The worlds largest annual trade show for consumer technology gets underway in Las Vegas today. This years CES keynotes will include Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates sharing his thoughts on natural user interface, Sony CEO Howard Stringer bringing updates on the high definition video format wars and Intel CEO Paul Otellini offering a glimpse of Third Life.

Reena Jana reports that Microsoft conservatively estimates its widened definition of the Serious Games market to be a $9 billion opportunity. The above video shows some early offerings of Virtual Earth + 3DVIA. This along with the remixing of MS Flight Simulator which debuted as Microsoft ESP (a platform for visualisation simulation) shows Microsofts commitment to the space.

While 2007 was very much a proof of concepts year, 2008 will see wider experimentation and adoption of social computing within enterprises worldwide. GM is getting the year off to a good start with the launch of GMnext which incorporates a weblog and wiki among its offering. Interesting times indeed.

Catching up on news over the last week three pieces caught my attention. The first was Draxtor Despres video report titled Media in SL : old vs new? An indigenous media sector was already well established prior to the arrival of Reuters, AvaStar, Sky News and iCNN over the last year. Draxtor speaks with representatives of each camp on how they view each other in this 5 minute clip.

The second piece was Sir Tim Berners-Lee commentary on the social graph meme doing the rounds. Paul Miller has an excellent post which follows the conversations which have taken place since and is recommended reading. Looking forward to seeing what semSL, a project to combine the virtual world of Second Life with semantic technologies, holds in store once it goes live.

The third was Anne Eisenberg’s NYT piece on EveryScape with details of its upcoming December launch. The mapping services provider will offer virtual street tours for ten urban areas including Aspen, Boston, Cambridge and New York. Unlike other providers within this space it will also offer interior views. Harvard Square was profiled with a preview of the browser based service here.

A video recording of Mike Liebhold speaking at the first Stanford Metaverse Meetup last week is now available for viewing. Mike speaks about the Geospatial Web, Virtual Worlds, Augmented Reality and how they all fold together. Runtime is 65 minutes. As Mike rightly points out and as Ronan continually remarks here at Mobil Avenue many of the concepts have been around for some 30 years now. Blended realities is something we are going to be writing alot more about in 2008.

This fall, WIRED Magazine is bringing its vision of a new world’s fair to Los Angeles. Experience more than 160 exciting exhibits from scientists, researchers, and inventors around the globe. WIRED NextFest features innovations in communication, design, entertainment, exploration, health, play, robots, transportation, security, and green living.

WIRED NextFest kicks off today in Los Angeles. It runs from September 13th-16th in the South Hall (J and K) at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Exhibitors are offering the opportunity to experience first hand their vision of the future. For those attending the four day event we recommend checking out Brainloop.

Brainloop is an interactive performance platform which employs an application called Brain Computer Interface (BCI) that lets users explore virtual spaces such as Google Earth simply by imagining basic movements. The exhibit is a production of Aksioma – an Institute for Contemporary Arts in Ljubljana.

Virtual experiences todate have been limited by computer peripherals such as the mouse and keyboard. Unchanged for decades these interface tools were designed primarily for a 2D world of data input. Last year Nintendo gave people a glimpse of just what is possible with the launch of its wii remote which harnessed motion sensor technology.

As Christian Renaud points out peoples perceptions of what is real and what is virtual will evolve over time. This will accelerate as more interactive performance platforms (driven by voice, motion and ultimately thoughts) to interface within 2D and 3D environments become available. Interesting times indeed.

As someone who is not a fan of versioning I prefer to think about what is happening in terms of waves. The first wave was a top-down driven revolution, the second wave is a bottom-up driven counter-revolution and the third wave will be about where the two intersect and ultimately evolve – middle space. During the first and second waves our digital identity and attention identity were separable. In the third wave the two will become one with significant social, economic and political consequences.

A number of projects are attempting to build services to ride the third wave. OpenID, Particls and Project VRM are but three examples which need to be considered alongside the likes of platform contenders Facebook, Google and Linden Lab. Whereas RSS provides content, microformats provide context, Virtual Worlds provide presence – both in terms of location and self. As our understanding and interpretation of gestures improve Virtual Worlds will play an important part in providing a sandbox to enable the mind shift required in third wave thinking from linear to non-linear.

With more people experiencing Virtual Worlds first hand many are surprised to learn just how long they have actually been around. Thankfully an initiative by Bruce Damer called Virtual Worlds Timeline is at hand to help fill in the gaps. For those interested audio and accompanying slides of a March 26th 2007 presentation on the origins and evolution of Social Virtual Worlds by Bruce is available here. There are a number of gems within the presentation for those who take the time to listen to it. More to follow …

Unlike many writers who have written pieces featuring Second Life to-date Wade has taken up residence in-world for a couple of months prior to writing his piece and it shows. Christian Renaud has also dusted off his crystal ball and started to think aloud on what the future may hold.

Organized events such as the upcoming SecondFest are attracting more and more people to experience Virtual Worlds first hand. With Edinburgh University and Santa Clara University joining the growing list of 100+ academic institutions resident in Second Life the conversations on Second Earth have only just begun. Interesting times indeed.

CNN Future Summit: Virtual Worlds aired on June 13th on CNN International. Originating from Singapore and Palo Alto, California, the program features creative visionaries and entrepreneurs leading us into a new age of creativity and imagination.

CNN Future Summit : Virtual Worlds serves as a good primer for those new to the space. Kristie Lu Stout attempts to connect the dots by bringing together some of the leading thinkers from academia, gaming, social media and virtual worlds within this one hour special. It is now viewable online with the show broken down into 6 segments – Virtual reality, Communications, Movies, Connectivity, Creative talent and Virtual future. Recommended viewing and food for thought.