If you're using Google Reader, or some other RSS reader, to read this blog, you're going to have to change your subscription. Delete the current subscription, and instead subscribe to:

http://copperrobot.com/?feed=rss2

I apologize for the inconvenience. I'm not doing this because I'm a self-centered jerk who likes to make trouble for other people—well, that's not the only reason.

The reason I'm asking you to subscribe to that other feed is that this feed, the one you're looking at right now, is going to be used only for the podcasts. From now on, you should only subscribe to this feed... read more

  The Copper Robot is moving to a new hosting company. If I pressed all the buttons and turned the cranks and pulled the levers correctly, this'll mean pretty much nothing to you, except you'll have a better-looking blog.

The copperrobot.com domain will point to the new blog in the next day or so. Your RSS and iTunes subscriptions should automatically carry over.

Old posts will continue to live here, but they'll have a new URL: libsyn.copperrobot.com+whatever -the-rest-of-the-old URL. External links and bookmarks should automatically redirect.

That's if everything goes well. Yeah, what's the likelihood that's going to happen?

If you... read more

We talked with Scott about the subject matter of his book, Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, And Why It Matters, which went on sale a few days ago. Our conversation ranged from proto-blogger Justin Hall, who lived his life publicly, online, until his girlfriend made him choose between her and the blog, to the warbloggers of 9/11, and the relatively recent wave of political bloggers. We also talked with Scott about his career at Salon.com, where he was co-founder, and what he's working on now.

Scott blogs at wordyard.

Watch the video here. As always, this... read more

Next on Copper Robot: Scott Rosenberg, co-founder of Salon Magazine. I'll talk with Scott about the history and future of blogging, and his new book, Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, And Why It Matters.

When: Sunday, July 12, 6 pm.

Where: The lovely Seaside Theater, World2Worlds Island or watch the live video on the Web.

I spent all day Friday glued to Scott's book Say Everything, which traces the history of blogging from its earlier days in the faraway 90s, through the warbloggers immediately after 9/11, and through to the present, where bloggers have helped shape the... read more

We discussed his new novel, Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America, past novels Spin and Darwinia, Julian Comstock's origins in Roman history and 19th Century popular children's fiction, and why "wanker" is not, actually, an ethnic slur.

Wilson is the author of more than a dozen novels over more than 20 years. His work frequently features miraculous changes to the entire world: In Darwinia, it's the entire continent of Europe being replaced by an alien landscape in 1912. In Spin, set in the present day, the stars suddenly disappear one night as the Earth is completely encapsulated... read more

I'll be one of the featured guests on the Metanomics interview program tomorrow, that's Wednesday, June 24, talking about the so-called "Twitter revolution" in Iran and other things with host Robert Bloomfield (SL: Beyers Sellers).

But I feel like Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall, a comedy team that had the good fortune to break through to the Ed Sullivan Show, which was, at the time, every comedian's dream -- but had the bad fortune to do it on the day the Beatles made their American TV debut.

The main act on Metanomics that day will be Kevin Werbach, a key... read more

Coming up next, the author of one of my all-time favorite novels, science-fiction writer Robert Charles Wilson, who'll talk about his latest novel, Julian Comstock: A Story of 22d Century America.

I'm reading Julian Comstock now, and it does a great job at one of my favorite things that science fiction books do: Letting you inhabit another world for a little while. In the case of Julian Comstock, the world is America, 175 or so years into the future. Forget about your flying cars and orbiting hotels -- this is a world where fossil fuels ran out, the population... read more

A few weeks ago, I interviewed Spencer Zuzulo of 3DSquared, aong with Rita J. King and Joshua Fouts of Dancing Ink Productions. We talked about how 3DSquared is running a program to teach Louisiana kids how to create games that teach about social issues. While the kids think they're learning to be game designers, they're also learning about social issues, as well as getting experience in teamwork, making presentations, and other so-called "soft skills" that keep disadvantaged kids from getting ahead.

Second Life's Zen Paine and Treet.tv compiled the interview into a 6-1/2 minute video for Dancing Ink, and I'm... read more

We had a great time talking with Gina "Lifehacker" "Smarterware" Trapani, Mike "The Unofficial Apple Weblog" Rose, and Second Life's own ArminasX Saiman about the new Snow Leopard operating system from Apple, the next-generation iPhone, the Safari 4 browser, the return of Steve Jobs, an whether the Mac spinning wait cursor -- a/ka/ the "spinning pinwheel of death" -- turns the other way in the southern hemisphere. Watch the video now -- as always, this is the raw, unedited video; actual discussion starts about 30 seconds in.

read more

Next on Copper Robot, we'll take a look at the news out of Apple's biggest annual scheduled event, the World Wide Developers Conference, which starts Monday in San Francisco. Apple will almost certainly announce a new iPhone, and talk about updates to the Mac OS.

