Virtual Bailey

2008-04-04T07:07:00.000-07:00

Back in June I visited an island created by the Mexican Tourism Board. They recently opened two more Visit Mexico islands that feature an array of activities to keep you entertained.

When I arrived, I was drawn to the sculpty single-use rental horses.

After riding around for a while I decided to try to find a hang glider that I had read about, but no matter what I did, I simply could not figure out how to dismount from that horse. I tried to detach it, stop wearing it, and even delete it from my inventory but there I was flying around while riding a horse.

When I finally did find the hang glider, it looked a little weird with a horse hanging off my butt.

I can't be certain, but I think it might have messed up the physics of the hang glider a bit. At one point I was upside down with the horse stuck in a tree - definitely "beyond my expectations" but I don't think that was what they were going for.

The build also features a zip line, from which you can enjoy vistas of the surrounding jungle canopy. Really would have been nice if I didn't have that horse hanging off my butt :)

The best surprise of all awaited me at one of the zip line transfer stations - animated sculpty monkeys!! I finally had to log out and log back in to get rid of the horse because they deserved proper photos.

There was a whole troupe of them on the ground by the river. There are some other jungle creatures there as well, but I won't ruin the surprise in case you want to go explore.

2008-03-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a horrible blogger lately, but I did make some progress on Episode #2. This episode provides three tips that will make your videos look more professional.

You could also title this video "three pet peeves": the little things that you don't notice until someone points them out, and from then on, you will never be able to overlook them again. I got so tired of seeing these buggers pop up in my own footage that I actually taped a checklist to my monitor so I wouldn't forget.

Oh yeah, in Episode 1 I forgot to warn people that the "record" hotkey might be mapped to a gesture. I didn't really "forget" - it's kind of funny to think you are starting to film and instead bust out in some funky dance move :)

2008-02-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

I'm ba-ack :)

The real world has been a beast lately, but I've also been pretty busy in the virtual world. My latest is an experiment that I'm calling "The Machiniminute". This series of minute-ish tutorials will cover the basics of machinima production. Enjoy !

2007-11-11T16:50:00.001-08:00

Thinking I might score another shoulder pet, I sought out the second bottle type in the Coke Vitual Thirst promotion. The first location I tried seemed to have the first bottle, but so I tried the second location which turned out to be inside a Blaze store.

The lag made the puzzle a little more challending than the first one, but still finishable on the first try. Indicentally, the place was packed with Germans shopping for formalwear.

The "interactive experience" can best be described with video :)

After this, the "prize" portion, a branded kick scooter, was a bit of a letdown.

The site listing the locations mentions that the experiences and prizes are copy/transfer. It would really be cool if the experiences were copyable, but they aren't that I've seen.

2007-11-09T05:12:00.000-08:00

Four months after the original promotion, Coke revealed the winning entry in their Virtual Thirst competition. There are three types of puzzle bottles scattered across the grid (you can find their locations here), each producing "a different type of interactive experience and a different prize".

I have only visited the first one so far, at which you have five minutes to rotate the pieces into position.

When you complete the puzzle, fireworks launch and a snow globe appears.

The snow globe contains some picture-worthy poses, although I'm a bit skeptical of "pet the penguin"

I watched them fish for a bit

And then they invited me to try

And then I climbed on the ice wall

This concludes the interactive experience (because it disappeared while I was writing this blog post). The "prize" portion is a shoulder-mounted pet polar bear. He's quite cute and has some good animations. I mentioned before that I somehow lost my pet cat - I hope this little guy does not suffer the same fate.

2007-10-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

I found the Titanic (no scuba gear required)

2007-10-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

Over on New World Notes I read about a new sim created by "a real world company offering actual ocean tours", and as a real world enthusiast of such tours I decided to investigate.

It turns out that "Dive" was created by PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors) - an industry certification organization. In the main building, there is a tremendous amount of information about scuba diving, and down on the beach they are offering (limited quantities of) free scuba gear.

It became clear that the suit had too many attachments in the head area to support the Virtual Bailey avatar (I hate when his head disappears).

So I changed into my other main avatar and walked down the beach to the water. As soon as I reached waist height, my avatar automatically stopped walking and began swimming, intermittently dischanging bubbles from the virtual regulator.

The swimming motion, speed, resting position, and buoyancy all accurately convery a real world diving experience. There are plenty of underwater areas to explore, with varied marine life and even a wreck! According to the heads-up-display gauge, my dive lasted 17 minutes!

2007-10-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

The Greenies build is one of the most interesting places I've encountered in a while. When you arrive, it's not immediately clear where you are or what you should do. Subtle arrows are a clue.

Then, you walk through a hole in the wall into what seems to be a house.

But further exploration reveals that you are actually in a dollhouse inside a much larger house.

It's a convincing exploration in scale, and there are plenty of things to do, for example - I ran around in this hamster wheel for a while.

2007-10-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

I was enthusiastic after reading an article about Evian enterian Second Life and providing free avatar skins to residents as part of their "Bring your skin to life" campaign.

I tried several times to locate the build, and after having no luck using Search, the Map, or the Pogon link in the article, I finally found a clue in the comments (although the island has a telehub so even with a direct teleport I still had to wander around).

The small rental stall contains a billboard and two identical vending machines.

