American Apparel is setting up shop in a new, exotic location — an island on the online metaverse Second Life. The company has become the first retailer to set up shop in the popular, digital world.

Designs can be purchased using the in-world currency, Linden dollars, by any of the more than 200,000 people who inhabit Second Life. Fashion is one of the virtual world’s largest industries and the American Apparel clothing line will have to compete with the racy designs of Second Life’s digital designers.

Elsewhere in the virtual online world, people are using gaming technology to create protests against the Iraq War. An Unfair War is a five minute film about an Iraqi man coming to terms with the dangers of his everyday life. The movie was made with the Sims 2 computer game.

This is not the first time a game has been used to protest against the war. Earlier this year, a player named “Dead-In-Iraq” used the game America’s Army to illustrate all of the American soldiers who have died in Iraq. During the game, the player would type soldiers’ names, ages and dates of death on the screen where other players could view it.

In a few decades, England may face a new breed of football contenders. The goal of the RoboCup project is to develop a team of humanoid robots that can win against the World Cup winning team by 2050. For now, the 10th annual RoboCup football championships, currently taking place in Bremen, Germany, will settle for matches between four legged bots and humanoids.

Robots also take centre stage off the field. This year’s competition will showcase two robotic commentators, Sango and Ami. Sango is well-versed in the rules of the game and readily explains them to the audience, while Ami loves to interrupt with cheers when players score a goal.

More than 400 teams from 36 countries are joining the event. The games allow the top minds in robotics to meet to put their newest technologies to the test. The focus isn’t all fun and games, though. The iniative of RoboCup is to develop advanced robotic technology that can be used in search and rescue missions in large scale disasters.

But during the games, all eyes are on Germany to see if the team can defend its championship title.

This year’s New Media Awards finalists are an amazing selection of everything that is innovative, progressive and interactive in new media today.

2006 has already proved to be one of the most exciting years for new media technology, our finalists reflect not only the fantastic innovations that are going on in the UK but projects that use the latest Web 2.0 technologies and that benefit society. Who says you can’t have it all?

Our finalists include the likes of Last FM, Comment is Free, Harry’s Place, Pledgebank, openDemocracy, Love Lewisham, and 209 Radio.

For a complete list of all this year’s finalists take a look here.

The winners will be announced at our awards ceremony on the 24 July, where Secretary of State (and blogger) David Miliband will be giving the keynote speech. Due to numbers this event is by invite only, but there will be a podcast of the evening and the winners will be announced here, via the website and the email update.

Instead of watching a replay after the next World Cup game, put Cezanne on the tube. The Plasma Window DVDs can turn your new Plasma screen TV into an art gallery at the touch of a button.

Impressionist paintings or modern art are two options. People who long for a nice aquatic pet, but haven’t the time might enjoy a Plasma Window aquarium. And, for a rustic feel, there is always the digital fireplace.

Rotate images for those with short attention spans from too much TV watching.

Since the dawn of time, children have found ways to outsmart adults. Now, technology is making it too easy.

Last year “the mosquito”, a device that emits a high frequency tone unable to be heard by adult ears, was heralded as being “teen repellant”. It was used outside Welsh convenience stores to stop teenagers from loitering in front of the entrances. The Wyvern Theatre in Swindon also used the mosquito to deter groups of teens from congregating nearby.

But, teens have now employed their technological savvy to use the tone in their favor. Students across the globe are downloading the tones onto their cell phones. Because most people over the age of 25 cannot hear the tone, students can receive text-messages and voice mail in class without their teachers having a clue.

To hear a clip of the annoying tone, click here.

The future of newspapers is here.

For some readers, ink-stained fingers and bulky, messy papers will become a thing of the past, replaced by digital e-Papers that can be rolled up and shoved into back pockets. Since El Pais launched the first e-Paper earlier this year, several newspapers are joining the next wave of information technology. Hearst Corporation in the US, Les Echos in France and the De Tijd newspaper in Belgium are planning to incorporate trials of the e-Papers later this year.

The technology employs energy-efficient ink sheets that have small capsules that appear either black or white depending on the electric current running through it. One such model is iLiad from iRex Technologies.

EPapers have the potential to cut down on paper waste sent into the environment and decrease newspapers’ production and delivery costs, which can account for up to 75 percent of expenses.

“First thing I do in the morning is I go to the cemetery. Cry a little bit. . . some tears. . .
I don’t know if dead people can listen. But sometime when I feel desperate, that’s the only thing that, that I can do that make me feels better.”

Luis Moreno’s brother was killed during the Iraq War. In 2004, he joined four other families who lost loved ones in the war to discuss their bereavement for a new documentary by the online magazine Slate. Never Coming Home; captures the disbelief, panic and pain the families felt when uniformed officers knocked on their front doors to deliver news no one ever wants to hear.

Audio producer Zachary Barr, photojournalist Andrew Lichtenstein and producer Brian Storm constructed the documentary using the power of still imagery and spoken work to give the families the artistic platform to express their grief. They are still travelling the country documenting new families.

But, their pain is not unique. According to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, 2,497 families have lost loved ones in the war, as of today.

There have been many technological advancements allowing people with impaired vision to enjoy the internet. Readspeaker and Browsealoud are two such creations, which have been nominated for the 2006 New Media Awards in the accessibility category. The applications read the content of web sites to people who are not able to see the text.

Another invention now allows legally blind people to actually view web sites. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has created a “seeing machine”. It plugs into a computer and allows people with limited vision to read, study the layouts of buildings or see faces of friends. It uses light emitting diodes, like those used in digital clocks and remote controls, to project images directly into people’s eyes. By cutting out images in people’s peripheral vision, it helps seeing-impaired people to more easily focus on the image.

Elizabeth Goldring, a legally blind poet, spent 10 years creating the machine, which has a current price tag of $4,000.

The Chinese government has lifted its ban on Google.com, the uncensored international search engine, Reporters without borders said Friday. They said they believe the government blocked the site to step up censorship around the 4 June anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

So, you think you (or a monkey, perhaps) could do a better job running the government than the blokes in charge today? Than give it a try! New online games give citizens the opportunity to try out their governmental skills.

The French government launched a game yesterday called “cyber budget”, which allows players to be a virtual Finance Minister and make decisions about whether to spend revenue or cut taxes. The object is to successfully balance France’s national budget of nearly 300bn euros. Players can take the fiscally conservative route, and risk cutting growth, or spend away and gamble boosting demand.

The New Statesman introduced a game called “Fantasy Health Minister” last year in which players are given the opportunity to make policy decisions in the public health sector. To be successful, players must be able to balance risk to political capital, budget concerns and the overall health of the nation. At the end of each game, players receive a description of their political leanings as either liberal, authoritarian, idealist or realist.

Italy also joined in virtual education with their online police station, Polizia di Stato. Since February, the site has enabled citizens to report on online crime.