Having just got stuck into the new birthday book about how to be a successful entrepreneur in Second Life, Hermione was interested to see a Google Alert come in, highlighting an article from ArminasX who owns a successful particle effect shop in SL.
What are particle effects? They are the often very beautiful effects you can place in your house, shop or club to make effects like rain, snow, sparkly glitter falling, or Hermione went to a party the other day where the particles effects were birthday balloons.
ArminasX says "Available today at Electric Pixels are six new "Leaf" effects. They are devices that you can place within your trees to produce a stream of falling leaves.
The six different types correspond to the amount of leaves and the color. You can choose between Red/Yellow/Brown and Thick or Thin. Pictured is Red Thick.
I'm a business owner, builder and explorer of Second Life. I own a particle effects shop in Second Life called Electric Pixels and I have things to say about my experiences - in running a virtual business, building virtual products and exploring the virtual world.
I seem to have developed a rather successful Second Life business, and I am often asked how I did it. There's no magic to it, you just have to do the basics of any start up business and follow common sense. Here's ten tips that might get you started on the way to your first million Linden $!
- Pick the right type of business. There are limitless possibilities for Second Life businesses, but you should pick something that fits the following: You must be reasonably familiar with the area or topic; You must be sufficiently skilled to do the necessary work, which might include leadership, social, artistic or technical skills; There shouldn't be too much existing competition, especially large and mature competition; Most critically you must have ..."
And a late birthday present has just arrived – so exciting! 
If you want to really understand all sides of the story about Second Life as a business platform - the genuine potential as well as the current drawbacks - a series of in-depth feature articles published last week by CIO Insight magazine is where you definitely should go.
Under the umbrella heading of Is Business Ready For Virtual Worlds?, technology editor David Carr has done an excellent job in presenting a broad and balanced picture of Second Life that, when you’ve read the articles, will leave you wiser as well as with better understanding of why Second Life attracts evangelists and skeptics in equal measure.
Carr’s umbrella addresses these topics:
Real-world companies such as American Apparel, IBM, Starwood Hotels and Toyota are exploring whether 3D virtual communities can be adapted to serve business–and whether they are an effective place to do market research, collaborate on projects, and sell goods and services.
Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life, is a pioneer in the development of streaming media technology.
When Linden Lab outlined a growth path for Second Life, it found that getting everyone on the same virtual page wasn’t easy.
A look at how the virtual world works.
Starwood Hotels demonstrates a relatively low-cost market research experiment in a new Internet medium.
I make no secret that I firmly believe virtual communities like Second Life present significant opportunities for companies and other organizations in myriad ways.
Once you understand more about what’s possible and balance it with what’s not yet possible, you will be able to make sounder judgments on whether a place like Second Life is for you and your organization.
Either way, it’s a place you need to pay attention to, no better said than this text from Carr’s main feature:
Keep an open mind.
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