The vending machines dispense 3 free male skins, 3 free female skins, and an animated Evian water bottle.

The quality of the skins is excellent, and I applaud Evian for providing something of value to residents, but I'm perplexed by the impossible to find simple mall space.

2007-08-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

The World Wildlife Fund opened an island last week. According to the press release, "“WWF set up the island as a way to help people learn about conservation issues and the need to live sustainably.”

So why is there an orangutan selling ice cream from a van? If you request a cone, he explains the environmental impact that palm oil plantations have on his habitat. Better yet, if a friend clicks the treat you receive directions to a secret location where you can retrieve an orangutan mask!

2007-06-26T20:16:00.001-07:00

Comcast had their public launch in Second Life a few weeks ago and I finally made it there last night. Comcastic Island seems to be loosely based on a "faster" ad campaign, although I'm not sure I would have selected this particular campaign for a virtual world plagued by perpetual lag :)

I spent about an hour at Comcastic Island and there were five to ten other residents there with me - over half of whom were there the entire time.

I won't ruin the surprise, but check out the underground lab.

Though there are lag issues (you will want to make sure that your draw distance is set to 512 under Edit-->Preferences-->Graphics) the race track seems to be popular (I couldn't get it to work alone, and when I teleported a friend over we couldn't get it to reset, but when we DID get it to work it was entertaining.

There's lots of free stuff here, and each attraction includes clear VISIBLE instructions (i.e. not a notecard) so it would be a great place to send someone new to Second Life.

The jet pack ring game was disappointing. When I flew through the last ring (thereby completing the game), all of the rings disappeared and there was no "congratulations" and I never saw a score. I was left hovering there in my racing suit (which for Virtual Bailey should read "slower") and my jet pack - huh.

There is an Expo area that has a "speed themed" exhibit with a few vehicles and pictures of fast animals but this area feels generally empty as does the entertainment space. I suspect that they are still working on content and programming.

2007-06-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

The Mexican Tourism Board recently opened an island as part of a campaign for the Chitzen Itza to become the new seventh wonder of the world. When you arrive there is a link to a web page where you can case your vote, and for doing so you are awarded with a Mayan warrior outfit.

Climbing all those steps was tiring, so I relaxed for a short while in this Mayan sweat lodge. Each "feature" of the island has a notecard that provides information.

Oh, and there's salsa dancing :)

2007-06-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

Have been extraordinarily busy with work and have a list of "to visit" SL places - in the mean time I'll post a link to this You Tube video - an instant classic.

2007-04-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

As a building exercise, I've been constructing a virtual version of my real world cubicle area. For reference, here's a snapshot.

Using a point and shoot digital camera, I took a few pictures to use as the main textures (the partitions, bulletin board area, carpet, file cabinet, etc.) and then got to work assembling. Next, I constructed the desk and added some details that I had missed (like the six wheels on the teeny tiny file cabinet). I then shot a few more pictures to add details to the desk (papers and books, my daily lack of nutrition, and of course by Fabjectory statue). Here's the finished product.

I was amazed at how much depth can be achieved from some relatively simple texturing (just don't look at that water bottle from the side though!). Next, I added some shadowing and a few scripts to bring it to life. The bookcase opens to reveal a messy interior, the desk light works, and the drawers in the file cabinet open - except the bottom one which only opens for me since it contains some confidential materials.

2007-04-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

Hair Fair 2007 runs through the 14th, so if you are still wandering around with the default hairdo this is a great place to find all of the major hair designers in one location.

This is one of the most crowded events that I've attended in Second Life. There are two venues (the same booths at both) and when I visited (6am PST Easter Sunday) I counted over 60 avatars at each! It was a little laggy at times, so I wound up standing in one place and using my camera to navigate from booth to booth.

There are many good freebies and dollar buys - some labeled and some not so if it looks like a present or a gift bag, click it to see what's inside. One designer I hadn't seen before was Pazzaz, who has a line called Transitions. When you click the hair, your avatar does a little "tousling hair" gesture and then the hairdo changes to something else - for example, up-do to hanging free. Of course, scripts are disabled at the fair location, so to see the demo in action you have to go somewhere else to try it out.

2007-04-04T18:47:00.000-07:00

The Orange County Chopper build (link) opened yesterday.

For L$1, you buy a HUD that displays a blueprint for the bike and walks you through the process of building it. There's no customization per se, but it's a snazzy little bike for a buck :)

2007-03-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

The Weather Channel recently launched an island complex that is definitely worth a visit if you are a virtual sports enthusiast. Best of all, everything is completely free!

2007-03-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

Big Pond, an Australian broadband provider, has a snazzy island complex that I recently found. As the map shows, there's a lot to see and the maps provide handy teleports to most of the locations. Don't miss the fireworks near the Harbor Bridge (and set the sun to midnight for a better view).

2007-03-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

Train Tour

First up, the subway in Rothbard.

After a few minutes, the train arrived and I hopped on.

As far as I can tell, the train has a few stops. All I know is that when I emerged from the station, I was in a completely different area :)

Next I headed over to Knightsbridge, and checked out the Underground.

Though the entry was authentic, the subway cars were certainly not. I hopped aboard and rode the short track to the other end where I was ejected and had to walk back to the other end.

But as I was walking, the subway car came rumbling along and I was nearly roadkill!

