The Metaverse Assembled - JVWR 1st Issue of 2013 is published (30-Apr-2013)

	We are happy to announce the new publication of The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research: Volume 6, Number 1: The Metaverse Assembled (2013) The editorial team: Leonel Morgado, INESC TEC (formerly INESC Porto), UTAD – University of Trás-os-Montes Alto Douro, Portugal Nelson Zagalo, University of Minho, Portugal  (Cover: Nelson Fernandes) In this issue you will find selected papers from Slactions 2012 as well as other papers from 2012. These six papers present the diversity of topics and research methods in our field. JVWR will continue to encourage this diverse approach as we explore and expand our field.       Managing Editor Corner Welcome to the First Issue of 2013 Yesha Y. Sivan      Research Papers Language Learning in Virtual Worlds: The Role of Foreign Language and Technical Anxiety Sarah E. Pasfield-Neofitou      vManagement: Initial Exploration of Management Practice Susan Wurtz, Dale Cyphert, Leslie K. Duclos      Virtual Worlds as a Tool to Facilitate Weight Management for Young People Michael James Taylor, Dave Taylor, Myutan Kulendran, Paul Gately, Ara Darzi      Do As We Do, Not As You Think: The Effect of Group Influence on Individual Choices in a Virtual Environment Rebecca Rayburn-Reeves, Jennifer Wu, Sara Wilson, Beth Kraemer, and Phillip Kraemer      Architecting Scalable Academic Virtual World Grids: A Case Utilizing OpenSimulator Charles J. Lesko, Yolanda A. Hollingsworth      Virtual Archaeology in Second Life and OpenSimulator Luís Miguel Sequeira, Leonel Caseiro Morgado We are also happy to let you know of the following: Check the summary of our ICIS 2012 Orlando workshop on Augmented Reality. Our web site includes a special page onevents in our field. We have a special page that includes a cover view of all our past issues. You are also welcome to join our Facebookpage (TheJVWR) and/or subscribe to our mailing list (on the top left of http://www.jvwresearch.org). You can follow our twitter @TheJVWR. You are all invited to participate (or present) at our meeting at ICIS 2013 in Milan. If you are interested in publishing a literature review on a particular area of Virtual Worlds, see our special Lantern issue, due to be published beginning of 2014. Enjoy your read. Thankfully, Tzafnat Shpak Coordinating Editor Prof. Yesha Y. Sivan Managing Editor TheJVWR - The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research http://jvwresearch.org
	© 2013 Journal of Virtual Worlds Research All rights reserved.

Google Glass unboxing video and Patent Link

Few color options for Google Glass (Image source)

A short video that show the unboxing of Glass.

The video gives you a feel of the features (buttons), and style Google is bestowing on this project.

A major investment in adding 3D3C into our world.

 and the long demo from google i/o from 2012 (include a hangout from Glass):

The actual patent details the many small innovations - that -- according to Google -- create unique innovation.

Protect Yourself:The One Action U MUST do: 2-step verification in ALL major tools: Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Apple ID.

Adding 2-step verification to gmail is EASY

Israel is now being "attacked" (more liked being annoyed). One of the core challenges is stealing user passwords.(and yes, it can cause lots of demange -- if you are in the US see http://www.privatewifi.com/someone-stole-my-identity-now-what/).

People ask me a lot what to do. There is lots of advice out there... but people are often busy.
So I want you to do ONE THING (if you are like many people using gmail).

Please, plz, PLEASE -- use 2-step verification. I have been using it for 12 months and it is simple.
Adds just a bit of hassle, but works -- it will cut your cummuliative lots by 95% if your password is stolen.

It is basically easy -- but you do need to read and understand it (understand what to do when you do not have a phone).

Here's a short video about it:

And, while you are at it. Do it also for facebook and your other tools:


* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150172618258920 (works very well).

* Apple ID: https://appleid.apple.com (cant say if it is easy, I just added it).

* Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/help/363/en (did it, easy).
* Google: http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=180744 (a MUST)
* Microsoft: partially implemented -- I never use it. Google it -- or shall i say Bing it.

