Second Life Founder Launches Coffee & Power Job Website

By

If you're a skilled worker, craftsperson or administrative worker looking for a new place to market yourself, the founder of Second Life, Philip Rosedale, may have you in mind.

Rosedale is about to launch a site called Coffee & Power, a new website that is gathering place (or a kind of virtual, online marketplace) for people looking to find (or fill) skills-based jobs. The San Francisco-based startup has raised $1 million in funding from Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, Greylock Partners, Mitch Kapor, Catamount Ventures and Kevin Rose, according to TechCrunch.

Divided into “wills” (as in, “I will do so-so for you”) and “wants” (as in, “I want someone to do so-and-so for my company”), the site is also broken into job sub-categories including: Errands & Deliveries, Expertise on Tap, Teaching & Coaching, Building Software, Sales & Marketing, Artists and Artisans, Little Luxuries and Setup, Maintenance & Repair. (There's also an “Et Cetera” category to catch others.)

Rosedale told TechCrunch's Leena Rao that the idea for Coffee & Power came to him after witnessing connections made within virtual world Second Life. People liked Second Life, he said, because they were able to create value from each other and use skills and capabilities in novel ways in the virtual world.

To use Coffee & Power, you create a listing to inform others either what you are willing to do, or what you need done, and how much you're planning to charge (or willing to pay, if you're hiring). The site features a map that shows your listings along with those of other people. Offers or questions can be asked or answered via text messaging or your phone. But here's the interesting part: both buyers and sellers use a kind of “virtual currency” for payment. You purchase or receive the virtual currency with real money from a credit card or PayPal, and when you're finished with the gig, you can turn the virtual currency back into real moolah.

Which is good, because while it may be something like Second Life...it involves real work. And trying to buy groceries with “virtual currency” is generally frowned on at stores.


Tracey Schelmetic is a contributing editor for TechZone360. To read more of Tracey's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Carrie Schmelkin
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]

TechZone360 Contributor

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Related Articles

Can Science Outsmart Deepfake Deceivers? Klick Labs Proposes an Emerging Solution

By: Alex Passett    3/25/2024

Researchers at Klick Labs were able to identify audio deepfakes from authentic audio recordings via new vocal biomarker technology (alongside AI model…

Read More

Top 5 Best Ways to Integrate Technology for Successful Project-Based Learning

By: Contributing Writer    3/19/2024

Project-based learning, also popularly known as the PBL curriculum, emphasizes using and integrating technology with classroom teaching. This approach…

Read More

How to Protect Your Website From LDAP Injection Attacks

By: Contributing Writer    3/12/2024

Prevent LDAP injection attacks with regular testing, limiting access privileges, sanitizing user input, and applying the proper encoding functions.

Read More

Azure Cost Optimization: 5 Things You Can Do to Save on Azure

By: Contributing Writer    3/7/2024

Azure cost optimization is the process of managing and reducing the overall cost of using Azure. It involves understanding the resources you're using,…

Read More

Massive Meta Apps and Services Outage Impacts Users Worldwide

By: Alex Passett    3/5/2024

Meta's suite of apps and services are experiencing major global outages on Super Tuesday 2024.

Read More