The last stop on the train tour was Nakama. This island is divided into four distinctly different areas and the train is a way to get a good overview.

2007-02-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

I've been to Bliss Garden Center about a half dozen times looking for plants for a project that I'm working on (more on that later).

Today I noticed a sign for "teleport to Gardens Below" sign. It was then that I realized that I was in a massive sky-store above the infamous Bliss gardens.

If you haven't been to Bliss Gardens, it is definitely worth a visit. There is a balloon tour with two routes that provides you with an aerial view of the beautiful landscape. When I have more time, I'd like to go back and explore the trails.

2007-02-18T08:20:00.000-08:00

I came across a a free photo morphing application called Squirlz Morph and decided to blend images of my avatars. The application lets you specify key features on the images and then output the result in several formats.

It made me realize the somewhat jerky, unelegant avatar transitions in Second Life, where I often get stuck in my underwear with a shrunken head.

2007-02-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Remember the "5 free fun things to do in SL" list that I mentioned? Well, I'm ticking them off one by one.
1) Go Karts (done)
2) Sailing
3) Archery (done)
4) Jet Skiing
5) Swimming Pools and Waterslides

I've been sailing, jet skiing, and swimming, but I still want to visit the locations that they mentioned. In the mean time, I came across one that didn't make the list but it's definitely worth an honorable mention in this cats opinion - The Mooz Raceway.

I was able to rez the bike, but I couldn't get the heads up display to work properly so I might have been missing some of the experience. Steering the bike is intuitive and you can use the page up/down keys to shift. I'm not a good SL driver because I go entirely too fast - I crashed several times.

Luckily, I had 20 seconds to get back on the bike before it disappeared. I also heard sirens so I think they might have sent an ambulance to make sure that I was ok.

The build is affiliated with the SL Motorcycle Racing Association, and they have frequent races - the next one is this Saturday at noon PST. You can learn more on their website.

2007-02-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

Around Thanksgiving, I bought my female avatar a kitten from Wynx. She loves to be carried around and purrs endlessly when I pet her (ok, or when anyone clicks her, she's not picky).

I rarely use my female avatar, but I did last week and when I rezzed the kitten it vanished. No longer in my inventory and not in world either. She's 76 prims so I think I'd notice her lying around on my land :) I put up a sign in case someone finds her.

I searched the forums and tried a few things like clearing my cache which didn't help. I e-mailed tech support at 2pm on Thursday, explaining exactly what I did, where, and the troubleshooting that I tried such as clearing my cache per the website instructions. I received the following response at 1pm on Monday. (unusual characters are part of the reply)

In some instances, Inventory items may not show up, even when searched
for. While this isnâ€™t guaranteed to work during these harsh
conditions, you can try going to Edit menu > Preferences > Network tab
and push â€œClear Cacheâ€ button and relog.
Remember that generally, things may appear to be gone, but they are
not actually gone. When the databaseâ€™s functioning as expected, your
stuff should be rezzable again.
If you're still missing items in your inventory or see empty folders,
please file a bug report and give as many details as you can on the
missing items.
We are working hard to correct the complications and apologize for any
inconvenience that this might cause you.

"During these harsh conditions" ?? What about my poor kitten?? Wandering aimlessly through some strange dark database without food, water or toilet? Ack !

2007-02-06T18:33:00.000-08:00

Vodafone has had an island in Second Life for a while, but the island was empty with the exception of a few butterflies. Yesterday I went back and the island now has a lot to explore, although I think it's still under development.

From the telehub, I clicked a fire-pole looking prim and was thrust out the bottom of the telehub and wound up underwater with a shark. Good thing I'm a diver :)

The island has a lot of activities - I literally spent 30 minutes exploring (which says a lot since most places hold my attention for all of 10 minutes). I danced the can-can on a floating wedding cake, dove off an amazingly tall diving board, did a little synchronized swimming, and rode butterlies. There's also an ice skating rink, a concert hall, a giant fish bowl where you can maneuver a crane to try to win prizes, and some other surprises that I will let you discover for yourself.

2007-02-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

I found a really good place for scuba diving.

I also messed around with my scuba equipment and was able to get the mask and regulator to fit over my avatar head. This had previously been a problem so I just didn't wear them, but I have since figured out that I can attach things to different body parts, and then reposition them accordingly.

In addition to great coral-scapes, there are whales, sharks, dolphins, jellyfish and a wide variety of other fish. If you don't have scuba equipment, there's a vending machine near the shore.

2007-02-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

AOL's new island, AOL Pointe, opened yesterday. I headed right over and had fun trying out the sticky wall.

The skateboarding park, a.k.a. the centrifuge, has a bit of a video game feel because if you skate by certain points you win Lindens (ok, only 1 Linden). If you don't have a skateboard, the store has free ones that do several tricks and also sells ones with special features.

The build also has a trivia contest area (where I won L$20), a "walk of stars" where you can make a star with your name and hand/paw print, and a lot of other areas that I didn't explore yet.

2007-02-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

Next up from the list of free things to do is go kart racing.

This was a great Second Life experience - there were other people around to make it interesting, but not so many that it caused lag. A sign explained to simply click the sign, select a color, and start driving. It couldn't have been simpler.