The WWDC runs all this week, and next Sunday we'll hash out what happened with three experts on Apple: Gina Trapani, founding editor of the blog Lifehacker, now blogging at Smarterware by Gina Trapani. She describes herself as a "software and self-improvement junkie" who blogs about "using your head (and great software) to... read more

Watch the video of Sunday's interview with representatives of Linden Lab, talking about the new policy toward adult content in Second Life, as well as new voice technology.

Our guests were Linden Lab general counsel Marty Roberts and deputy general counsel Ken Dreifach (SL: Marty Linden and Ken Linden), along with Cyn Skyberg, VP of Customer Relations (SL: Cyn Linden) and Joe Miller, VP of platform and technology development (Joe Linden).

We had a full sim of residents, including many adult business owners who grilled the Lindens on the new policies.

Discussion starts about 20 seconds in, until then it's all typey typey... read more

Join us this Sunday when the Copper Robot talks to folks at Linden Lab about the new policies on adult content, news about voice functionality in Second Life, and some of what the Lindens are doing to foster community.

Linden Lab plans to institute a new "Adult" rating for graphic sexual and violent content in Second Life. Residents who participate in those activities will have to verify their real-world age by presenting real-world ID. Adult content on the mainland will be segregated into its own continent (although it can continue on private islands). Linden Lab says they're doing it so... read more

Watch the video of our conversation with folks from Dancing Ink Productions and 3DSquared, two companies using virtual worlds technologies to help bring about social change in regions as far-flung as Louisiana and Egypt.

Our guests were Rita J. King (SL: Eureka Dejavu) and Joshua Fouts (SL: Schmilsson Nilsson) of Dancing Ink, as well as Spencer Zuzulo (SL: Hiltz Zilz) of 3DSQuared. Dancing Ink has been working on a couple of projects bringing Egyptian bloggers together with the U.S. government to stimulate the free flow of information, while 3DSquared as been working with underprivileged kids in Louisiana to use... read more

Tomorrow morning at 11:30 am, I'll be locking lips for cancer prevention, manning (roboting?) a kissing booth for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life SL, organized by Shawna Montgomery and Haley Salomon. It's a Star Trek themed event, and I'll be dressed for the occasion (I put together a really fun costume for the occasion) This is the place So if you ever wanted to swap spit with the Copper Robot, this is your chance. I'll be limbering up my lips between now and then.

I'll be joined by other Second Life celebrities, including blogger Hamlet... read more

I answered Botgirl Questi's comments about pseudonymity (here and here) with a wisecrack (here), and she challenged me to say something serious (here).

Second Life's custom of pseudonymity is actually a lot like how the real world works. It's the transparency of the flat Internet that's weird, not Second Life.

I'm writing this at a coffeeshop. If I choose to strike up a conversation with the guy sitting at the next table, he and I will each decide how much personal information to divulge. We'll each decide whether to share our full names, where we live, our... read more

Our guests on the next Copper Robot this week are two organizations using virtual worlds and digital media for social change.

Our guests Rita King and Joshua Fouts of Dancing Ink Productions are using virtual worlds to promote conversations between different cultures. The company has focused on Islamic relations recently; last year, they hosted Egyptian bloggers in conversation with a U.S. diplomat in Second Life. This week, Dancing Ink will follow that event up with a video broadcast of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control briefing on swine flu from the American University in Cairo.

King... read more

Penelope, author of the blog Brazen Careerist and I talked about career advice for people over 40, career advice for the unemployed, how to maintain personal boundaries while blogging about incredibly personal subjects, what Twitter is good for, why it's a bad idea to use the words "oral sex" in a headline (but it's ok in a blog post), and more.

This isn't the most interesting video ever made. Penelope wasn't in Second Life at all for the interview, and I wasn't in-world most of the time because I kept crashing. Also, as with all our videos, it's unedited, so... read more

 

Our guest next week is Penelope Trunk, who writes about "the intersection of work and life" on her blog Brazen Careerist. I've been a fan of Penelope since I met her two years ago; her blog and columns are well-written, well-researched, well-thought-out, and they often defy common wisdom. Her writing is also very personal, and frequently provocative; I expect we'll find out week whether a copper robot can blush.

Penelope is the founder of three startups, most recently Brazen Careerist, a Web service to help companies locate hard-to-find find job candidates.

Prior to Brazen Careerist, Penelope worked at... read more

Copper Robot is a live interview show hosted by veteran journalist Mitch Wagner, alternate Sundays at 6 pm PT in Second Life, at the Seaside Theater on World2Worlds Island.

What kind of interviews do you do?

