10.28.2006

Meta Mart


I haven't been paying attention to the world of SL shopping lately, but kaia Ennui brought the Meta Mart shopping HUD to my attention earlier today. You can get the free customer kit, including HUD and wallet, at a number of locations as described on the website. Simply put, you scroll through the HUD looking for items for sale, listed in categories and subcategories and buy with funds you have deposited to the wallet. Similar in functionality to any vendor you might see in world, this one tags along wherever you go. As I understand it, the Meta Mart folks are still filling out the provider list and content in the early version isn't as robust as you would expect further down the road.

I tested it out and it worked as advertised. Though SL was a bit slow, it worked about as well as any multi-item vendor would. What are the ramifications of this new product? Will it revolutionize SL shopping? I won't go that far. For many, the communal shopping experience is still key. For some, the speed of the web sites such as SLBoutique or SLExchange are a main tool. However, I love to see new ideas put in motion and I can see people putting this to use.

NOTE: Soon after my test run with the HUD, I received an IM from the Meta Mart folks (Robbie Kiama) thanking me, urging me to keep an eye out for upcoming news regarding Meta Mart and letting me know IMs with questions are encouraged. Good customer service goes a long way. It will be interesting to see the evolution of this product.

10.26.2006

Can I get a Witness?

Urged on by the Metaverse Messenger's own Katt Kongo, I tripped over to The RoC in the Music City sim of SL to check out a live performance. Did I want to see a live Hip Hop performance in SL? I wasn't really sure. I am not genre specific in my musical tastes, so I wasn't dragging my feet due to the musical style alone. It was really the image in my head that SL Hip Hop conjured up, with the bling, the hoochie hair and the maxxxed out sliders.

The more sane part of my brain questioned if anyone would really be asking me to wade into that environment. Besides, though there are a number of high quality live performers in SL, the spectrum of musical styles isn't terribly broad. Why the hell shouldn't I go check it out?

I'm happy that I did. The performance of Witness Go was engaging. He worked the crowd well. The musical style was hard to pinpoint, though definitely had a Hip Hop tinge. Witness ran from a more Trip Hoppy delivery with some funky groove, to a more standard/straightforward lyrical rap and all the way down to a spoken word performance. Despite the seeming contrast, it blended together well. I compared Witness, at points, to Ben Harper, Eminem and The Alkaholiks in both content and sound. Lyrics drew from relationships, life and politics and were clearly well thought through.

It was something different, and for that, it was worth it, but it was more. I'll check Witness Go out again.

10.24.2006

This Isn't Really a Negative Bit on: The PopSci Article

I'm rereading the article on Second Life in the September 2006 Popular Science and still not finding anything new. It's great, I suppose, that The Lab is getting exposure for their product and increasing the subscribership. It remains to be seen how well that translates into regular, active users, but getting people to logon once is the first step. What is always disappointing is that, for some who have been around SL for a bit, the articles have a monotonous feel to them. Everyone likes to see things they feel passionate about being discussed positively, but I think that many of these articles fall victim to the AP Wire Disease. Have you ever read a few sports articles on the same topic. They are almost identical, having added next to nothing to the original wire story. The SL articles are not nearly that bad, but the canned article feel is hard to shake.

Having trudged on to the end of yet another piece on SL with all the same sort of quotes, I found the last bit spoke to me today. King Phillie is quoted as saying, “In Second Life, you can get everything you want on the first day. What’s interesting is what you do the next day.”

I'm sure he has said this before in one of these marketing pieces, but I hadn't noticed. Or perhaps, I never got that far. Either way, it gets right to the fundamentals. What's next?

User retention in today's environment has to have more than a shiny package and a gentle shove off of Orientation Island. I would like to see a followup by one of those "outsider" journalists describing the "next day".

10.18.2006

He Always Seemed Like Such A Nice Boy

Heck of a story.

The story of a man dismembering his significant other.

I have to wonder what the neighbors thought was being cooked. I also wonder, at what point this finally got to him.

10.15.2006

Kid Plays Space Invaders With Brain

A team at Washington University in St. Louis conducted an experiment wherein a teenage boy with epilepsy played Space Invaders using only the signals from his brain to control the game.

"He cleared out the whole level one basically on brain control," said Eric C. Leuthardt, M.D., an assistant professor of neurological surgery at the School of Medicine. "He learned almost instantaneously. We then gave him a more challenging version in two-dimensions and he mastered two levels there playing only with his imagination."

Sweet Ass Whiteboard Fun

Watch this video

This thing is cool.


