Archive for February, 2009
Vint & Human moving to London
February 25, 2009 8:50 pm
Right. I was going to announce this, but in the end, all the paperwork, packing, and saying goodbyes took a bit to much time. So I kept postponing blogging about this until… well… I’ve spend my first night in a lovely apartment in the Camden area. I would write a tremendously long article now about first experiences, how great the apartment looked, how sweet it was from Lokum to come welcome me at the station with a ’slashme loves prim’ Tshirt, and how nice it is to have a friend from Belgium (and appendix) that carried my sleeping gear, and to now spend my first evenings with, were it not that were decided on spending those evenings well. :D So just some random blurbs:
- I’m never leaving the office early EVVAH again. Tube is waaaay to crowded then.
- Bram, there’s a Sushi place at 3 minutes walk from where I live!
- I fell in love with my curtains.
- Still smoking a little, but waay less than in Belgium. I did not have a single cigarette “inside” yet, and planning to keep it this way.
- I went grocery shopping, for now I have: real butter, two ‘real’ breads (got one free, sighs, someone help me eat it?), yoghurt, grapes, cucumber, mature cheddar, coffee (instant, blah) and toilet paper.
- Taking only two pair of shoes, was definitely a mistake.
- My camera gear is still in Belgium, but will come to visit me on Saturday. More images then!
- I got location data on the iPhone images working, but only in Herentals Belgium, not in London. ;( (Scott thinks this might have something to do with the fact that I don’t have an English carrier by default.)
- I did find that hard disk after all! ;)
- I spend half the day installing legal version of Adobe Suite CS3 and then updating it to CS4. Illegal software might be ‘irresponsible’ but at least you get it running in 30 minutes time. *sighs*
- Miss Beatrix Newt is coming to visit us in London soon and will stay at my place. Woot!
- Having to travel 30 minutes is way more annoying, than having to travel 3 meters to work.
- Dear mommy, this means I’m one hour behind on you. So you should not be texting me “good morning” at your 7.30AM!!!
- Jon got me a kick-ass, ‘high-ceilinged’, furnished, old-style but new and neat and clean apartment. (Only, if possible, I’d like to return some of the ‘art’ hanging there to the landlord.)
Any questions? ;)
Niko Donburi - My Favourite Things (inSL)
February 24, 2009 4:00 pm
Once of “my favourite things (inSL)” is the Second Life live music scene. I’m also a ‘big sucker‘ for Second Life parody songs. Of course, I’m Foolish Frost’s number one fan, but it does no harm listening to another great musician once in a while, does? One of those musicians, is Niko Donburi who wrote songs like “My Favourite Things (about Second Life), “Living Virtually” and “Second Life, That’s where I want to be” and “Escape (The Second Life Song)”. An excerpt from - the perfect song to get out of your Second Life depression - the “My favourite things (inSL)” lyrics:
Offers of friendship and IM conversations
Dance balls and pose balls and new animations
Earning some Lindens with the songs that I sing
These are a few of my favorite things
Like all Second Life musicians, Niko Dunburi above all wants to be heard, so you can download most of his Second Life parody songs - like my favourite “Dear Linden, Dear Linden” at Niko’s last.fm page. Definitely have a listen to “Escape (the SL song)” too!
Learning new games and vocabulary
Like tringo and slingo and of course primtionary
Taking a class to study scripting
These are a few of my favorite things
If you like Second Life music, musicians and comedy, I strongly advise you to take a look at the line-up for the Hobo Block party, February 27th through March 1st!
Wearing some clothes that a friend has made for me
Sailing a yacht on a virtual sea
Up in a sky box cybering
These are a few of my favorite things
And of course, if you wish to show real life appreciation of this music, and you have an Amazon or iTunes gift card at hand, there’s the Tunes inSL project, based at riaa.isfullofcrap.com, featuring more than 40 Second Life live music artists by now.
Second Life web resources for February 18th 2009 through February 22nd 2009
February 23, 2009 1:30 amHow to limit time spend in Second Life?
February 19, 2009 6:35 pmSo now I’m watching Desperate Housewives
and reading People magazine.
I never get on the computer
I’ve been banned from the machine.
But late at night I sometimes wonder
about the one I was to meet
if she’s still waiting in the Elbow Room
sitting by and empty seat
Niko Donburi
from ‘Escape - The Second Life Song‘
So, your partner, your children, your mom, your dad, your roommate or your cat spends just to much time in Second Life according to you? Sure, we can solve this. There are a few options, of which all require messing with their computer, content on it, or the house’s internet connection. Be aware that changing settings on a computer not owned by you is probably a crime. Trashing it most definitely is. On top of that, it will probably not help your relationship when they find out, that is… if they find out. I’m going to give you three options, which range from ‘obvious’ to ’subtle’ to limit their Second Life usage - ‘SLugage’ in further references - but first, do ask that person: “Are you making any money in Second Life, I mean ‘real’ money?” If the answer is “Yes!” and the number is high enough to justify the time spend, please, let them be, and ask for a stake in their virtual business.