We interview anybody who has anything interesting to say, on subjects including technology, books, politics, television, pop culture, science fiction, Second Life, and more. Past interviews include science-fiction writer Charles Stross, and cast of the Web sitcom "The Guild," including Felicia Day, who appeared on Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.. We also had P.W.... read more

We had a great talk with science-fiction writer Charles Stross about his current novel, The Revolution Business, latest in the popular Merchant Families series, as well as the Singularity, politics, technology, work habits, being a man writing about female heros, and how Bill Gates is actually a time traveler sent from the future to save us from being conquered by computers. Watch it now, or wait for the edited audio-only podcast a little later this week.

We had a little bit of a bumpy start, and the video starts with Charlie talking in mid-sentence. But the interview worked out well... read more

Watch Copper Robot live here as it happens, or join us live in Second Life at the Seaside Theater on World2Worlds Island. Video and audio recordings will be available after the event.

The Copper Robot talks with science-fiction writer Charles Stross Sunday, April 19. Charlie has a new book coming out this month, The Revolution Business, the fifth volume in his popular "Family Trade" series. It's the story of an American technology journalist's adventures in parallel worlds. Also, Charlie is appearing in a benefit talk, along with fellow science fiction writer and blogger Cory Doctorow, "Resisting the All-Seeing Eye," in London May 1.

Charlie is the author of Halting State, a mystery novel set about a decade in the future, where virtual worlds and online multiplayer gaming have become... read more

Missed our interview Sunday with some of the cast and creative team behind the Web sitcom The Guild? No problem. We streamed the video live on Ustream.tv and you can watch it here. Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, and Jeff Lewis joked around and talked with the Copper Robot -- that's me, Mitch Wagner -- about what goes on behind the scenes in the creation of the show, the fate of Season 3 (short version: it's up in the air) and the story-behind-the-story of how the show was born.

The first 18 minutes are pre-show, with a little interesting conversation between... read more

Our friends at World2Worlds have been going all out getting ready for Sunday’s interview with cast of the Web sitcom The Guild. Kim Smith (“Rissa Maidstone” in Second Life) has been hard at work customizing our guests’ avatars to look like the characters they play in the show. She took a few snaps of Felicia Day’s avatar, Codex Alchemi.

Kim’s been taking the lead orienting Felicia, as well as Jeff “Vork” Lewis and Sandeep “Zaboo” Pareekh, in the use of... read more

Sunday, April 5, the Copper Robot interviews three of the cast members of the Web sitcom The Guild, which tells the story of the real lives — such as they are — of a group of players in a medieval online game. Our guests will be Felicia Day, who also starred on Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, as well as actors Sandeep Parikh and Jeff Lewis.

The Guild gleefully plays with every stereotype about online gamers: Anti-social, obsessive — one of them is actually a grown man who lives with his mother (I can’t remember if he lives in her... read more

Over on New World Notes, "BadMove" comments on discussion about merging the Teen Grid and adult Second Life. He thinks it's a bad move -- there'll be no way to protect kids from adult content, adults will have to watch out who they speak to, and the whole thing will erupt into a scandal.

BadMove is dead wrong on this issue.

Minors can already get access to the adult grid. All they have to do is tell a little fib and say they're an adult. This is no obstacle to a healthy teen-age boy from getting at porn. When I... read more

Join us Sunday for an hour of madcap conversation with Kerria Seabrooke and Paul Jannicola, two animators with the Ill Clan, a company that produces movies in Second Life. Ill Clan's latest production, Tiny Nation, tells the story of a group of gentle backyard creatures and their plot to kill the human residents of the suburban home they live behind. Ill Clan also did the animation for last year’s Second Life-based episode of the TV show CSI: New York.

The type of animation that Ill Clan practices is called "machinima." It's computer animation produced in games and virtual worlds... read more

Great insight by Wagner James Au: Linden Lab's attempt to clean up its reputation by creating a "red light district" for adult content -- and forbidding it on the rest of the grid -- might backfire. It might simply call attention to the adult content, and cement Second Life's undeserved reputation as porn-world.

That's what happened to Amsterdam in real life, he says.

Red Light Lessons: Creating a Second Life Amsterdam of Adult Content Will Likely Create Even More Controversies

When I tell people I visited Amsterdam, most of them immediately ask if I went to a hash bar, or caught a... read more

Join us Sunday for a conversation with P.W. Singer, author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, a look at real-world robots and how they’re defending America — and killing people — on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Singer argues that, as a society, we need to start taking the moral and political issues of robots on the battlefield seriously. It’s a fascinating book, I’m reading it now. I interviewed Singer for InformationWeek.

Join us at 6 pm Pacific/Second Life Time Sunday, March 8, at the Seaside Theater on World2Worlds Island, or... read more

Join us Sunday for a conversation with two of Second Life's leading businesspeople: Bill Stirling is the founder of SS Galaxy, which may be SL's biggest object. It's a cruise ship that spans three full sims, and the two-year-old build has become the hub of one of Second Life's most vibrant communities.