Driving the car was simple. The left and right arrow keys control the steering wheel, the up arrow is used for acceleration, and the down arrow is used for reverse.

The track includes some ramps that go up to a second level and has some curvy parts to keep it interesting. AND I didn't have to dress up!

2007-01-30T20:18:00.000-08:00

I recently read a blog post about "the best free things to do in Second Life" and found my way over to #2, Archery in Avalon Mist. This is a "medieval fantasy role play sim", so I felt obligated to don one of the free gowns available in the arrival area. I think a tux might have been more appropriate for Virtual Bailey, but I was in a hurry so I rushed off looking like an escapee from a 1980's prom.

I found my way to the archery pavillon, but for the life of me couldn't get the darned "dispenser" to give me a bow. I'm sure I'll have like 20 when I log in tomorrow. Luckily, a friend teleported in and already had one in their inventory.

Sadly, the bow didn't work with the scoring system, so I was only able to shoot and it didn't track our scores.

I'm sure it was just a SL glitch - perhaps it was offended by my gown? I'll have to stop back later when I have time to shop for proper medieval attire.

2007-01-29T07:47:00.000-08:00

Ever find yourself in a crowd where people aren't speaking your language? Ever wish you could speak or understand another language? If so, you should pick up the Babbler and De-babbler translation HUDs (which you can get them free at Green).

De-babbler is used to translate what someone else is saying and Babbler is used to translate what you say. Both use Google transation to translate between English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. It also will translate into Pirate, although that translation comes from Pirate Monkeyness rather than Google.

To use either, all you have to do is wear them.

By default, the Babbler HUD displays in the upper left. When Babbler is on, the largest button is green, when it is off that button is white. Click this button to select your language and the language that you want Babbler to translate your text. Then start babbling - for each line of text that you enter, you will see a second line with your translated text (it will be green, and there will be an "x" before your name). If you click the Q button this puts you into quiet mode, meaning that only your translated text is displayed (so the original text that you type is not displayed).

The De-babbler HUD displays in the upper right by default. For me this was under the mini-map so I moved it (right click, edit, and use the color-coded arrows to drag it somewhere else). When you are the vicinity of someone speaking another language, simply click the yellow button to select who you want to translate and then click the big white button to start De-Babbler.

Now I need to find some non-English speakers, or pirates :)

2007-01-28T14:27:00.000-08:00

Today I visited the AKK Horse Ranch.

I didn't purchase one - a tad too expensive at L$2000, not to mention 127 prims. I'm surprised they don't have a corral with rentals.

There was also a funny sign that said:
"Do not edit horses while wearing them and do not "open" them at any time."
Definitely not a sign you would see at a real world barn :)

2007-01-27T06:12:00.000-08:00

The International Spaceflight Museum opened in Second Life last June. If you haven't been there recently, I highly recommend it.

In addition to an impressive display of rockets and numerous exhibits on spacecraft and space travel, you can ride a rocket into outer space.

The landing is a bit rough, but the views are definitely worth it.

You can read more about the project on their website.

2007-01-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a place to do some Highland dancing, check out the Scotland island.

You can also pick up some freebie Scottish items, however the flexi prim skirt didn't fit my girth properly :(

2007-01-23T17:32:00.000-08:00

Back in November I stumbled upon a NOAA weather data visualization exhibit on Info Island. NOAA now has a full island on Meteroa.

When you arrive at the island you can pick up a HUD to be used on the island. It took me a minute to figure out that it was used for information delivery rather than navigation. This method provides a less obtrusive experience compared to traditional notecards.

The first exhibit that I visitred was the one on weather balloons. Keep your hand on the "fly" control because when the tour ends the balloong ends and you plummet to the ground :)

Next I took a ride on the hurricane plane.

And then I headed over to the glacier exhibit.

2007-01-17T16:59:00.000-08:00

Sears and IBM recently unveiled a prototype at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The concept is to use virtual worlds to help customers visualize real world purchases, for example kitchen cabinetry or appliances.

2007-01-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the week I checked out the (somewhat new) Capitol Hill build.

The first thing I noticed was that all the flags were at half staff, because it was still within the 30 days after the death of President Ford. I found it unusual to have airplanes buzzing around (since you definitely won't see that in Washington), but closer inspection revealed they were pidgeons.

The House of Representatives was empty, so I took a seat for a bit before exploring the rest of the two island complex.

There's a big countdown clock, but it wasn't counting down to anything yet. There are also pavillions for the Democratic plans on healthcare, national security, college costs and other topics. Each one includes a notecard that explains their position in a few bullet points.

On the opposite end is a semi-transparent replica of the Washington Monument. At the base I clicked a small triangle that let me teleport to the top, but unfortunately once up there I couldn't find a teleport back to the bottom. There is a multi-chair up there in case you are looking for somewhere to hold a meeting :)

2007-01-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

Commonwealth Island looks a tad like a campground in Yellowstone and features an active geyser.

According to an information kiosk, the project is being developed by real world non-profit EnviroLink Network. The goal of the project is to provide a starting place for social and environmental organizations that are interested in venturing into Second Life.

2006-12-20T15:35:00.000-08:00

Even though I consider myself lucky to have even obtained first land, and I wound up with great neighbors who are creating a huge open community park adjacent to my property, there's only so much you can do with 117 prims. I'm not ready to buy, and I don't really even know my exact land needs, so I decided to rent.

