In a surprise product launch a short time ago, Google entered yet another online space.
Google Lively Beta is here. Not a limited beta with a waiting period. The service, that came a surprise to many, has premiered 'live on launch'.
The announcement was made by Google Labs on the Official Google Blog a short time ago in a piece titled "Be who you want on the web pages you visit". The virtual interactive experience takes the concept of virtual worlds to the next level as 'rooms' will be able to be embedded into existing blogs and websites.
The Google intro video is below:
The 'virtual online worlds' market that has been dominated for some time by Second Life.
We'll post some web references to in-depth reviews as they begin to appear tonight and tomorrow.
(now below)
Here's a few more perspectives from other blogs on Lively:
CenterNetworks
Inquisitr
Search Engine Land
Google Blogoscoped
Computerworld
VentureBeat
and a whole bunch more here :)
Update 5 9:45 PM AM Tuesday July 9