1. International Herald Tribune (France) – Ikea and EA strike real deal in virtual world. “Last week, Electronic Arts, the video game publisher, announced an agreement with Ikea in which its furniture would be featured in “The Sims,” a series of games that allows players to simulate the actions of a fictional family. For around $20, players will be able to buy a “stuff pack” that will let them fill out their Sims abodes with Ikea designs.”

2. ZDNet – Nortel Demos Virtual World Platform. “Nortel demoed a virtual world prototype here in a Ottowa at a day long event. Dubbed Web Alive, the virtual world is the first project to come out of Nortel new research effort that imposes a VC-like model for funding research. Like other virtual worlds, Web Alive allows avatars to interact with one another in a virtual landscape. Web Alive differentiates itself through the use of proximity based voice and a thin client.”

3. Times Online (UK) – The latest trend in medicine – virtual reality. “Imagine the scenario: you’re sitting on a plane, strapped in and ready for take-off. But you’re terrified of flying and are suddenly hit by an uncontrollable urge to spring from your seat and run screaming out of the aircraft.”

4. Information Week – Most Business-Launched Virtual Worlds Fail, Gartner Says. “The vast majority of virtual world projects launched by businesses fail within 18 months, but the impact of the collaborationtechnology on organizations could eventually be as big as the Internet, a market research firm said this week. Fully 90% of business forays into virtual worlds fail because organizations focus on the technology rather than on understanding the needs of the employees using it, Gartner said.”

5. Magical Mountain – Disney Interactive Studios Launch Virtual World For Nintendo DS. “On Thursday, May 15th, 2008, Disney Interactive Studios formally released DGamer, an avatar based community for Nintendo DS owners. It is a free service offered to US residents. “DGamer is our opportunity to work with Disney Interactive to make sure we have this connected environment and to make sure we reach our guests wherever they are, including a player on a Disney Interactive DS title talking to a player in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean Online”, says Paul Yanover, executive vice president and managing director of Disney Online.”

6. Canada.com – Virtual world disputes landing in real-world courts. “Some very real money was on the line when a Pennsylvania lawyer recently sued a San Francisco-based company over a online property deal that went sour. The real estate at the centre of the dispute was entirely imaginary. The lawyer, Marc Bragg, was seeking thousands in damages for breach of contract and unfair trade practices after he purchased virtual property in Second Life, a 3-D world that exists only online. And when owner Linden Lab terminated his account, he sued. The dispute was eventually settled out of court in a confidential agreement.”

7. Law.com – ‘Virtual Law’: It’s Not Your Father’s Law. “”Virtual law,” as specialists call it, is not your father’s law. And according to some aspiring lawyers, it is the next big thing. Of the 50 or so tech-savvy lawyers around the country conversant in the language of orcs, avatars and toons, Brian Pyne, 23, says, “They all know each other. I’m trying to become one of them.”

8. WIVB.com (USA) – Welcome to the World of Warcraft! “It’s one of the hottest video games worldwide. Some might even call it, an addiction. Welcome to the World of Warcraft! It’s not a secret society, but if you enter it, you may not want to leave. Jonathan Weiss said, “It’s like digital crack, pretty much.” Mark Preston: “It really is addicting. If you start playing, you’ll be hooked.”

9. Wall Street Journal – My Virtual Summer Job. “While his friends scramble for jobs flipping burgers or bagging groceries this summer, 18-year-old Mike Everest will be working as a trader in the fantasy Web world of Entropia Universe, buying and selling virtual animal skins and weapons. His goods exist only online, but his earnings are real. In the past four years, he’s made $35,000. Mr. Everest, of Durango, Colo., is among a new breed of young entrepreneurs seeking their fortune online in imaginary worlds.”