Even more info: see http://www.howtogeek.com/130844/secure-yourself-by-using-two-step-verification-on-these-16-web-services/

Book I Read: Race Against the Machine << the Impact of Information Systems on Jobs

This book is about jobs (lack of) and information technology (more and more of it) the main claim is strong and one that should be read by every student as they plan their future. The second part (about the potential) cover in short (too short) the potential. Lots of links to prime sources (which I like much).

Personally, I think we should plan for zero growth economy. Together with the nature of Digital products -- the books of economy needs to be re-written.

Written by two MIT/Harvard guys Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfeem it sums up the impact of technology (especially of IT) on jobs.

Erik Brynjolfsson is a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business, Chairman of the Sloan Management Review, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and co-author of Wired for Innovation: How IT Is Reshaping the Economy. He graduated from Harvard University and MIT.

Andrew McAfee is a principal research scientist and associate director at the MIT Center for Digital Business at the Sloan School of Management. He is the author of Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organization's Toughest Challenges. He graduated from MIT and Harvard University.

A perfect read for 3 hrs if you have time in your kindle. :-)

CfP: 3D3C Virtual Worlds -- Topical Lantern Review -- JVWR Special Issue and Workshop

	CfP: 3D3C Virtual Worlds -- Topical Lantern Review -- JVWR Special Issue and Workshop in Milan, Italy December 15, 2013 Editors Yesha Y. Sivan, Metaverse-Labs and The Academic College of Tel-Aviv Yaffo School of Management and Economics, Israel. Maged N. Kamel Boulos, University of Plymouth’s Health Informatics, Devon, UK. David Gefen, Drexel University's LeBow College of Business, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Abhishek Kathuria, Hong Kong University’s School of Business, Hong Kong, China. * Lantern - see at the end of this call why we chose this image. Note: First Deadline May 19, 2013 -- Authors submit a proposed 2-page extended abstract or initial papers (see full deadlines schedule below.) Motivation and Scope The first thematic issue of our 7th year (next year) will focus on a literature review of 3D3C worlds according to specific topics. The issue will connect with our JVWR workshop in Milan, Italy, on December, 15 (as part of AIS ICIS 2013). (The issue will also be a base for a proposed book, where we will expand on this theme.) For this issue, “topical review” means a review of corpus of knowledge on one aspect of virtual worlds. It can be a classic literature review, a more formal statistical meta-analysis or other forms suggested by authors. For this issue, "3D3C Worlds" is defined as a combination of four factors: 3D as in three dimensional representation of worlds as seen in Google Earth, Augmented Reality, 3D printing and the like; Community as in the collection of people work, play and act together. Consider Facebook and Twitter as one example, and enhance it by the dynamics of World of Warcraft guilds; Creation is the ability to create new artifacts, as seen for example in Second Life or in Open Source movement; Commerce is the ability to harness these previous factors to gain monetary real value (consider Bitcoin, exchanges, etc.) The issue will be combined of three sections: Applications, Technologies and Policies, each includes several papers: Applications: Medical, Commerce, Defense etc. Technologies: 3D, AR, Money, etc. Policies: Standards, Privacy, Taxation, Legal, etc. We have initial submissions in the following topics: Collaboration Medicine Learning ART Taxation Possible topics include, but are not limited to: Applications Defense related virtual worlds Relations and Love and virtual worlds Ambient Life Music and virtual worlds Virtual Worlds for Sales Technologies The state of GPU Measuring virtual worlds Sensors Robotics Virtual Worlds and mobile Virtual worlds and the web  (HTML5) 3D Printing Policies Economics and Virtual Worlds Privacy Avatar rights Legal rights Standards (open vs. close) Submission Instructions Interested authors should submit a two-page extended abstract by the deadline indicated below. Authors will then be invited to submit original scholarly papers of up to 7500 words including footnotes, references, and appendices. All submissions (abstracts and papers) should be made via the JVWR publishing system (see http://jvwresearch.org > About JVWR > For Authors). All submissions will be reviewed under our double open policyhttp://jvwresearch.org/index.php/2011-07-30-02-51-41/for-authors. Accepted papers will be published in Volume 7, Number 2 (2014) of the Journal (subject to change). Questions? email us to: info AT jvwresearch DOT org More about JVWR The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://www.jvwresearch.org/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship. JVWR welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds research. Virtual worlds ignite a continuously evolving area of study that spans multiple disciplines. The JVWR editorial team looks forward to engaging a wide range of creative and scholarly research. Deadlines and Timeline March 23, 2013 - Call published May 19, 2013 - Authors submit proposed extended abstract or initial papers June 3, 2013 - Editors make decisions about proposals August 4, 2013 - Authors submit full paper September 2, 2013 - Editors return review report and initial decision September 29, 2013 - Authors submit revised paper November 3, 2013 - Editors return final comments and decision December 15, 2013 - ICIS JVWR workshop (Milan, Italy) January 12, 2014 - Authors final submit, based on comments, directly to JVWR coordinator February 16, 2014 - Publication: Q1 2014 Connection with 2013 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2013) Authors with accepted and conditional accepted papers will be invited to the ICIS 2013 Milan workshop, where we will meet with the editors, fellow authors, and other JVWR community members. p.s. Why Lantern? The field of virtual worlds is vast, interconnected and expanding. In this issue, we take a review lantern and shed some light on some of the fields' sides. Clearly, we will not cover everything. We will often see shadows and not the full image. Ultimately, we hope to encourage further exploring of the field. More Information We are also happy to let you know of the following: Our next issue Metaverse Assembled (2013),led by Leonel Morgado, UTAD - ECT, Portugal & Nelson Zagalo, University of Minho, Portugal will be published mid-April 2013. The 2012 Orlando Augmented Reality workshop was interesting and successful. Summary, presentations and pictures are available on our site, special page events. Check our web site's special page on events in our field for updates. Review past issues on our website's specialall issues cover view page. We welcome you to join our Facebook page 'theJVWR' Follow us @theJVWR on Twitter Subscribe to our mailing list (on the top left ofJVWR homepage at http://jvwresearch.org/).No spam guaranteed (max. one email per week.)Note: Subscribing to our mailing list is different from being a JVWR user. To become a JVWR user (editor, author, reviewer) please seeREGISTER on the right-hand menu of the homepage. Spring is in the air with our best wishes for a Happy Easter to all. Thankfully, Yesha Sivan Managing Editor, The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research Professor and Head of the Management Information System Program, Tel Aviv Academic College Founder, Metaverse-Labs Ltd.
	© 2013 Journal of Virtual Worlds Research All rights reserved.

