The Second Life bubble may be popping. Electric Sheep, the marketing firm which helped CSI's a virtual Gary Sinise parade through Linden Lab's online world, is "rightsizing" the company — or shearing off 30 percent of its staff. A vice president explains that while Electric Sheep has seen tremendous growth and isn't in any financial trouble, it decided to lay off 22 employees — mostly Second Life specialists. With its freshly trimmed staff, Electric Sheep will branch out to other virtual worlds platforms — ones advertisers haven't already identified as unfruitful terrain.

The good news is that we're not going to get a fourth painfully derivative iteration of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation franchise. The bad news is that creator Anthony Zuiker has decided to build a CSI-branded crime lab in Second Life. This fall, Gary Sinise, the lead on CSI: New York, will chase a killer into virtual worlds. Viewers can then follow the Gary Sinise avatar into Second Life, where they'll help solve the mystery in a virtual Crime Lab. The television conclusion will air sometime in the spring.