We aim to create a tool that allows the engineer to sketch a mechanical system as she would on paper, and then allows her to interact with the design as a mechanical system, for example by seeing a simulation of her drawing. We have built an early incarnation of such a tool, called ASSIST, which allows a user to sketch simple mechanical systems and see simulations of her drawings in a two-dimensional kinematic simulator.

TIbetan Nun's Body?

Allegedly a photograph of the body of a 17-year-old nun shot by Chinese military on September 30, 2006, though details are sketchy and inconsistent from report to report. According to the article in the title link, the image is confirmed to be that of 17-year old nun, Kelsang Namtso, from Nagchu prefecture in central Tibet. The nun was shot while crossing the pass into Nepal and exile in India. Tibetan sources claim another death of a 13-year old Tibetan while the Tibetan group claims that Chinese border security or military had taken at least ten group members, including at least nine children between the ages of six and eight before they were able to cross into Nepal. Image courtesy of Slovenian climber, Pavle Kozjek.

Additional reports here and here.

10.14.2006

Corporate Invasion

Will the entrepeneur be pushed out by ads and corporations?

"We could have never built this without the community. That is what we're fiercely protecting."

"The wild west feel is already slipping away"

Copywrite issues will ruin it. Individuals will get sued not the company.

Juggling the wants and needs of the user community with rapid growth will remain an ongoing dance.

"It's kind of that whole don't-forget-where-you-came-from thing."


No, this isn't about SL. These are excerpts from an article about Google's $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube written by Jake Coyle (AP Entertainment Writer) and as seen in the Chicago Tribune on October 11, 2006.

On a much larger scale than SL, YouTube (my new favorite topic!) drew a worldwide audience of 72.1 million in August, according to the article. However, the grass roots fanaticism of the early adopters has a parallel in the SL community. These are the common concerns of people who watch their little hidden niche get noticed, adopted and mutated for mass consumption.

Once the bailiwick of amateurs, YouTube has reached agreements with CBS Corp., Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, NBC Universal and Warner Music Group Corp. Users and curious onlookers are well aware that the amateurs made YouTube what it is. Those very amateurs are worried that the community and its freedom will be obliterated. Or perhaps, they see the loss of their 15 minutes to slick, professional juggernauts.

Either way, YouTube is hurtling toward its future in the realm of entertainment mega-forces. This doesn't mean the base community need be swallowed up in its wake. There will always be outlets for the amateurs. When one door closes, etc etc blah blah.

10.10.2006

YouTube Video BLogging: The LG15 Affair

I have, up until now, been blissfully unaware of the YouTube video blogging phenomenon. I knew it existed and have seen an odd vid or two on the site, I just didn't realize how much time the average person was spending just talking to the camera. People are doing this in much the same way as forums are done. All the bizarre interaction is there. Drama, name calling, censored vids, people role playing a character online. I think I stumbledupon one to start the ball rolling this evening. A while later, I was glassy eyed from following the inane trail of the Lonelygirl15 saga. She is a young vblogger with a boyfriend and a strange religion. She's naive and fresh.....well, no, she's an actress and it's all a trumped up multilayered story enacted by this girl and her cohorts. It's entertaining. Even the people complaining are entertaining in a weird church bus wreck on the highway sort of way.

OMG the Zodiac of Denderah! When's the ceremony! Did Daniel really cross the line! OMG monkeyfemme thinks youtube shouldn't have fake people on it, it's for social interaction and learning about people! OMG a freaky guy with huge eyes that talks funny talking about mp3 rips!

People really are putting themselves out there, from the safety of their bedrooms. Brings to mind the movie Pulse (Japanese Title: Kairo).

I can't believe this girl splashed all over the media, including Letterman, while I turned a blind eye to it all. I'm no longer YouTube ignorant. I probably wish I were, but onward and upward!

I almost forgot the drahma and the FREAKY GUY!

Denial

Access denied. Scripts shut down. Particle griefing. Replicating objects. Permissions bugs....Annoyance.

It was a rough weekend for SL. Grid security remains suspect as efforts to keep the grid off-balance have begun occurring on a regular basis. The daily maintenance of the world must be getting more difficult as Lab resources get burned up responding to grid crises. The Lab fostered rapid growth in the user base and the overall size of the SL economy. Along with this came magnified concerns. There are business people that feel a noticeable sting from prolonged service outages. Of course, many active users are frustrated with their experience lately, from the most casual avatar to the largest content providers.

What next? The official Linden Blog makes poses some interesting solutions.