Cancel your Internet Contract
Get your ISP on the line, and ask them to cancel your internet subscription. Wrap up the modems and router delivered to you, and mail them back to the ISP.
Effectiveness? High
Long term solution? It will probably take over a week to get new gear and ISP to handle reactivation. A few months if you’re lucky and their client support sucks.
Chance at discovery? Extremely high. Unless you’re a damn good liar and can bring “but bills weren’t paid, so they cancelled our contract and came to confiscate our modem” in a convincing way, you’re not getting away with this.
Sabotage
There are a trillion of ways to bring a computer - or only it’s Operating System - to an untimely death. Google is your friend.
Effectiveness? High, unless you have a second computer. Which is probably less powerful, so this might even then still lower the SLusage. Physical destruction works best.
Long term solution? This depends on how well you play this. Try to send in your computer to the manufacturer, or at least a PC shop you know doesn’t work very quickly. If the person you want to help or any family members or aquintances are ‘computer savvy’, this will only buy you a few days.
Chance at discovery? That’s all up to you. Choose your method well, and think of a valid reason. “Windows asked for updates to be installed and I clicked “yes” will work well with any Windows operating system, especially Vista. Else use “something asked if it could update itself”.
Second Life Client Parameters
My personal favourite! It’s subtle, and will take them ages to figure out. You will change a parameter (a kind of command) that the Second Life viewer reads on start-up and obeys to. We’re not going to ruin his/her Second Life experience completely, but we are going to limit the time they can spend in-world before they crash.
Instructions for Windows:
- Obtain access to the computer. (You’re on your own here! ;))
- Locate the Second Life Shortcut - it’s a little blueish hand - and then right click. Choose ‘properties’. (You shall likely find Second Life shortcut icons on both the desktop and in the start menu. You need to do this for each shortcut you think they use for starting the program.)
- There’s a field that says “Target:”. At the end of that one add “–quitafter <secs>” (without the quotes) where you replace <secs> with the amount of time you want the program to be open before it crashes, in seconds. Some options:
- “–quitafter 30″ => “OMG?! Each time I start Second Life, it almost directly crashes! WTF?!”
- “–quitafter 600″ => 10 minutes is a reasonable time, and one could expect the viewer to crash. By then they probably already engaged in some activity that could explain the crash.
- “–quitafter 3600″ => You give them an hour to spend inworld. After the crash, they are likely to go fetch a drink, and let the computer recover. Find something to distract them from the virtual world by then, so they won’t start the client again. Food, sex, TV, … I’m sure you can think of some possible distractions.
- Press “OK” to confirm your changes.
- Repeat this step for any Second Life shortcuts you find.
- Find a mirror and practise your “serious and concerned face”, so you won’t betray yourself when you hear sudden swearing coming from the computer area later today.
This is ” - - quitafter <secs>” with two ‘dashes’, but without the spaces, WP seems to render this weirdly!
Some extra good advice: Implement this ‘fix’ right after you’ve heard them mentioning a ‘client update’. They will most likely blame the client in stead of you.
Effectiveness? High to Medium, depending on the time settings. It is possible your target will dodge your changes by using an alternative client. Of course, you can try to feed that client’s shortcut the same parameter using the above procedure, only replacing “Second Life shortcut” by “Hippo Viewer shortcut”, … .
Long term solution? It might be you need to repeat this after a client update, or the installation of a client which does not accept this parameter solves things. But still, I’m pretty confident about this one.
Chance at discovery? Low, definitely pretty low. Unless your target’s intelligence is way above (the) average (SLuser). If you try this “fix”, let me know how long it takes them to find out. If ever. ;)
Personal use of the “–quitafter <secs>” client parameter
Of course, the “–quitafter <secs>” parameter does not only limits other people’s SLugage - but can also be an aid to managing your own virtual life. A few use cases:
- You tell yourself ‘only an hour’ but end up in-world the entire night. Quick solve: “–quitafter 3600″. (Of course, you need the strength to not re-start your client.)
- There’s pizza in the oven. Quick solve: “–quitafter 720″.
- You promise yourself to only quickly login to answer IM’s and notecards, but need some help keeping that promise: “–quitafter 600″.
Now, if only there was a “-quiton buyoutfit”, no? ;) Think you can do more with client parameters? He’s the overview list on the Second Life wiki.
Starfish - Machinima ft. Real Life Theatre
February 18, 2009 12:52 pm
‘Starfish’ is a new - mixed reality - play by award-winning playwright Judith Johnson, which aims to explore the issues raised by clinical trials. It uses real life actors and Second Life machinima to convey the message. The production will tour schools throughout London in Spring 2008, from Mon 26th January to Fri 13th March. And guess what? Rezzable created the machinima footage. RightasRain ‘Boss’ Rimbaud: “Big thanks to my associate producer in making the machinimas–Meral (aka Lokum). It took hours and burned through all of our collective patience, but we pulled it off! Thanks again for hanging in there with me.” Some excerpts ft. a terribly cute tiny Greenie:
Each performance is followed by a live debate, utilising electronic voting technology, during which the students will be encouraged to explore what they think and feel about the issues posed by the drama. ‘Starfish’ is targeted at students at KS4 and above (aged 14+). The production is accompanied by a suite of online support materials which will engage directly with science and humanities specifications.