I found an awesome little island on a sim with plenty of open water and the surrounding sims have open water too. The parcel is just over 8000 sq meters, but a lot of that is water. I rezzed my windsurfer and went for a quick sail.

Then I went over to Quan Li to purchase surfable waves. The instructions seemed simple enough, but when I rezzed the wave rock I couldn't locate it. Here I am with Aeron, standing at the bottom of the ocean looking for it.

After the normal troubleshooting, we IM'd the creator who was super responsive and helpful. She in turn summoned a Linden to our plot. There were two tiny issues. The first was that when I rezzed it, I didn't have the right group activated (not sure if this is a feature or a bug). The second was that when I rezzed it, it fell off the edge of my sim and onto the next one, but instead of being right there, it wound up clear on the other side! A bit of a burrito effect.

But the waves are in place, and surfable. Woo hoo!

2006-12-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

The Winterfest build has developed a bit since I was there last week.

First up, the new ice sculptures

Next up, some new decorations

And a cool ice bar!

2006-12-18T15:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend everyone showed off their pimped out yaks, confirming that there are a lot of creative people in Second Life.

Some people experimented with color.

Others expermented with functionality.

Some went for the literal.

And some went for the bizarre.

Mine was pretty boring compared to the rest of the submissions. I created a saddle featuring some of those animated textures that I've been experimenting with.

2006-12-16T13:42:00.000-08:00

World Vision has a parcel in Second Life designed to promote alternative gift ideas. Instead of the usual tsotchke, make a charitable donation on someone's behalf. Gift ideas range from livestock, to hospital and school supplies, to sanitation equipment.

The "be a chicken" is "snort laugh out loud" funny so I snagged some video.

2006-12-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

I hadn't been to Abbot's Aerodrome in a while, and I had an odd urge to go flying so I teleported over and tried out some of their demo planes.

Probably would have been a good idea to read the instructions. Don't think I'm ready to buy just yet...

2006-12-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

The Yak Shack in Midnight city is selling virtual yaks. According to the signs, 100% of the preceeds go to the Save the Children charity. I already have a motorcycle, and it is for charity after all, so I decided to buy one.

Anxious to ride my beast of burden, I rezzed it and hopped on. As soon as I did, the yak became invisible! I quickly chalked this up to buggy Second Life issues, hopped off, and tried again.

I should have read the readme (quite funny, since I used to write the darned things), which explained I also needed to wear the "yak attachment" and THEN rez the yak. By the way, "yak attachment" and "rez the yak" are two phrases I couldn't have imagined saying 12 months ago.

(Like their real world counterparts) You can milk the yak and knit sweaters from its wool, and like the Scions over in Scion City, the Yaks are fully modifiable. There's even an event this Saturday for everyone to show off their pimped out yaks!

2006-12-12T16:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I wandered into Virtual Morocco. In one of the notecards I read that the island opened in November and was developed by Life3 Solutions.

After putting on an "info fez" and suiting up in some (free) traditional Moroccan attire, I headed out to explore. The "info fez" is supposed to enable you to receive information about what you are seeing, but I don't think it was working quite right. The only info I received automatically was a welcome to the Mosque of Hassan II.

Inside the mosque, there are a few information stations where notecards explain the prayer ritual. Outside the mosque, there is a traditional market selling spices, lanters, and such. I saw another visitor with a hookah pipe, but (try as I might) I couldn't find where it was sold. The island also features gardens, what looks like a residential area, and a beach. Sadly, the windsurfer was not for rent :(

2006-12-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

There's plenty of winter holiday fun to be had in Second Life.

Over in Demersal, Linden Labs is busy preparing for the 3rd Annual Winter Festival which begins on December 15th.

Midnyte City (not to be confused with Midnight City) is also festive with a rideable train, reindeer, and a nativity scene.

2006-12-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

The Second Life version of Big Brother began on December 1st and runs through January 4th.

It's pretty much the same as the TV version. Participants have to spend at least 8 hours a day in the virtual house, each week they are given tasks to complete, and residents of Second Life vote to determine who is eliminated from the house. The resident who remains at the end will win their own Second Life island. You can read more here.

Unlike the TV show, this house is open 24 hours a day and its design allows you to explore the rooms and interact with the participants.

2006-12-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

Thursday night the Elf Circle (a fantasy role play group) kicked off their holiday fundraising week with mermaid synchronized swimming.

The event, which is held on Mystica and benefits charities such as the American Red Cross, Toys for Tots, Habitat for Humanity, and Doctors without Borders, runs through December 15th. Full schedule available here.

2006-12-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I found a giant holodeck cretaed by Virtual Reality Rooms.

This week I came across the Holodeck Super Store. The difference here is that the holodecks can include objects (such as furniture), whereas other holodecks only change the texture on the surrounding walls.

There's a free demo version that will fit on a First land plot, although it will take up 115 of the 117 allowed objects. They also sell a version for L$500 that lets you purchase additional scenes, and a version for L$9000 that is fully customizeable.

2006-12-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

My friend AM Radio created this beautiful "pathetic Christmas tree" (his title, not mine).

Very expensive on the prim count at a whopping 94! This is why it is stored in the basement of our secret lair :)

He also created this wonderful train.