There have been many suggestions regarding the regulation of scripting and we are in fact looking at technical options which will allow only ‘trusted’ Residents to fully utilize LSL across the grid. It is planned that “Trusted” Residents will be clearly defined, and there will be processes in place (not all payment oriented) to become “trusted” if your account currently falls outside of that designation. Other ideas are still being explored, and as part of that exploration we’ll be reviewing the many comments that came into the blog today. (Please forgive us if we don’t answer each one.)
I don't feel great about this. I suppose I am supposed to be happy that The Lab is at least making an attempt to get a handle on things, however, this doesn't seem like a real answer. Limitations of this nature certainly may make these griefing incidents more difficult, but I don't think it eliminates them. Really, though, I can't say without more detail on the definition of "Trusted" and how this would get implemented. At first pass, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The first steps we are taking will help us to lessen the impact of the attacks on the majority of Residents. Wednesday’s release contains the first round of code changes to begin the mitigation of the attacks. In addition, we’re reviewing all processes and documentation to make sure we handle any attack as efficiently as possible.

Finally, we will be meeting with Federal authorities tomorrow to share information we have to date on the attackers. It is not our intention to allow these people to destroy Second Life and everything that we have built together.

Typically, there are a lot of words that don't give much in the way of detail. Perhaps this is another layer of security, thereby making it harder on the offenders by not advertising the prevention methodology. However, it does little to allay the considerable concerns that are growing amongst the residents. I'm not sure The Lab's recent reputation can carry this without a more detailed plan of action. That said, the best advertisement for the success of these changes would be a weekend free of trouble.

What of the Federal Authorities? Notification to the Feds is something LL should do and something they have alluded to before, if not explicitly stated, as being their policy regardomg this type of malicious service interruption. No real news there. Any significant results from Federal intervention would be a new development worthy of discussion, however.

We'll all have to cock on eye out for SL's immediate future. It should be interesting, if nothing else. Though perhaps not the way most of us want it to be.




10.09.2006

Buck O'Neil

He was cool. Mr. O'Neil passed away this weekend at the august age of 94. A master story-teller, he recounted his amazing life for the enjoyment and education of us all.

Baseball-Reference.com

10.06.2006

The Complete Web 2.0 Directory


Go2Web2.0.net. It's a sortable directory of "those" sites...RSS, Social Media, content aggregation, podcasting, and the like. Regardless of what you think about the marketing slogan known as "Web 2.0", this site is a neat little aggregation of sites with a nice, easy to use format.

Biking Through Chernobyl

An interesting photo journal of one woman's motorcycle trips through Chernobyl and surrounding area. Some very cool photos and an up close perspective of a forgotten land. Two different photo journeys, "Ghost Town" and "Land of the Wolves", as experienced by the site author, Elena. Check it out.

10.05.2006

Guan Yin Park

Random wandering found me in Guan Yin Park. A nice little garden of oriental tone with the full ambience of garden sounds (gurgling fountain, singing birds), which I think was enhanced by the SL night. I took a minute to wander the small parcel and really enjoyed the garden. The overall scene was well done. Plethora of flowers and the usual fare. Additionally, there was a nice little sculpture installment called "Geisha Sisters". Very SL-minimal in its creation, it nonetheless conveys a certain feeling and message and was a solid piece in line with the overall parcel theme. You will also note a nice golden statue and a red barrel object.






An available notecard details...

The Oracle of Change is an SL version of the Yi Jing (often transliterated as I Ching).

Donations from this Oracle are currently being collected for Support for Healing here in Second Life, and Modest Needs, a small RL charity that gives loans to people who are in a crisis (http://www.modestneeds.org).

Donate 20 L or more to the Oracle of Changes and you will get a notecard containing your reading. Donate as much as you want. All the money goes to charity in RL and SL.

The card you receive may contain a simple positive or negative answer, for instance good fortune or misfortune, or it may give you advice or instructions. Some of the instructions are a spiritual or adventure quest. Follow it, and you may find unexpected spirit treasure.


This network of Oracle Orbs is maintained by the Avatars of Change, a monastic and charitable order within SL. We currently have three sites totalling more than 5000 M of temples, retreats and monasteries. Please contact one of our officers to be considered for membership in our Order.
After a list of all the locations, the notecard further added the following:
So what is an oracle? An oracle, like the famous Oracle of Delphi, or the ancient Chinese Yi Jing (also spelled I Ching), answers questions. This Oracle will give advice and instructions, but it does not predict the future. It is like a small flashlight that lets you see a little ahead of yourself on the path of life. Use it wisely, and you may avoid stepping in holes in the dark. This Oracle is intended for use here in SL. If you have RL questions on which you are seeking advice, please IM one of our Diviners, Taras Balderdash or Suzanne Logan.