My top 10 insights re Mobile: From Pope Francis 2005, 2013

The lower image was taken at the announcement of the new Vatican - Pope Francis. (see slide #8 here). (I could not track the upper image, combined image appeared in feeder.co.il)

According to this chart (published 13-mar-2013), it is estimated that Google activates "around 1.4 million Android devices per day."

[if you know of updated iOS data I would love to post them here as background.]

So what is the meaning of mobile devices (phones + tables + minis), here are my top 10 insights.

(1) More people are and will connect to the world via these mobile devices.

(2) We are using computers less and less. In fact, the use of computers is now kept just for more complex tasks (documents, excel, design, etc.) Regular use (surfing the net, video, Facebook, email) is done much easier with mobile devices.

(3) Mobile is not a computer. It is much more: a computer, bunch of sensors, cloud computing. This is a qualitative difference.

(4) If you are an established firm and have no mobile web site -- you are loosing.

(5) If you are an ICT start-up that has NO mobile strategy -- you are lost.

(6) You have to think well about native apps vs. HTML5. (I vote for HTML5 -- but it is slow to come). (disclosure 1: I'm the head of the W3C office in Israel; disclosure 2: W3C IMHO are too slow in HTML5)

(7) More people are using the internet via apps (less via browsers).

(8) There will be limits to bandwidth (even with 4G),  net neutrality is not possible.

(9) Lots of new opportunities for mobile applications. Industries will change (some will die: newspapers as we know them. Finally, I canceled my last paper this January).

(10) New devices -- iOS watch, Google Glass will bring even more value.

and for fun, two videos about these new devices:

Video about the Apple Watch:


Video of Google Glass