The Metaverse Has Expanded

The metaverse in my understanding has really always been about data. It is about a stimulating visualization of information and the real-time connection of people through the online construct. The "virtual world" actually is a very limiting understanding of the future of the net. The physical constraint of the land model in the digital ether is unnecessary and only serves to give the noobs momentary comfort (as well as nice profitability to companies selling virtual land) Anyway, this is not the point of this post. I am writing today about how the metaverse has exploded.

So back to the metaverse. It is an increasingly complex and noisy place. It is very hard to stay connected without getting exhausted in the flow of it all. Perhaps it is a sign of my own confusion or foolish attempt at staying in the mix that I know have 3 main interfaces with the fledgling metaverse/2D Net -- my desktop computer, my laptop and my iPhone. So much for technology making my life easier. Yet, my laptop and my iPhone were given free with the mobile service contracts, so it isn't a cost issue so much. It is really an information management challenge.

I tried to get more of a grip on some of this recently. I looked at my main activities online and digitally. I think (probably forgot something really important) that the key activities can be summarized as:

• Create -- or package content in a unique way
• Share -- let other people know what is interesting
• Communicate -- core email, voip and manage calendar
• Consume -- read, watch, listen to media
• Manage Identity -- where I can present my persona(s)

Then I ran through all the tools and main resources that I use to do these activities. It turned into this giant web (mess) of activities, applications and services. It's not a bad as it looks maybe. The hardest part is remembering or really finding the passwords to the accounts when I need them. At this point though I do feel pretty loaded with tools and things to do. And the avatar isn't really a part of all of this 2D Net yet. I think there is a lot of scope for smart avatars to help us all with this new web.

(Chart via bubbl.us btw which is a very useful tool to spew this stuff out.)

Couple of highlights to mention from this picture:

• Flickr is the greatest community/sharing tool. Check my photo stream here.
• GroupHub by 37 Signals a lightweight (enuff) project management tool and collaboration tool.
• Newsgator is really xlent RSS reader and also has synched online and iphone app. You can use it to scan hundreds of RSS feeds.
• Linked-In is a smart, feature-rich identity and professional networking site.
• and of course the iPhone...what needs to be said about this amazing little device? Well it isn't that good a phone, but it is an amazing computer (when the battery lasts). The iPhone is life changing--but anyone who has one knows that already.

So the metaverse will be expanding to more mobile more real-time environments. The iPhone may have been a catalyst to the what is coming next. My view--my view is that the future is more about avatars than "worlds". Worlds is a dead concept already perhaps, but avatars--there will be more and more, many types and much smarter than we we know know. The avatars will build the metaverse.

check out the scrollable/zoomable bubbl.us chart below--it sorta works?