updated | The news agency Reuters has followed CNET News.com with a beachhead in the virtual world Second Life.CNET News.com gots its second life last week, “modeled loosely after CNet’s San Francisco offices, complete with an amphiteater where CNet reporters can do interviews, give talks and stream media.”InfoWorld’s Jon Udell had his virtual reality run-in recently: A well-known company issues a press release inviting reporters to witness its online debut. The year? Not 1994, but 2006. The company? Sun Microsystems. I had to pinch myself when I read the announcement: “Please join John Gage for a special event in Second Life.” It’s been a while since I got one of those. Once upon a time, you only had to put up a Web page to be able to toot your online promotional horn. Now you have to build a 3-D environment in Linden Research’s metaverse and populate it with avatars and virtual tchotchkes. [read on]Update: I missed Jon’s screencast from today, In search of non-gratuitous 3D, a 3-minute video report on IBM’s event Greater IBM Virtual Block Party.So, why in the virtual world would anyone care? CNET News’ minimalist redesign is in full contrast to the CPU-taxing virtual world, but there’s no doubt sites are reaching out to Second Life’s 900K users are attractive, as is being one of the first to set up in a 3D world.Reuters reports (on itself): Car maker Toyota, music label Sony BMG, computer maker Sun Microsystems, join Cnet in taking part in Second Life. “In Second Life, we’re making Reuters part of a new generation,” Reuters Chief Executive Tom Glocer said in a statement. “We’re playing an active role in this community by bringing the outside world into Second Life and vice versa.”More on the who and what’s of the Reuters move can be had in this blog post from the virtual bureau’s chief. What do you say? Would you talk back to InfoWorld if we had a splashy virtual office, complete with virtual vitamin drinks for refreshments? Software DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business