Archive for the 'SL Web Resources' category
Show your love for SL music: iTunes inSL
November 24, 2008 12:18 amupdate: iTunes inSL has been renamed to ‘Tunes inSL’ as Amazon links were added.
The ‘live music’ scene is one of Second Life’s most compelling uses: sitting naked behind your pc, you can attend a live performance, insult the artist as their crew can’t physically hurt you and drink yourself totally waisted as you do not need to drive home. Oh. Wait. That had to be: “you can enjoy tons of different music styles from enchanting artists - which are easily reachable through IM or chat after their performance - brought to you live from all over the (real) world without the time loss of deciding what to where and needing to go and return from a smoky club.” Better, no? ;)
Of course, when attending a live performance in Second Life, you tip as a ‘thank you!’, be it the venue, the artist or both. Sadly, there were a few occasions that you did not have the needed L$ on your balance, or got distracted so you forgot. That may happen. Luckily, you can now make up for this, and it won’t cost you a single L$. A brilliant idea from the creative depths of Crap Mariner’s mind:
Did you get an iTunes or Amazon gift card for the holidays or any other merry occasion?* Why not show your support for live music in Second Life by buying music from Second Life musicians through iTunes or Amazon? Go to the Tunes inSL website to discover which SL artists you enjoy listening to have their songs up on iTunes/Amazon. Then follow their link to iTunes or Amazon and show them your love by purchasing one of their songs or even a complete album.
* Waiting for an iTunes or Amazon gift card is not necessary. You can also purchase the songs just because (you love them and want to show your support).
What did I do to show my support? The Tunes inSL logo design by VintLabs. (which I’m btw using as my first fulfilled Akoha mission, but more on that later) You like? Me kinda proud of it, so if you do not like, please formulate that in a sensitive and delicate way. Thanks! ;)
(Compression kills. Click to see without distortion, please!)
As this whole post is about sharing, joy and support, I want to thank The Boss for giving me permission to use the Greenies iPod in an actual logo design and mention that although Foolish Frost’s songs ‘Avatar’ and ‘Prim in My Hand’ are not available on iTunes or Amazon, you can listen & download them for free at music.rezzable.com.
Do you know any Second Life musician that could use some extra promo and a push of iTunes or Amazon sales? Make sure to let them know about Tunes inSL, ‘How do I get added’ is clearly explained there. They will join the list of famous SLive Musicians such as Grace Buford, Suzen Juel, Melanie Fudge and Rich Palmer. Do inform friends which own iTunes gift cards too! And the perfect virtual holiday present? An iTunes or Amazon Gift Card code and a link to the Tunes inSL website! ;)
Update: Thanks to Michael Cela’s suggestion that a less DRM limited option would be nice also, artists available on the Amazon music store now also have those links featured.
Google Lively shuts down December 31 2008
November 20, 2008 12:49 pm
Starting December 31, 2008 Google’s Lively will be shut down. Rooms and avatars will not be available. Embedded rooms in blogs and other web pages will continue to show an image, but users will no longer be able to enter Lively rooms and interact. I hope nobody was planning on celebrating New Year’s Eve in Lively? ;)
From the Official Google Blog:
In July we launched Lively in Google Labs because we wanted users to be able to interact with their friends and express themselves online in new ways. Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it’s the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people’s lives. But we’ve also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off.
That’s why, despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we’ve decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year. It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business. Lively.com will be discontinued at the end of December, and everyone who has worked on the project will then move on to other teams.
We’d encourage all Lively users to capture your hard work by taking videos and screenshots of your rooms. Thank you for sharing this experience with us. We’ve learned a lot about how users interact in rich social environments, and we hope you’ve enjoyed your time with Lively.
Posted by The Lively Team
I wonder, though luck for the content creators that started to spend a large amount of time experimenting with Google’s Lively? Wasn’t ‘Lively’ not err.. lively enough? Not enough interest as sex & flirting was not allowed in Lively? :D And err, is this one less competition for Second Life, or a large bunch of people that now will not get interested in the concept of ‘3D worlds’ in the first few years? :/
Hat Tip: via Kris Constellation, still alive! ;)
A Japanese Augmented Reality Girlfriend, any takers?
