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The latest invention from Second Life founder Philip Rosedale launches today, and it's no virtual world. Coffee & Power is an online marketplace that lets people buy and sell small jobs from each other. It's also a network of real-world co-working spaces, called "workclubs," where users can meet to make arrangements or just stay and work.

Coffee & Power is what Rosedale calls a "meta-company," a framework for doing business with no managers or middlemen, all arranged through a website, an iPhone app and the workclub. The site, the app and the first workclub on Market Street in San Francisco all go live today after a rapidly developed beta period starting this summer. Workers of the world, take notice: this San Francisco startup wants to make each of us the boss.

While the real-world markets take a nosedive, a virtual world's economy is on the up and up, and its parent company is reaping the rewards. Second Life, the user-generated virtual world, generates almost $100 million in revenue a year, according to a new report on LAUNCH. A "company insider" says that Linden Lab has grossed over $75 million per year for the past three years and the company is profitable.

But this isn't just another nine-digit number in the sea of Web business news. Linden Lab, the parent company of Second Life, simply charges fees on financial transactions. Its revenue comes from an entirely user-generated economy built on real estate, virtual goods and services. Yes, there's also a sex industry.

CoffeeandPower, the latest project from Second Life co-founder Philip Rosedale has launched in test-mode in the San Francisco area. The service describes itself as a "sort of live version of Craigslist."

There have been a number of startups take aim at Craiglist as of late. That's no surprise, really. The UI is wretched, there's no social sharing component, and there's no mobile Website and no mobile app. There's definitely room for disruption here, right?

The 3D virtual world Blue Mars has announced that it is restructuring, dropping its PC development to focus solely on Apple iOS. The company itself is also restructuring, with an unspecified number of layoffs, including the departure of CEO Jim Sink.

Once pegged as an up-and-coming competitor to Second Life, Blue Marks is a CryEngine 2-powered virtual world from developer Avatar Reality. On Friday, the company said it will no longer add new content to the PC version of Blue Mars, switching its efforts to develop a version of the virtual world on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices. The servers will remain online, but there will no longer be any technical support. Current city developers will no longer be charged monthly hosting fees.

Linden Lab, the maker of the virtual world Second Life, announced its new CEO today: Rod Humble, a former Electronic Arts executive. Humble will replace Philip Rosedale, who had been acting as the company's interim CEO.

2010 was hardly a banner year for Second Life, and Linden Lab says it hopes that a new CEO at the helm will bring "fresh perspective, renewed energy, and creativity" to the new year.

According to an announcement issued today by Linden Lab, the company that controls the Second Life virtual environment, changes are afoot. Thirty percent of the company's employees will be laid off as the company consolidates and closes its bureaus outside North America.

Linden Lab intends to move the Second Life environment to a browser- and mobile-based platform, obviating the need to download software. It will combine its product and engineering divisions. Future plans include migration to social networks, like Facebook.

The world economy may still be firmly in the toilet but the economy inside the virtual world of Second Life is doing fine. Better than fine, in fact. Q1 of 2010 was a record-breaker.

In a post on the Second Life blog, Tom Hale, Chief Product Officer for SL owner Linden Lab, said user-to-user transactions in the immersive world spiked 30% over last year to $160 million, breaking all previous company records.

Second Life is introducing a behind the firewall service for enterprise customers, another sign that the very definition of collaboration is changing as more companies seek ways to do their work in virtual environments.

In addition, Second Life will unveil a marketplace in the first quarter of 2010 where people may purchase templates and other 3D environments for their Second Life Enterprise world.

We see so many different collaboration tools that at times if feels like we are looking at the same environment over and over again.

Proton Media is entirely different. It is the most advanced collaboration environment we have seen in the market. We say this without hesitation.

When it first launched, the tech and business worlds were transfixed on Linden Labs' Second Life as a new marketplace. Science fiction fans flocked to the site for its Snow Crash and Matrix-like neo-apocalyptic feel. And finally, educators arrived to build inexpensive and immersive learning environments. While the hype has certainly dissipated with Second Life, the librarian and educator community remains. Today Linden announced the first statewide roll out of a virtual learning environment. Funded by a grant from the University of Texas State's Transforming Undergraduate Education Program the company will provide a huge space for faculty, students and researchers to explore a virtual undergrad degree program.