or zooming in to check out how many cars are parked in your office parking lot. The table’s interface is intuitive and the images are so compelling that you are drawn into it.

From the moment I saw the table I was reminded of hand propelled merry-go-rounds you see in playgrounds. Like kids clustered around a merry-go-round; adults huddled around the Geo Explorer Table; everyone wanted to touch it. They laughed, talked and collaborated to make it work. There was one subtle difference, the adults spontaneously shared personal stories with complete strangers as they twisted, tilted and zoomed to their homes, offices, or favorite parks. I asked Scott Minneman about this. He said one of the interesting surprises about the table was how well it worked as a social lubricant.

Both Scott and Dale said they?d love to see one in every school. If they are successful it will change the way kids learn geography. Scott sees the table working well in hotel lobbies, libraries, planning offices, and museums. So far, a handful of museums and offices have purchased the table. I think this technology will be scaled so that you’ll be seeing them in coffee houses, schools, even homes. I’d love to have one installed in my kitchen counter top.

You know it’s fall in New England is when the temperature drops, the leaves turn a fiery red, and the world’s technorati descend on Camden, Maine for Pop!Tech, the annual 3-day conference about the social impact of new technologies.

The theme of this year’s Pop!Tech is dangerous ideas. And while seasoned rable-rousers such as Tom Friedman and Craig Venter can always be counted on to be drop intellectual bombshells, this year’sconference also features a variety of technological mavericks such as chef Homaru Cantu. The real-life ?willy wonkaregularly shatters the boundaries between technology and gastronomy, including making sushi from a laser printer at his Chicago restaurant. Laser-printed sushi now that’s a dangerous idea.

While the conference is completely sold out, it’s being simulcast live via Yahoo! For more information check out poptech.org

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Each year companies spend millions of dollars designing tools and processes to improve worker safety and productivity. But what about society’s sex workers? Lacking a union, an employee handbook or even those helpful OSHA posters in the coffee room, who’s looking out for the safety and welfare of today’s sex workers?

Frankly, no one - except perhaps artist/designer Norene Leddy. Identifying an unmet need in the marketplace, Leddy spent hundreds of hours interviewing sex workers from around the world in her effort to design a new tool (no pun intended) for the world’s oldest profession.

Dubbed the Aphrodite Project, the result is a 4platform shoe packed with enough high-tech gear to inspire envy in even the most gadget-savvy geek. Complete with a GPS locator, a 911 panic button and a video screen, it’s like an On-Star system for your shoe.The GPS technology links the wearer to emergency services and an online community network. A panic button sets off a screeching audible alarm to fend off attackers and can be wired to alert the police in the case of an emergency.

Since sex workers are literally walking billboards, the platform shoes come equipped with a video screen which allows users to create customized advertising messages such as rate sheets and availability all set to the tune of a personalized music soundtrack. With PDA software, it could even display customer databases and a calendar, storing your ?little black bookin your little black pumps. Addressing the need for a stronger sense of community amongst sex workers, a website provides users with a blog, chat rooms and additional audio and video downloads for the shoes.

The adult sex industry has typically been at the leading edge of technology adoption. But while Leddy’s project initially targeted contemporary sex workers, we think she created a product with mass market appeal. You go, girl.

The next time you’re in London make time to visit Kinetica, the UK’s first museum of kinetic art. It is located in London’s East End in front of Spitalfields Market. You will find works that explore the convergence of art and technology.

Kinetica’s vision is to create both a historical and contemporary art collection of seminal and cutting-edge multi-disciplinary works that date back from the 1920s through to the present day, focusing on the pioneering and influential importance of such works. The Opening Show is LIFE FORMS and runs from October 6 14^th of November.

Oct 8 1:40 PM PST

There were several reports of self-replicating objects in-world. We are currently investigating. There are new reports of grey goo in-world, which may be causing teleportation failures and other slow downs. We have temporarily moved to Linden only logins.