Meanwhile, I'm completely obsessed with making statues with animated textures. Here's my latest and a better picture of the first one.

It's actually quite easy, so here's a tutorial if you want to make your own.

Click CTRL+4 to open the Create palette (also under Tools --> Select Tool --> Create)

Select a shape and then click in world. You should see a new shape in world and your avatar should be pointing at it.

The Create palette will now be in Edit mode. Click the More button and then Select the Content tab.

Click the New Script button, the double click the new script to edit it.

Delete the contents of the script and replace it with this

default
{
state_entry()
{
llSetTextureAnim(ANIM_ON | SMOOTH | ROTATE | LOOP, ALL_SIDES, 1, 1, 0.0, TWO_PI, 0.1);
}

}

Click the Save button, and when the save is complete close the script window.

And that's it - the texture on the prim is now animated!

2006-12-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

At last, the Juiceof Prunes Sports Tour HUD is available on SLExchange!

The tour takes you to visit some of my favorite activities in Second Life. If you're out of Lindens, consider heading over to DragonFly Oasis where you earn L$2 for scrubbing floors or gardening for 10 minutes :)

2006-12-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

My friend Aeron Copeland made this really cool Second Life-themed snowglobe.

I was going to put it on my land but then I realized that it takes up as many prims as my house! He has referred to me several times as a "prim nazi" because of my recent obsession with prim counts.

I went to an Art and Dance festival yesterday afternoon and was inspired by the motion art sculptures by Abbaca Aoi.

If you missed the festival, you can see their work at the Second Louvre.

I'm a photo and digital art enthusiast in real life, so I have entire hard drives full of potential textures. Aeron helped me with the scripting (which it turns out is very simple) and there's now a Prunes original on my roofdeck.

If you go check it out, be sure to view it at different times of day to see how it looks in different lighting conditions.

2006-12-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

Last night was quite busy in my neighood. Most of the residents from the surrounding lots were online so it was a good chance for everyone to get to meet.

One of my neighbors has been working on a giant trampoline and invited us over to "tramp".

Now THIS would make a good flipbook!

She needs to adjust the altitude a bit, either that or raise her skyhome :)

2006-12-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Lil' SLurigs, a motorcycle-themed island, had their grand opening last night. When I arrived I received a notecard that explained that they are not quite finished with development because of the recent SL issues, but decided to open the island anyway.

The main street looks as I imagine Sturgis, South Dakoka does - a saloon, some shops, a place to rez/park your bikes, and green rolling hills in the background.

I didn't stay in the bar too long, just took a few pictures, munched on some peanuts, and left. Once you're off the main street, there's lots of open twisty road that passes by ornate homes and gathering places (all for sale).

2006-12-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

The Flipbook Museum in Sphinx is a promotional build for Flippies, a company that produces custom flipbooks. The museum includes some information about the history of the flipbook and moving images and shows some examples of their products.

Though I didn't see prices listed on their website, I did notice that their minimum order is 2500! It made me think of trying the same thing creating the images myself and using a mini photobook from Qoop. Perhaps a time lapse of my land development project...

2006-12-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

I decided to move my temporary house into the sky a bit to give me some room on the ground to start an experimental build. There's now a teleport ball on the ground if you want to come up.

I'm not alone up there - it's just as cluttered in the sky as on the ground. At one point I accidentally deleted the house, good thing that I was standing on a rug!

2006-11-30T20:50:00.000-08:00

I missed the Virtual Tree Lighting by a few hours due to real world air traffic nightmares, so today was my first visit to the new NBC island (there are actually 16 NBC islands to handle the traffic that they anticipate, but they are all identical).

The top of the NBC tower features an impressive replica of the Rainbow Room. If the elevators are missing from the lobby, stick close to the building, fly up to the top, and enter through the outdoor elevator lobby.

If you are interested in building, note the reflective floor. Because reflection isn't possible in Second Life, this effect is accomplished by building an exact replica of the room and placing it under the semi-transparent floor. Nice effect, although expensive from a prim perspective.

Down at ground level, you can skate at the infamous Rockefeller Center ice rink under the festive gigantic holiday tree. They were giving away free Moopf Murray ice skates - not sure if that was a promotional thing or not.

I recently bought a pair of Moopf Skoopf Trails skates. I had such a great time last time I went ice skating that I sprung for the limited edition pair. You can customize the colors or the skates, as well as the trails that they leave behind when you skate.

And this is now one of my new favorite Second Life pictures.

2006-11-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

Because it's SL maintence morning and I'm traveling in the real world today, I thought I'd share this picture from a while back. Although it looks like a pyramid, it's actually a picture taken from the ground looking up at me sitting on the edge of a skybox.

2006-11-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

I've already had four offers to buy my first land, and I haven't even moved in yet. The neighborhood has a bit of a junkyard feel - with prims and assorted freebies littering the landscape at various altitudes and FOR SALE signs and searchlights beckoning passersby.

Here's an aerial shot of my property (the non-junkyardy side) and some adjacent homes. You can get information about any piece of land, and display the property lines using About Land under the World menu.

The first thing that I needed to do was adjust the terrain. This was very simple - I right-clicked on the ground and selected Edit Terrain. This highlights your property in bright green and changes the cursor to a little tractor that lets you raise/lower/smooth sections of the landscape.

