Second life is a cool new way to interact with people online in a dynamic 3D virtual world. With over 12 million registered users, and over 1 million U.S. dollars spent in Second Life daily, interest in Second Life is exploding. Besides the 3D interactive features, Second Life is designed so that all of the content is created by Second Life users. That means tools exist that not only create virtual buildings, clothing, and cars, but also create real applications for real businesses. But just as companies discovered that putting up a flashy site wasn"t the key to using the web effectively, companies are realizing that taking advantage of virtual worlds like Second Life involves more than putting up a great looking island. The web became indispensable when it became enmeshed with businesses, integrating with business processes in everything from advertising to intranets to web services. Likewise, virtual worlds will become indispensable when businesses use them to create real applications. Platform Second Life: Developing Real-World Applications shows you how to do that. This book focuses on the skills needed to build applications that connect real life and Second Life. This includes displaying RSS feeds in-world and creating 3D displays with external data. It also shows you how to control access to your virtual presence based on a real-world database. And it covers how to update external databases based on what happens in the virtual world. Platform Second Life is aimed at developers building Second Life applications, from casual scripters trying to build a cool tool to enterprise-level coders integrating with their company"s legacy systems.