10. Foreign Policy – Fake China. “China is about to re-create itself on a massive scale. This July, the Beijing Cyber Recreation District (CRD), a state-owned enterprise, will launch the first of several “virtual Chinas” planned for popular online realms known as massive multiplayer online role-playing games. The first “virtual China,” which they call “Dotman,” will be found inside Entropia Universe, a 700,000-player gaming world run by the Swedish technology firm Mindark. Capable of hosting 150 million avatars, or virtual citizens, it will be the largest virtual nation in the world.”

1. The Chicago Tribune – Virtual dinner and a movie? Simulated dating ranks grow. “Paula Weisz’s favorite place to take her dates is the Millennium bar, where she can sip a glass of red wine and have a good conversation. She typically goes on one date per week with men she meets online at OmniDate.com.”

2. The Edmonton Journal (Canada) – Plug ‘n’ play. “Cyber sex isn’t just the late-night pastime of techno-tarts, sex addicts and pedophiles. Today, even the military thinks getting your virtual groove on is a matter of national security, says the creator of HighJoy.com, a virtual world where your vibrator meets your USB cable. “We create the technology that allows you to control another person’s vibrator over the Internet,” says Amir Vatan, co-founder of HighJoy Products.”

3. Linux Insider – Not Much Life in China’s Virtual Worlds. “Last November, Procter & Gamble’s Vidal Sassoon launched with much fanfare its first hair salon in China’s virtual world. There was even a virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony. However, today the VS salon in HiPiHi, China’s oldest and largest virtual world (a simulated online environment where users adopt identities known as avatars), sits mostly empty save for the occasional visitor.”

4. Los Angeles Times – A Second Life for corporate America. “To save money in these tough times, universities, conference planners and global firms have started holding gatherings for far-flung employees and students in the online world known as Second Life. Sun Microsystems Inc., a Silicon Valley tech company, has only one rule: Employees should show up looking like humans.”

5. Science News – Scientists get a 2nd Life. “To track down neuroscientist Corey Hart, you could stop by his laboratory, located on the second floor of Drexel University’s medical building in Philadelphia. Or, you could visit the lab of Luciftias Neurocam, located in the virtual world of Second Life. Luciftias is Hart’s digital alter ego, or avatar. Like his real-life counterpart, Luciftias tracks the twitches of frogs’ muscles to find clues to the spinal cord’s ability to control movement.”

6. Gamasutra – GFH: Neils Clark On Moving Beyond ‘Game Addiction’. “Following his Gamasutra feature on the subject, writer and researcher Neils Clark spoke at the ongoing Games for Health conference in Baltimore on game addiction. In his talk at the conference, he covered the perceived problems, a run-down on why people might get addicted, and some proactive measures that developers can use to combat addictive behavior in the future.”

7. Reuters / Second Life – EVE Online experiments with virtual democracy. “It can be difficult for the most well-meaning of virtual worlds companies to understand what their customers want. But CCP, the company behind the sci-fi world of EVE Online, thinks they’ve solved the riddle: have users elect their own representatives. Sixty-one candidates are vying for nine spots in open voting on EVE’s website. The top vote getters will become the official representatives of EVE’s player community, and flown to Reykjavik, Iceland to share their thoughts on the game at the company’s headquarters.”

8. World Changing – Gold Farmers. “Gold Farmers are young people who earn their living by playing MMORPG games. They acquire (“farm”) items of value within a game, usually by carrying out in-game actions repeatedly to maximize gains, sometimes by using a program such as a bot or automatic clicker.”

9. Reason Magazine – Virtually Free. “In February, subscribers to the virtual world of Second Life awoke to a surprise: The garish, skyscraper-sized billboards they had learned to tolerate as part of their three-dimensional landscape were about to be vaporized, the site’s creators announced.”

10. Accountancy Age – DO enters Second Life. “BDO Stoy Hayward has launched on internet virtual world Second Life in a bid to open up its services to a broader audience. Its launch of an ‘island’ on the world will enable the firm to holding meetings online, presentations and events for staff and enhance recruitment options by engaging with a broader, international audience.”