I started simple and just flattened the plot. I'm planning to build my own structure, but until I have more time I'll be living in a very nice prefab freebie home that I found on slexchange.

All you have to do is unpack the box and place it on your land (I did need to reposition the door and patio railing). It takes up the entire footprint of my lot, but it has a working fireplace, a lockable door, and windows that can be transparent, semi-transparent, or opaque.

I need to modify the land a bit more to make it easier to enter, but I'm quite pleased with my temporary living quarters. Feel free to stop by if you want to check it out.

2006-11-27T09:36:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to check out Neo Realms Fishing Camp and finally made it over there last week.

First you buy a fishing pole and the appropriate bait in the Bait Shack. I selected a large bamboo pole that set me back 100L$ and the bait was another 20L$.

Next, you wear the pole and use the appropriate controls to cast.

On my first cast I caught nothing. On my second cast I caught the small "santa fish" pictured here. On my third cast I caught this gargantuan fish and decided to call it a day.

2006-11-26T09:21:00.000-08:00

Santa delivered early!

Last night I was exploring SL while watching the USC/Notre Dame game and I actually found some First Land! I now have a home.

If you have a paid membership, the First Land program enables you to purchase 512 square meters (basically a postage stamp) for 512L$ with no monthly land use fees. Of course, First Land is subject to availability and I've been checking for a few weeks and there's never any available.

Linden Labs' customer service hours are 9-6 PST, so I wrongly assumed that those were their normal business hours and didn't search too much in the evenings and on weekends. You can imagine my surprise when I searched on a Saturday night at 8pm PST and found nine plots of First Land !

It reminded me of the Oklahoma land rush scene in the movie Far and Away. I teleported to the first location and there were three other people there checking it out. It was in the middle of a snow sim area, so I decided to check out the others. When I refreshed the list, three of the nine plots were gone! There were several in the same location so I went to check that one out, but the area around it was very developed. The last place I checked out I determined was good enough. The lot adjacent to mine is already developed (although the owner has big blinking "FOR SALE" signs on it), and there are a few other small homes nearby.

I'm not even really sure what I'm going to do with it - perhaps build a giant kitty condo :) Well, not too giant because the parcel only supports 100ish objects.

2006-11-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

I came across a Imagination Breeding and Zoo the other day. I'm note sure what the racetrack is for, but they have quite a variety of animals. My favorites included the koala and the monkeys.

2006-11-24T11:31:00.000-08:00

The Fabjectory statuette that I ordered is now prominently feaured at their store in Second Life.

2006-11-23T10:22:00.000-08:00

I was compiling a list of places to find free stuff for some colleagues who are new to Second Life and came across this wildly complex FREE avatar at the Gnubie store. I present Psyra Extraordinaire's "Brew Panda".

There is just so much going on with this guy! He's wearing a keg on his back, a holster around his waist holds a variety of containers, and his right hand holds a bamboo pole that dazzles with bling.

2006-11-22T07:26:00.000-08:00

Virtual Bailey visited Santa in Second Life.

His wish is that Linden Labs will make some First Land available.

2006-11-21T07:24:00.000-08:00

Over on Bloghud I saw a post about a "giant holodeck at Commonwealth Island". I hadn't heard the term holodeck before, but the picture that accompanied the bloghud post looked cool.

When I arrived at the teleport location, I was standing on a transparent location in the sky and surrounded by a coastal scene. I saw the small control off in the distance and began clicking to change the background image.

Duh - after randomly clicking for a while I realized that I could zoom in on the control and actually select the background that I wanted to display. I thought it was random.

There are a whole bunch of undersea images, so I dug out my scuba equipment and posed for a few pictures.

2006-11-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

I came across a great free tour HUD at Idea City (developed by real world advertising agency GSD&M headquartered in Austin, TX).

The HUD is very easy to use. Horizontally, it can be expanded to show all locations on the tour or collapsed to show only the current location. It can also be minimized vertically and completely reskinned if you want to change its colors.

They offer two separate tours, one that focuses on real world businesses in Second Life and another that highlights some unique aspects of Second Life culture. Because the HUD comes with full permissions, anyone can make and easily share their own tour.

2006-11-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

I recently bought a motorcycle, and of course a really nice set of leathers. My only dilemma now is finding finding some decent open road. So far my riding has been limited to the Nissan test track.

After a bit of shopping around, I decided to buy from HD Cycles. They had a good selection of "female sized" bikes - because nothing looks worse than riding a bike when your hands don't reach the handlebars.

The bike produces engine noise when you ride it, you can peel-out by pressing the page down keey, or do a wheelie by pressing the page up key. It also accommodates a passenger, so beware of hop-ons :)

2006-11-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got my hands on the in world Nokia 770 that I missed out on at the Popular Science launch event on Thursday night. Like the appetizers I mentioned yesterday, it works best without the paws so it will be modeled by my human avatar.

The in world Nokia 770 comes with a handheld, a stylus, and an animation overrider. When relaxed, your avatar just holds it.

(Picture taken at Vanda's Pocket Park)

When you begin to type, your avatar scribbles on the Nokia instead of the usual "typing on imaginary keyboard" animation. Apparently you can add additional animations, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

I haven't seen the real world version in person, but it looks like a pretty slick little device.