It seems the most time intensive part of shooting the machinima was nailing the ‘avatar’s expression of emotions’ down: “The biggest issue is working with a fairly limited set of facial expressions. Oddly in many ways the non-human avatars can be more expressive–with doing less even. But if someone could build a animation control panel that allowed detailed movement of the face, eyes, body parts independently and then back again as a set–well…call me let’s lunch on that one!” I guess as the VRW Viewer which mirrors your Real Life emotions on your avatar is far from finished, and the Lindens seem to be so busy with ‘enterprise solutions’ that they forgot about avatar puppeteering they promised in 2006, I’d go with my Pandora HUD for such a use. Or are there any other alternatives I haven’t heard from yet (and that are either not to complicated to use, or totally worth the time you spend mastering them ;)) ?
Startfish - Mixed Reality Live Stage on the Rezzable Blog.
Ytouring.org - Starfish
PS. Anybody recognized the location where the “exhibition” takes place? :d
VoIP on a Prim - Reactiongrid ft. Skype
February 17, 2009 10:32 pmI must admit, I hardly ever use the ‘voice facilities’ embedded in the Second Life client, often I even prevent that part of my client to launch itself*. I do talk in Second Life, though. For me, nothing beats the quality of having a Skype conversation, if needed illustrated with my avatar standing and pointing at things in the virtual world. Especially not if native Second Life voice conversations seems to suck, even when the persons on the other side of ‘the internetz’ actually takes the effort to set their microphone settings properly. Yeah, no voice gestures then, but I can live with that, if it saves me a headache.
Voice in OpenSim & ReactionGrid?
Up to now, both OpenSim and the Reactiongrid had no voice at all, so using Skype when I felt the urge to talk was the way to go. It might soon become the official way to go, as the Reactiongrid folks got the bright idea to activate Skype from within OpenSim to meet the need for voice.
“By modifying the OpenSim MSSQL 2008 database to associate UUID’s of avatars with Skype names or phone numbers we can now setup and initialize and even update with new inworld callers from a “voip on a prim” system.”
They are using Skype’s API to introduce VoIP on their server and in their client. Initial testing is going well, and Robin promises to release the code when done: “We fully plan to release the method back into the wild - all Opensim grids should benefit.”
But Skype is closed source?
Torrid Luna from primforge.com is correct when pointing out some of the drawbacks - no spatial info and a closed source and protocol - but _any_ voice will be a great start, until they can implement an ‘open’ solution such as there are Vivox’s Open initiative and Mumble.
Modular Integration?
There were already previous voice initiatives by RealXtend - a fork of OpenSim - (more on this at UgoTrade) and OpenLife, but none of these solutions were shared & adopted on a wide scale. Maybe the most reasonable voice in this discussion of which system & implementation of it to choose, comes from Mo Hax: “I suppose the biggest thing personally I would like to see, and that many expressed, would be modularity in voice integration allowing the sim owners and grid managers to select their preferred voice implementation. This increases competition and promotes the best solution in the long term.”
It all started on Twitter
If you enjoy reading 140 character conversations, take a look at the summary of the initial Twitter conversation on the Reactiongrid Forum.
* The client parameter that disables the voice application from launching together with your client is “–novoice”, without the quotation marks. Just glue that in the ‘target’ field of your Second Life client shortcut, as you do with OpenSim login parameters.
Image credit: Skype Inworld Conference Call System by ReactionGrid on Flickr.
Second Life web resources for February 15th 2009
February 16, 2009 1:30 amGreenies Terrain Map (My Valentines gift for those little green creatures!)
February 15, 2009 7:50 pm
“OMG! Vint learned how to terraform!!!” Err… guess again. I tried sim-on-demand’s utterly amazing idea of combining Twitter, OpenSim and the OSgrid for delivering free “Valentine’s gift” simulators. They’ve extended their offer during the Valentine weekend - that’s now, for those that are totally of the real life earth - so, anyone can send their Island request to @ec29 till 15 Feb and all Islands will be available fill Mon 16 Feb 10:10 AM GMT.” So if you wish a sim complete with a terrain map that has your beloveds name engraved - or something funny, or, … ‘ now is the time to order one!”
I’ve ordered Valentine sims for Praddles (sim result), Raul (sim result), Gany (sim result), Zonja (sim result) and Hamlet (sim result). No ‘amoureux’ proposals here, just thought those guys - and lady - would appreciate their very own ‘branded’ OpenSim island.
Some more imagery:
Disclaimer: Greenies are a Rezzable Brand, and you can visit them in Second Life as well as on the OpenSim-based Rezzable PGA.