November 18, 2008 12:30 pm
Tired of your girlfriend? She whines in languages you understand, isn’t easy to take along to the office, high-maintenance, won’t undress or dress up as a furry, or - worst sin of all - isn’t only virtual? Then Dennou Figure ARis (’Cyber Figure Alice’ in English) from Geisha Tokyo Entertainment might just be the solution for you, all you need to get her going is a computer and webcam.
This Japanese 3D virtual girlfriend is just perfect, you just need the augmented reality software, 2 Cyber Cubes, 2 Cyber Sticks and a dictionary for the instructions. Oh, and of course a computer and webcam, as she will not really appear on in your work cubicle. But, in return, Cyber Maid Alice will let you touch, caress, and play with her whilst she responds ‘appropriately’, whatever that may be. She can talk - in Japanese, of course -, change costumes, sweep your (virtual) desktop and holds a range of emotions. I can only assume they left the ‘angry girlfriend’ one out. “The Cyber Sticks have varying patterns on each side that represent a different tool, such as a big grabber hand or a poking finger, that you can use to to flirt with your new digital girlfriend. Or, if you’re mean, torment her endlessly.” Did I mention she has a cat as well as a mouse outfit? :D
I you’d ask me which Augmented Reality game will be more popular: the Dennou Figure ARis or Sony’s Eye of Judgement, I’d place my L$ on Miss Virtual Alice! Oh, and if ‘Sinterklaas‘ does exist, he’ll get me one of these by December 6th! ;)
Watch Cyber Maid Alice in action:
(link)
And because they want to prove this is fun for girls too (and I like the ‘over the top’), another one:
(link)
First saw this at BardHaven
China taxes Virtual Currency Trading
November 5, 2008 4:00 pm
A year after they ‘banned’ - with not much effects, looking at the amount of WoW goldfarming spam I receive daily - trade in virtual currencies, China’s government has decided they should get their part of the cash (estimated to be over €1.15bn) earned by exactly that trading.
The widening trade in the virtual money used within games – and their burgeoning use for other transactions – last year prompted China’s ruling Communist party and the central bank to ban trading in virtual currencies and their use for purchases of “material products”.
However, in what amounts to tacit recognition that last year’s restrictions have had little impact, the State Administration of Taxation has announced that income from the sale of virtual currency with “increased value” is taxable at the same 20 per cent rate applied to real estate and other transactions.
Yet, Beijing tax officials declined to explain how they would implement the vaguely worded ruling.
More at FT.com.
Is Azaroth a blue or a red state?
November 3, 2008 1:08 amLogin 2 Life - Where real life meets virtual
October 25, 2008 1:28 pmWhen Peter - Stindberg, that is - plurked the trailer for ‘Login2Life’ I was going argh… yet.. another… virtual…world…using..the word… life…. But I must admit I was wrong on both accounts: It’s not ‘yet another’, and neither is is a promo for the next upcoming Virtual World. Login 2 Life is a documentary, that takes into account not the murders over virtual swords, but the everyday benefits a virtual world can offer humans, especially if those humans have disabilities that prevent them from - fully - enjoying what we refer to as ‘First Life’. Opposed to past documentaries - those who shall not be named - they do not seem to be looking for ‘broken relationship’, ‘pr0n stories’ or shortly put ‘how virtual life can f*ck up first’. Where I get that idea from? Their absolutely lovely site header:
Directed by Daniel Moshel for for Eidolon Entertainment, the project is designated for theatrical release during the 2009/10 season. Want to be a part of it? They are still looking for the ‘protagonist’ of the story: ‘What, or rather who are we looking for? A female or male person, who is physically handicapped or otherwise challenged and feels as much at home in a MMORPG as he/she does in Second Life - please be aware, the dual residence is a must! You should have no problem being in front of a camera and have some time available during 2009, when principal photography is scheduled.‘
Now, to satisfy your curiosity, the trailer… does it not look promising? This already would make great ‘Second Life’ promo on itself, no? Oh, and who’s the lovely lady & avatar performing? Miss Grace? And the courageous lady human saying she loves Life in general, regardless?
