virtual

Virtual worlds for children booming

News Now, some new Web sites are letting them live out their fantasies in virtual worlds using self-designed avatars. Unlike the sometimes-violent world of videogames, virtual sites such as Stardoll, Doppelganger, Club Penguin and Gaia Online hark back...

4 June 2007, 11:27

Virtual gaming's elusive exchange rates

News In the world of online fantasy games, you can always buy more virtual assets if you've got a real-life credit card. But Hunter, who is a co-editor of Terra Nova, the leading Web site about virtual economies, and Ed Castronova, another Terra Nova co...

8 August 2005, 10:25

New network dedicated to virtual reality

News A non-profit group plans to build a network called Neuronet purely to support virtual-reality games and business applications. Neuronet, which is separate from the Internet, "will evolve into the world's first public network capable of meeting the...

2 January 2007, 9:36

Photos: US Army tests virtual battlefields

News Here, a team of soldiers goes through scenario training using a simulator called VICE, or Virtual Interactive Combat Environment, by In Georgia's Fort Benning, the US Army does its infantry training. While much of a recruit's introduction to the

Tags: screens, training, skills, progress

10 July 2008, 10:39

China watches Web with virtual police

News China is sending out two virtual police officers to patrol the Internet to combat online pornography and other "illicit activity", state media said on Wednesday. The virtual officers, a man and a woman, "will appear either on motorcycles, in a car...

30 August 2007, 10:37

Making the most of virtual worlds

News Another panel, 'User-Created Content: Boon or Bane', looked at the reasons why game publishers should implement models that encourage user-created content in virtual worlds. Paying for the privilegeJim Purbrick, an engineer at Linden Labs...

31 October 2005, 15:11

BT provides homes with virtual engineer

News In a bid to become "the AA of IT", telecoms giant BT is offering a "virtual engineer" to sort out home users' tech problems remotely for £25 a go, and will even send a real specialist around to get new broadband installations set up.

12 June 2006, 10:27

A virtual world with peer-to-peer style

News For a virtual world, it starts out very bare: just an empty blue space, with a picture of a cat in a Star Trek costume at its centre. But that confused-looking cat is an avatar -- a digital representation of a real person (in this case a reporter...

10 May 2005, 9:35

Microsoft launches 'Virtual Earth' beta

News Virtual Earth -- which offers a combination of aerial imagery, maps and yellow-pages data -- is designed to let users search for and share information about specific US locations, the company said. Virtual Earth relies on licenced yellow-pages...

26 July 2005, 9:45

Gamers get virtual cash from real ATMs

News Gaming company MindArk has launched a cash card for gamers to withdraw money they earn in the virtual world from ATMs. Dave Birch, director for Consult Hyperion, a company that works on electronic payments, told CNET.co.uk's sister site silicon.com...

5 May 2006, 10:39

Sony unveils virtual 'Home' world for PS3

News Sony is finally getting its own virtual reality. As online virtual worlds like Second Life, There and others continue to gain in popularity, Sony on Wednesday unveiled its own version of an immersive 3D social space, known as Home and created...

8 March 2007, 9:12

Virtual worlds -- the future of everything?

News Virtual Worlds -- The Rules of Engagement' is the latest in a series of conferences and symposiums covering the social, economic and legal issues surrounding online games and virtual worlds. And befitting a conference about virtual worlds, at least...

8 May 2006, 10:45

Can Mickey and Frodo revive virtual worlds?

News If ever there was a sign that the wilds of online gaming worlds are going mainstream, Disney's entry into the virtual real estate business may be it. Expanding the virtual world populations beyond a core audience of fantasy and science fiction...

1 June 2005, 9:56

Photos: Google Earth goes virtual

News Virtual-world developers using Multiverse Networks' platform are able to import 3D models from Google's 3D Warehouse into their projects. In combination, the models and the terrain will let those making virtual worlds build in all kinds of...

Tags: models, google, platform, virtual

16 October 2007, 10:51

Virtual Windows on a Mac is imminent

News Owners of Macs with Intel's processors can use the software to run Windows XP in a virtual machine alongside the Mac OS, and move data back and forth between Windows and Mac applications. Apple retail stores will soon start selling Parallels...

18 July 2006, 10:22