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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.

Despite the hype, only 11% of enterprises have adopted virtual worlds to augment their work, says a new report by Forrester. Virtual worlds have been around since about 1995, but it took businesses half a decade to realize the potential value within the enterprise.

But the research released this week isn't just an outline of the market: it's a how-to guide for doing business in a computer-generated universe. Vendors may not have done a very good job of marketing themselves to the enterprise to date, but there's still a huge opportunity for your company to get virtual, if you know how.

When you think of virtual worlds, the first one that probably pops into your head is Second Life, but in reality, there are a number of different virtual worlds out there. There are worlds for socializing, worlds for gaming, even worlds for e-learning. But one thing that most virtual worlds have in common is that they are places for play, not practicality. (Yes, even the e-learning worlds are designed with elements of "fun" in mind). Outside of some reports that virtual worlds will replace web conferencing in the enterprise, we haven't seen a lot of innovation in this space which would make businesses sit up and take notice. However, that may be about to change thanks to new software that lets you perform data visualization and manipulation techniques within the virtual world environment.

Sometimes, no matter how compelling your service, it all comes down to the basics. When the buzz begins to die down, you have to resort to compelling content to sell your site and services. This goes for every site. Even Second Life, who recently discovered that their existing home page design wasn't doing the site justice. Now, after testing a new design for their landing page, they're going live with a new design and the Lindens are hoping that it will continue to motivate more residents to join the Second Life community.

What's going on with the 3D web? At one point, it was being heralded as the next big thing. Is that still the case? Take for example, the virtual world Second Life. Once a booming place where every business had set up their online presence, the formerly happening hotspot is now gloomy and dead. As one-time Second Life reporter Eric Krangel said, hanging out in Second Life is "about as fun as watching paint dry."

Relay for Life of Second Life is a charity event that celebrates the victories and remembers those that have been lost in the fight against cancer. Th 4th annual RFLofSL relay takes place today in the popular virtual network Second Life. Reports have been coming through the pipelines to let us know that the event has already amassed a ton money and it's only just begun!

While IBM and Linden Labs are cozying up to each other, Google has just released its own virtual world: Lively. Lively is available through a browser plugin for Firefox and Internet Explorer. It is Windows only for now. Lively does not feature one coherent world like Second Life but splits worlds up into different rooms. Lively was originally developed as a 20% project by Niniane Wang.

Staff of Linden Labs, the creators of virtual world Second Life, and IBM announced last night that they have achieved the first recorded teleport of their avatars from one virtual world into another. Researchers from the two companies teleported avatars from the Second Life Preview Grid to an OpenSim virtual world.

While unaffiliated parties have created versions of this process before, Linden says theirs is the first effort to achieve trans-world teleportation without logging out of one world and logging in to the other. No virtual goods were transported across the barrier, a major concern for Second Lifers concerned with virtual property theft and rapid depreciation of their assets' value.

Forget taking a class in social media, how about taking a class in social media? Specifically, virtual worlds. No, not taking a class about virtual worlds, but actually donning an avatar and going to see your professor (who very well could be dressed as a unicorn) inside Second Life. That's a reality for some students of San Jose State University, which has a 16 "acre" virtual campus for their Library Sciences department. In tough economic times, universities and companies are starting to return to the virtual world as a cost-cutting measure.

Forrester has released a new report into the use of virtual worlds in the workplace. The report makes the big claim that "within five years, the 3-D Internet will be as important for work as the Web is today". But before we get too carried away, the report also notes that right now virtual worlds are not user friendly to the enterprise crowd - "you’ve practically got to be a gamer to use most of these tools", Forrester notes.

The report, entitled 'Getting Real Work Done In Virtual Worlds', states that Virtual worlds like Second Life, There.com, and "more business-focused offerings" are on the verge of becoming valuable work tools.