The Galaxy very nearly hit an iceberg this month when it ran out of fuel ("fuel" = money). Stirling was simply going to shut it down, but instead he found an anonymous benefactor who's going to keep it up and running.

Also joining us is ArminasX Saiman, proprietor... read more

Join us for the next session of Copper Robot Sunday at 11 am Pacific/Second Life time, when our guest will be Aliza Sherman/SL:Cybergrrl Oh. Aliza is a tireless networker and social media marketer, who moved with her family a couple of months ago to the tiny, remote village of Tok, Alaska, where temperatures recently plunged under 50 below zero.

When she’s not rubbing her hands together to stay warm, Aliza consults with companies on using social media and Second Life for business. This year, she co-founded Conversify, a social media consultancy that defies Web 2.0 trends by having a name... read more

I wrote up the Jan. 25 Copper Robot session for InformationWeek:

Avatars don't need health care, but the people at the keyboard do. That's why a Chicago marketer, who previously worked on the Budweiser "Wassup" campaign, organized a hearing on health care policy for then-President-elect Obama in Second Life.

Susanna Matukas, a Chicago-based freelancer in marketing and advertising, signed up on the Obama transition site, change.gov, after the election. She learned, through that site, that the office of the president-elect was looking for citizens to organize hearings on how the U.S. health care policy should be changed. The reports would then... read more

A little while ago, I started keeping a personal calendar of events in Second Life  - things that looked like they might be interesting and fun to attend.

Then I thought: Why not share that calendar with everyone? So here it is.

Drop me an IM in-world (Mitch Wagner) or send me an e-mail at mitch@wagmail.com if you want your event to be included.

And if you see me at any of these events -- or anywhere else -- say hello.

And we’re done with the second episode of Copper Robot, where we heard varying perspectives on the opening days of the Obama administration. Thanks once again to everyone involved, and we plan to get the podcast posted soon.

We’ll be back again in two weeks, Sunday, Feb. 8 at 11 am Pacific time, when our guest will be Aliza Sherman, an indefatigable networker and social media marketer. Aliza’s always been one of the most interesting people on the Web 2.0 scene, but her life became even more of an adventure not too long ago when she and her family moved... read more

Join us Sunday, Jan. 25, at 11 am SLT/Pacific Timefor a look at the Obama legacy. In previous years, it took a generation or two to settle a president’s legacy, but this is the fast-moving Internet era, so five days should be enough time to decide whether Obama is the The One Who Will Save Us All, or a socialist terrorist crook who hates America.

We have three guests who will help us settle that question, all of them politically active in Second Life and real life:

GenJCChristian Homewood, a liberal who blogs satirically at Jesus’s General.

Wyatt Forster, organizer of the... read more

Couple of things coming up in-world over the next few days that look interesting:

Kim Stanley Robinson

Our friends in Extropia are hosting a discussion with science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson at their regular Saturday Salon event this week, noon Jan. 17. Robinson is probably best known for his award-winning Mars trilogy - Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars, which explore the near-future colonization of Mars. He’s also known for The Years of Rice and Salt, which looks at more than 500 years of alternate history in a world where the Europeans were virtually wiped out by the Black... read more

Thanks to everyone who made Sunday’s kickoff of Copper Robot a success, especially our guests Eshi Otawara, Harper Beresford, and Mike Castlen, engineer Crap Mariner, and hosts World2Worlds and its CEO, Rissa Maidstone. The interviews went well, the audience seemed engaged, and everybody seemed to have a good time. Unfortunately, technology didn’t cooperate and we didn’t get a recording. (Crap has details.) So it was a moment in time, uncaptured and receding rapidly into the past, which is poetic. And frustrating.

Crap started a Flickr group for Copper Robot — please contribute your pix. Chimera Cosmos posted... read more

Our first program of the new Second Life interview show Copper Robot kicks off tomorrow (Sunday) at 11 am SLT, with well-known SL artist Eshi Otawara. Eshi, along with a couple of friends to help her tell her story, will talk about her RL problems with US immigration, as she was nearly deported from America because of an obscure clause in the law called the “widow’s penalty.” Also: A Few Minutes Of Crap, with Crap Mariner.

SLURL

Eshi is a fashion designer and artist in SL. In real life, she’s an American immigrant from Eastern Europe who had to... read more

It’s a new year, and time for a new Second Life project.

Way back in the misty prehistory of 2007 and early 2008, I did an interview program in Second Life for InformationWeek called GridTalk. Our guests included Biz Stone, who was then launching a new service called Twitter. We also had science fiction writers Charles Stross, Joe Haldeman, and notable people from inside the Second Life community. I had a great time doing it, and it was pretty popular in Second Life — but it became apparent that this wasn’t something InformationWeek should be involved in. It just didn’t seem... read more