Flickr, MySpace, Bebo go 3D via 3B

If you doubt the coming of the 3D web, check out 3B.

3B takes your Flickr or Photobucket images, or your MySpace or Bebo pages and turns them into web-based 3D environments. You can create an avatar to wander around your personalized environment (called a village) with your friend avatars – or you can visit other villages, cities and stores.

3B has created at least 150 stores as 3D affiliate stores for Amazon, eBay, Sharper Image, Discovery Channel, Old Navy, Home Shopping Network, etc.

“Cities” in 3B are groups of topic-specific web sites that you can browse by strolling along and viewing them as larger-than virtual life art work  (you can scroll and click on links).

While the display of web information in 3B is essentially still 2D, it allows content to be positioned or juxtaposed in ways we cannot do within the single-page-at-a-time format of a web browser.   For example, browsing through book titles is much more similar to walking down store aisles then browsing via clicks on Amazon.  And while tags help us organize 2D web content, creating a visual “topic city” with them allows us to experience the information differently – or even perhaps to find it faster because of visual cues.  I often can remember what I saw – just not what it was called or what web site it was on.

Applications like 3B – and Second Life - are at the very least beginning to inform the discussions about better ways to interact with content, and more immersive ways to share it.

3B requires a download and is only available for the Windows operating system.

 

November 26, 2006

Comments

[Taran Rampersad (Nobody Fugazi)]

Reminds me of 3D desktops, which are still being made. The use of this as a store makes sense, and as a museum... not sure about much else.

[John Smith]

Check out this new social networking site called www.facebuddies.com , It seems pretty good, Users can upload their own movies and mp3's . Not many constraints on this site which is good as it gives the user total freedom, Oh and the games are good also!!