Merging the Real World and the Internet

Advertising Age reports that: In the past two years, virtual worlds have received a great deal of media coverage (arguably too much). Yet much of the coverage is warranted: Gartner Group predicts that by 2011, 80% of internet users will participate in at least 1 virtual world. While Second Life has received about 99% of the media's attention, it only accounts for about 1% of all the users globally. Globally, sales of items in virtual worlds account for $1.5 billion. Those are big numbers and they're just the beginning. More here.