More at Login2Life.net.
JIRA?! And how to vote on JIRA?
October 8, 2008 5:18 pmNew Second Life skin PSD files from Eloh Eliot
October 6, 2008 7:45 pm
It escaped my attention - until now ;) - that Miss Eloh Eliot made 3 new skins psd files available to the public: Cf1, an astonishing male skin, and two ‘ladies’ skins Rfº and SFº. I’ve added both to the list of previous skin releases by Eloh Eliot, as that is where people will be most likely to find them.
Skin repository for fashionistas
For all those interested in how a skin gets created, Eloh Eliot also made her repository and it’s contents available to the public. This means you can follow Eloh’s work on the ‘g generation’ skins, and take a peek into an SL skin genius’ mind (and in her .ai files too! ;)). For those that go there now, it also offers a more ‘clean base’ skin to work it, which might be interesting if you want to customise Miss Eloh’s skins more personal. As usual with Miss Eliot latest releases & works: ‘You are free to use these files to create items for any grid. You are free to _alter_ these files to create new items for resale. You are _not_ encouraged to resell these files or skins as is. Credit would be nice!‘
Feel free to take, but share alike!
Although Eloh continues working on the ‘g generation’ of skins, she is disappointed about how few people in turn release Eloh Eliot based skins as Open Source. Miss Eliot mentions this in Share alike!: ‘… this is what open source is about: it’s perfectly fine to take, it’s great to redistribute, and it’s still perfectly fine to make a profit off of it, but at the end of the day, it’s still better to give back.‘ One of the people who did share alike, is Mystical Serenity, check out her ‘Carnival’ skin here.
BIAB & ‘instant business, just add water
At least the above mentioned creators, even if they don’t share open source, added something of their own to the skins, and even possible have put lots of effort in those additions. Unlike the BIAB - business in a box - and ‘instant business, just add water’ schemes Eloh describes: ‘The problem isn’t more businesses–it’s the “instant…just add water” aspect of it–namely BIABs and freebie-sellers–these businesses are, in essence, the same as the zombies in camping chairs: they don’t really add anything of value back to the grid.‘ I second that. Some say it’s good to have those dubious businesses around, as else ‘newbs’ probably would never find the skin, but they for the ease of argument probably, forget to mention that this way n00bs - and even seasoned residents - pay (and charge others) for content that is supposed to be available to them for free.
Possible BIAB countermeasures
Any advise to offer to Miss Eloh Eliot to stop her skins being used for Business in a Box and plain reselling practises? Here’s my list:
- Make the free versions of your skins as ‘findable’ as possible for new residents. Make them in-world copy no transfers, but set up a vendor system for 0LS which people may rezz at their property (and is copy no trans too). That way Orientation Places, clubs, … can easily offer your skins for free. The vendor also distributes a notecard explaining your ideas about open source skins and a link to your website, telling them to look there if they wish starting to create their own skins. Make sure people can obtain the vendor from both onrez, slexchange & some inworld location. (For best easy, the vendor should be have an update system, supplying the owners of the vendor automatically with the latest edition… .
- Maintain a list/directory (comments or some way of contacting you enabled) where people can add a link to a blogpost, … where they make their own PSD’s or a .tga file of their version of the skin available. I’m sure most SLbloggers will happily help with ‘linkloving’ it so it is gets seen by many. That way the contributors will hopefully get something in return too: extra traffic. And people looking for free skins have a great starting point. Of course, you can also ‘outsource’ the maintenance of that list. (Work together with OpenSim peepz? They have some ‘here to find OS stuff for your worlds’ directories already.)
- Cross your mesh and keep hoping LL someday implements the possibility to easily add a CC license to inworld content.
