"'Virtual' self can help dieting, exercise"

So read the subtitle of a story in today's Palo Alto Weekly. Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab researchers have been studying how people change their real-world behavior by watching virtual representations of themselves (known as avatars). The researchers have found evidence that what one's avatar does in a virtual-reality game or world (like Second Life) can have real health implications in everyday life. For example, watching your virtual self get fat on-screen will help you decide to skip the chocolate bar at snack time.

Peer-to-Peer Infrastructure for Virtual Worlds:

Technology Review reports today on VastPark, a new Australian startup that is taking a peer-to-peer approach to managing load in virtual worlds. Seems like an interesting alternative to central servers or pre-distributing graphics, but I'll be curious to see if it stands up to the test of real world swarms:

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