You can download it here for free.

What is it?

It’s essentially an RSS reader with two sections. The first is our own RSS feed . The Second is a ‘Wider Metaverse’ section, which features a range of virtual worlds related feeds from around the world.

There’s only a handful at this stage but we’ll certainly be adding more – there’s been some issues with non RSS 2.0 feeds on some sites, which we’re working with the owners to rectify.

The ‘Submit a Story’ section is purely a contact form if you want to make contact.

Why wouldn’t I just use my RSS Reader?

For some, a broader RSS reader may indeed be preferable. However, we’ve had a lot of feedback that people like a quicker option of a handful of feeds easily accessed. The Metaverse Reader is exactly that. And at under 200KB in size, it’s also doesn’t take up much room.

Can I suggest a feed to add?

Absolutely – just contact us with the details.

Where do I get support for this app?

Right here.

Are there plans to expand the app?

Version 2 is already underway – if you have suggestions for improvement, we’d love to hear from you.

What does the app cost?

Nothing

Who developed the application?

I do need to give a huge plug to the developer who created the application from the specification provided. Phillip Street is an Australian iPhone developer and contributing writer who happens to live pretty close to me. I couldn’t be happier with his responsiveness and price competitiveness and I’ve already contracted him to work on the next version.

So if you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or have managed to be one of the world’s first iPad users, give the Metaverse Reader a whirl and critique away!

In recent weeks I asked him if he’d be interested in writing for The Metaverse Journal and he’s kindly agreed.

On a regular basis, Second Lie will answer any question you may have on Second Life. Whether it’s negotiating the etiquette of personal relationships in-world or the potential pitfalls of becoming a Second Life entrepreneur, Second Lie will do his best to simultaneously enlighten and entertain.

Here’s how to get started: just use our contact form, which contains an option to select ‘Submit a question for the Second Lie column’. We’ll forward every question on and we’ll publish responses in groups each week or fortnight depending on volume.

Even better, you’ll be helping to fund Relay for Life. Each time a group of responses is published, Second Lie has requested his payment go to that rather than his pocket. A funny, intelligent columnist with a philanthropic streak: does it get any better?

If you want a taste of Second Lie’s approach,check him out on Twitter. Start submitting those questions so the fun can begin!

As always, feedback on usability and navigation are very welcome.

This one’s simple: your choice of any t-shirt from the Avatar Dog range of t-shirts. To go in the draw, all you need to do is post a comment below, with the following information:

1. A favorite virtual world-related website and its URL;

2. The name of the virtual world you spend the most time in;

3. Your country of residence.

That’s it!

Entries will close on Friday 24th April AEDT 5pm (that’s Midnight Thursday 30th April US PDT / SL time). A random number generator will then be used to select the winner. Entries are welcome from anywhere in the world. Just make sure you give a valid email address when posting a comment so we can contact you if you win.

Tateru Nino is a significant addition too – she’s one of the first Second Life writers I read and she was incredibly supportive of our initial efforts when we started in 2006. It’s also worth reading our 2007 profile of Tateru to glean more of a picture of her.

Tateru will be providing stories most weeks and she has a totally open brief. If you’ve read her work on Massively or its predecessor Second Life Insider, you’ll know how thorough her research is.

No-one knows Second Life better and I for one am already excited about the stories she’ll be writing over coming weeks.

Welcome Tateru!

For February and March, 100% of profits from the sales of the t-shirt range will go to the Red Cross Bushfire appeal. We’ve kick-started things with a donation and it’d be great to add more to the total. More than a third of our readers are from Victoria and any gesture that can assist is worth a try.

Check out the t-shirt range here – if anyone’s looking for customised wording we can set that up for orders of three t-shirts or more. We’ll report back on proceeds raised and donated at the end of March.

A very honourable mention to Crikey’s fundraiser as well, featuring the work of our t-shirt’s artist, First Dog on the Moon – there’s three great signed cartoons available for purchase there.

I’m really thrilled to announce we’ve got some t-shirts for sale. The primary purpose of the t-shirts is to raise money for Kiva, our charity of choice. Kiva provide funds to small businesses in developing countries and to date well over 57 million dollars have been lent, with over 97% of that repaid so that it can be reinvested in other businesses.

Here’s how it works. Buy one of our Avatar Dog or Real Life Avatar t-shirts, and 50% of the proceeds go to Kiva. To clarify actual amounts – each t-shirt generates 20% commission, of which half goes to Kiva. The other half goes to us to assist in meeting our costs (paying writers, hosting, cost of t-shirt design etc). So on a standard t-shirt purchase, a minimum of $2.50 goes to Kiva.

There’s a number of variants on offer including:

- Avatar Dog in colour, no text
- Avatar Dog in black and white, no text
- Avatar Dog in colour: “What’s a metaverse? I call it home”
- Avatar Dog in colour: “Furry for life”
- Avatar Dog in black and white: “It’s an avatar’s life”

We’re selling the t-shirts through Red Bubble, an Australia-based company that ship worldwide (they have offices in the UK and US as well). Their shipping costs are very reasonable: one t-shirt delivered to the USA is $29 US dollars shipped at present (only AU$36 or so delivered within Australia). There’s a choice of up to 22 different colours and four t-shirt styles.

Most importantly, I’d like to give major kudos to the artist we commissioned to create the Avatar Dog. His name is First Dog on the Moon, and he provides a daily piece of brilliance for Crikey – read First Dog’s blog to see more of his excellent work. I’ve been a fan ever since seeing his work appear in Crikey and I was rapt when he accepted the commission.

Comments welcome – we will be uploading further t-shirts (same design with different text) in coming months, and if popular enough we’ll also be commissioning First Dog for a second design. Enjoy!