Looks like Mitch Lasky (of Jamdat fame) is no longer a Linden Lab Director. Most likely because he recently joined Benchmark which meant the VC had two spots on the Linden board. Will Linden replace Mitch (Lasky, not Kapor) with an interesting outside non-investor addition? Or will they leave the spot open for a strategic investor to fill down the road?

Friday’s Washington Post editorial section describes the importance of Second Life as “a large-scale experiment in libertarianism.”

Basically Coke says to Second Life residents – use our logo in-world so long as you don’t suggest it’s an official Coca Cola product and it’s not in poor taste.

i’ve always been somewhat amazed by the coverage Second Life gets from the New York Times. Even back when i was there, John Markoff and others wrote generously detailed and balanced pieces for something which was just coming together. Since then the services has been featured in just about every section – no, seriously, SL has been in Travel, Escapes, the Magazine, etc in addition to the expected Business and Technology

This Sunday, after Friday’s piece on MacArthur foundation coming into SL, is a story in the Arts section about how virtual worlds allow users to interact with TV in a deeper way.

Forbes has an article on how Second Life is an uncontrolled environment for brands looking to reach consumers.

1. Surprise! It’s about users doing what they want. If you’re the type of company who wants to be on YouTube but doesn’t want users commenting on your videos, then don’t even think about Second Life where you might see a topless furry. Sure there’s only one topless furry for every 1,000 people but they’re around.

Fair point: because second life is so visual and in many ways tough to use, the time and expense that a brand needs to expend to manage their presence is higher than they’d like to commit.

2. Wah Wah to digital agencies who cry about their failure in Second Life. Second Lifers don’t want to drink your coffee, use your ATMs, stay in your hotel or buy your PC. Not unless you do something interesting and commit to the world. Seriously, I understand the fact you wasted your clients money might cause you to blame Second Life, but how about you set expectations clearly from the beginning, coach your clients and tell some of them that they shouldn’t go into SL if they’re not willing to experiment? And how about you come up with a better idea than a 3D replica of your company headquarters.

Update: Read about the good job that 1-800-Flowers is doing in SL.

Some thoughts from the legal profession on how virtual land, goods, etc will be treated by real life courts.

NYTimes has an article today about real-life brands in Second Life and whether they’re seeing business results in terms of goods sold. But what if Second Life never drove meaningful real world transactions? Sure there might be some good branding spillover effect for, say, 1-800-Flowers. But what if their SL presence was more about selling digital goods – virtual flower bouquets? My bet is that the brands who are most successful here actually end up driving a mix of digital and physical goods sales.

You know you’ve made it when the Onion pays attention.

Die Hard 4 press conference in Second Life with Bruce Willis. As Information Week points out, where else can you have an avatar ask a movie star:

Who do you think would win a fight between JOHN MCCLANE AND OPTIMUS PRIME?

-or-

DO U GET TO KEEP ANY PROPS?? LIK A MUG OR A PLANE???

liked this article on Second Life fashion industry which highlights a new type of promo: instead of creating in-world presence, Lacoste is asking people to upload pics of SL avatars to their website.