Oct. 8 2:45 PM PST

We are still in the process of investigating the grid-wide griefing attacks; as such we have momentarily disabled scripts and ?money transfers to objectsas well on the entire grid.

Oct. 9 2:02 AM PST

A few moments ago, everyone in-world was removed and login was switched to Gods-only while we investigate further.

Confused What you just read were postings from the official blog of Linden Lab as they responded to the latest griefer attack. If you are not familiar with virtual worlds or gaming you might not be familiar with the term griefer, which refers to a gamer who abuses game features or exploits bugs to disrupt online or video games. This time the griefer chose grey goo as the weapon of mass disruption, blanketing SL with gooey grey self-replicating objects that overwhelmed Second Life servers.

This is not the first time Second Life’s grid had been downed by an in-world release of self-replicating objects. The first attack was in October of 2005. SL is particularly vulnerable to self-replicating attacks because content creation is free so the griefer suffers no financial costs for unleashing millions of objects into SL and self-replicating script is difficult for Linden Lab to see. Add to that Linden Labs drive to reach one million registered accounts with its free and recently relaxed requirements for new registrants; most significantly no billing information is required for free accounts although these accounts no longer receive 250 free Lindens. And you get the potential for registrants to enter SL for only one reason to ?rain terrorupon Second Life’s maker and customers as was threatened and carried out last week.

Denial of service attacks undermine SL’s viability as a place to play, work and invest. They cost Linden Labs cash and credibility. And interfere with commerce in world, which costs Linden Labs customers money. Since the attacks cause serious economic disruption Linden Labs has enlisted real world law enforcement, the FBI to help them find and prosecute the griefers.

Why is this important to non-residents of SL?

In the beginning Second Life positioned itself as a social virtual world where users were encouraged to treat SL as their canvas and built-in content creation tools as their palette. Today Second Life is positioned differently; as a platform for commerce and education bridging the gap between real and virtual world businesses, governmental, educational and non-profit enterprises.

So far this new position is working. Sixty schools and universities including Harvard Law School and Pepperdine offer courses in Second Life. Corporations such as Sony/BMG, IBM, Audi, and Sun MicroSystems are venturing into SL. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is developing simulations to teach the public about tsunamis and Play2Train, a federally funded bioterrorism-preparedness project has its own virtual town and hospital in SL. Just this week Vodaphone announced plans for its own Vodaphone Island in SL and Starwood Hotels opened its prototype hotel in SL called Aloft.

The denial of service attacks raises interesting questions. Are virtual worlds sustainable If so, what does sustainable development look like in a virtual world Is a virtual world a good place to invest if you are Harvard or American Apparel or NOAA, or a resident who simply wants to have their dream wedding in SL?

Mark Wallace of 3pointD.com a blog about the metaverse and 3 D web has taken a first step. He scheduled a meetup on Oct. 22, 2006, in SL to discuss virtual world sustainability. If you want to attend the meetup, RSVP by logging into SL and sending an Im to Walker Spaight, or leave a comment on the 3pointD blog.

Between October 10 and November 8, 2006 you can contribute to Yahoo’s! digital time capsule designed to capture a global expression of life in 2006 for future generations. It is organized around ten themes: Love, Sorrow, Anger, Faith, Beauty, Fun, Past, Hope, Now, and You. Users are encouraged to contribute photos, writings, videos, audio and drawings to this digital archive.

The capsule will be sealed on November 8^th and entrusted to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings based in Washington D. C. Yahoo! Is donating $100,000 to seven global charitable organizations and time capsule contributors will help select how the money is distributed.

Jonathan Harris, the artist who created the time capsule, sees it as a portrait of the world created by ?every human on earth who wishes to participate. The message of the Time Capsule is: ?One world. Many Voices. The time capsule is a simultaneous expression of differences between individual differences and commonalities between people of all races, ages and backgrounds.

You can now check out the virtual Aloft Hotel Michele mentioned in our Real Opportunities in Virtual Worlds podcast.
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