Small Worlds to Launch Next Week

SmallWorlds, a new Web-based world aimed at the 11-18+ market, is prepping to launch next week according to ComputerWorld. OutSmart, the Kiwi company behind SmallWorlds is funded by American VC, though the article doesn't say from where, and has just opened an office in Los Angeles. The world, with cartoonish, easy-to-customize avatars, is built with Flash and Flex on top of a Java back-end and runs on Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud.

Users can create their own rooms, which are then embeddable on other pages or linkable via URL. In them, users can stream YouTube videos, play games, and listen to music. OutSmart is in talks with American film and TV companies, and is also considering t he release of a separate kids world and products aimed at the Asian market. [via ComputerWorld]