This is a real Oracle, so not all the readings are positive. But all of them are advice, not prediction, so don't get overyly upset if you get a bad reading. It may be a warning or a way to improve your situation. Don't be surprised if the Oracle sometimes seems to speak harshly to you. It is your own subconscious, not some outside voice. You would do well to heed your own criticism, if it rings true.

I am constantly tuning and revising the Oracle. Please let me know if you find typos.

This work is dedicated to I Ching master Tsung Hwa Jou, whose work inspired many of the readings. Memory Eternal!

Blessings and Thanks!

Taras Balderdash, Avatarian Prelate
Obviously, I had to give it a whirl and popped in an appropriate donation. What's the read on yours truly? Well, I managed to get two from my single donation...

345

You lose a goat and don't chase after it.
No trouble.
Relax.


435

Weeding out.
Make the hard decisions.
Take the middle way.
Expect good deeds not to be rewarded.

Not bad. I think I'm living up to this. At least the part about the goat.

Life in a Dairy Barn

I spend roughly 40% of a given week at work. Thank god I never sleep so I can still screw around writing blahg entries.

The office is a weird place. Not just my office, most of them, though each has their own quirks. It is a family in the sense of people who spend so much time together, depend on one another and are forced together by circumstance rather than choice. Work, eat, forced recreation (if you think those after hours drinks are optional, you aren't a team player!), and what have you. All these wonders of the daily grind happen in very tight quarters.


Here is where it gets really fun. You get to learn stuff about people that you just don't need or want to know. Marital problems, ailments, party planning, job searches....the list is endless. These odd nuggets of information give you a little insight into people you think you know. Mostly, though, everyone has a little Hyde in them. Due to the proximity and the hours, the Hyde doesn't stay hidden. It naturally leaks out through overheard phone conversations, office gossips and outright speculation.

Here is where we gets truly bizarro in the way that only humans can. What do we do with these tidbits? Nothing. We politely go about our business. Save for some behind the back whispering, we pretend we do not know that our office mate is screwing around on his wife, the guy in accounting binges and purges, and the new girl has a gambling problem.

So, how was your weekend?

10.01.2006

Fanaticism

The videos in the link are an amazing look into the behaviour of the righteous. Join Mark Bunker in his saga to educate people on some of the practices of Scientology. I don't have much to say about the beliefs of the religion. People can follow whatever beliefs that work for them. This is, however, an example of how fanaticism can play out in an ugly way. Check it out.

Welcome to Korea

Back in August, I took my yearly jaunt over to the Chicago Korean Festival (11th annual). Great food and beverages, interesting events and music. I love watching the Ssireum, a traditional form of Korean wrestling (What is Ssireum?-Korea Ssireum Research Institute). Grabbed a ton of food - some Kalbi (marinated, grilled short ribs), Kimbap ( a roll of varying ingredients that looks like a sushi roll), Sundae (a traditional sausage and street vendor fare), and jokbal (seasoned and steamed pork legs). More info here for the curious. Topped it off with some OB Lager and Jujimong (pomegranate wine) and a traditional drumming and dancing scene.

Take a gander at some random photos of the scene. Note the presence of the US Dept of Home Security.









Trailfire.com



I stubled upon (stumbleupon ) an interesting, free web tool called Trailfire. It looks pretty interesting. In essence, people create and publish web surfing trails with comments. A user can mark pages to create a condensed surfing session for anyone with similar interests. According to the site...
Trailfire is a hosted service that enables anyone to comment on any web page. Place a 'trail mark' on a page with your comments or notes. A trail mark can contain text, images, videos and other media types. When you give several marks the same 'trail name' you are forming your own navigation path on the web. We call this a 'Trail'.
Trailfire provides a useful "Guided Tour" of it's own page as a trail. A good way to see what it can do. I went for a test run by following a trail entitled "HTML helps" and it was a pretty informative run of sites related to HTML, including some WordPress help, RSS, adding various widgets to web pages, etc. Overall, pretty useful info regarding the stated trail topic. I followed that up with a trail called "Top Hacks everyone should know" which consisted of one lonely web page that I found to be only marginally related to the topic of Top Hacks.

Trailfire currently works with IE and Firefox, has a sidebar and a nice hidable widget for following the trail and reading comments. Additionally, there are subscriptions to other users trails and the ability to add HTML to "marks", which are the indicators that make up a trail and will have comments, etc per the specific page it is marking.

As with many of these new integrated browsing tools, it will get better as it is used. Certainly has intriguing possibilities for research, extension to blog entries, shopping, and sharing.

Powered by Blogger

Creative  Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.