clipped from: www.computerworld.com July 9, 2008 (IDG News Service) Google Inc. has entered yet another space with the launch of Lively, a tool for creating 3-D social spaces on Web sites, which is now available in a public beta test.
The platform lets users create and personalize their own character, so-called avatars, and their own rooms, similar to social Web sites such as Second Life.
But a key feature of the Lively platform is integration with the Internet. Users are able to create a room and embed it with their Web site or blog, writes Niniane Wang, engineering manager at Google, on the company blog.
The platform is more a way for Google to compete with Facebook than with other existing and similar platforms, including IMVU and Habbo, Prentice said. He also expects there to be opportunities for developers.