W Hotels in SL

Convinced that Second Life is a credible vehicle for social interactions, commerce and entertainment, Linden Research, the virtual world's owner, is hard at work to enhance voice capabilities, navigation, e-tail and marketing platforms reports InfoWorld.

Voice: Linden Lab VP of development Joe Miller said that Second Life is aiming for complete integration of voice so that "if you walk up to someone who is voice-enabled [in the virtual world] youll be able to just start a conversation." And, in a large group of people, you'll be able to hear multiple voices, each emanating from the proper place in 3D.

Search: Linden is also planning to make search more natural and visual than it is now, so casual users will have no trouble finding interesting things that are happening and which even fit their profile.

Marketers Welcome: Miller said Second Life is thriving due to experiences that brands and small e-tailers are bringing to the virtual world.