As a side note, if someone if standing right in front of you, you can give them something by dragging it from your inventory onto their avatar (knew this). If not, then drag the item onto their profile (which you can find using the People tab on Search) or their calling card if you have it.

2006-11-17T07:04:00.000-08:00

Popular Science launched its Future Lounge last night. I didn't have time to stick around for the launch event, which is unfortunate because they were giving away an in world version of the Nokia 770 and I'm a huge Nokia fan.

From the outside, the space is certainly imaginative. The goal of the Future Lounge is to create "a unique in-world destination showcasing cutting-edge technologies and futuristic designs—many of which exist in the real world only as ideas or prototypes." The roof of the structure features virtual versions of Skystream wind generators and a water feature.

The water on the roof is visible inside, creating a tranquil effect in the lounge area. The person who created the pose balls is a comic genius :)

Because their launch was in a few hours, they had some catering tables available. I sampled a Tech Tini and something from the chocolate fondue fountain. Why has no one solved the problem of not being able to have more than one object attached to a single body part? I always have to take off my paw to eat or drink :(

Out back there is a fabulous deck area including dozens of chairs to lounge on as you watch the solar powered video screen. There's also a flying windmill exhibit that you can read more about here.

2006-11-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

I updated my human avatar to look a little more like me - well, more like me in the sense that she's got brown hair now :)

The outfit is from Paper Couture, one of my favorite stores in Second Life. It is designed like a real world upscale boutique and their designs are things I'd actually wear in real life. They have some great looking handbags on the first floor, but I don't have much to carry in the virtual world, so I couldn't justify the impulse buy just yet. Maybe for a special occasion. The only thing I don't like is the circular staircase. For some reason I just can't make it upstairs without accidentally falling off the staircase at least once. I also like that their outfits come fully accessorized, with belts and jewelry.

Is it wrong to change your clothes out in the open? There aren't too many private places to change your clothes. I knew of a few, but now they are crowded and I've been caught naked a few times. Kind of embarassing even though it's not even really me. Come to think of it, the only dressing rooms I've seen have been at New Citizens Inc. I guess virtual modesty isn't a pressing problem.

2006-11-15T07:14:00.000-08:00

I read an article yesterday about the new Dell Island. I was unable to locate it using Search, but I was able to find it using the Map. The four-possibly five-island complex located in the Eastern ocean includes a welcome center (with an orientation tour similar to SL orientation islands), the Dell Factory, an auditorium, a museum, a conference center, a learning center, "Dell City", and a giant computer that you can explore.

All major locations are joined by an aerial tram system that was a little difficult for me to figure out.

At the tram station there are signs for each possible destination. The signs say "Touch Here". If you right click the sign there is an option for "Sit Here" (although sitting on the sign makes no sense) and if you do right click it tells you to move closer. But now I'm so close that I don't notice/can't see the giant white transportation pod that I'm supposed to board. The first time took me about a minute and a half to figure out, subsequent times were also a little awkward because the transportation hubs sometimes span island borders, so you think you should be able to board the pod, but it keeps telling you "move closer" - when you are right under it. I also didn't know a lot about where I was going, so choosing based on the titles was a challenge - for example changing "Dell Giant Computer" to "Explore the interior of a giant Dell computer" might have lured me faster. Hey - still beats wandering and walking :)

Once you've selected a position, your avatar assumes the fetal position in a transportation pod and is whisked to your selected destination. My first stop was the giant computer where I wandered around oversized chips, cables, and (gasp) fans.

Next, I visited the Dell Factory where you can customize your own XPS 1710 at a drafting table or in a more private office area with a sofa.

The touchscreen interface is fairly simple, for example you click "memory" and are then prompted to make a selection between a number of options. The options are presented as scripted text and then you enter the corresponding number in the alert pop-up (a tad complicated - I'd like the options next to the buttons I have to push, likely a SL limitation). When finished, you have the option to purchase, which passes the information through to Dell's website where you complete the customization and perform the actual transaction.

Supposedly there's also an SL PC that performs functions such as alerting you when friends are nearby, but all I saw was the XPS 1710.

2006-11-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

Nextdoor to the tiny avatar store is another store selling animal avatars. I wandered in (of course) and realized that it's the same vendor who created Virtual Bailey.

In one corner they sell virtual pets. I couldn't resist buying this small siamese cat that rides around on my shoulder. When you (or anyone) click(s) him, he makes cat noises - some good some scary. He reminds me of those articulated models used for learning to sketch.

2006-11-13T06:52:00.000-08:00

You didn't think I got out of that store without buying something, did you?

The tiny avatar is about a third of the size of a normal sized one, which means it comes up to about someone's knees. Of course I picked one that looks like a small Virtual Bailey.

It's difficult to understand the size from those pictures, so here's a good comparison shot.

Because I was in a spending mood, I also bought them both footprints that display when they walk around. They are temporarily rezzing prims and they work much better than the particle version that I tried a few weeks ago. The particle version displays the primts at the angle of the viewer, which means the prints aren't always going in the right direction but this version works splendidly and was only 50L$.

I haven't quite figured out where I will wear the new ensemble yet, but it was too cute to pass up.

2006-11-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

I found an entire shop dedicated to tiny animal avatars. As I'm having a look around, I overhear two other patrons who are shopping for avatars make a reference to Virtual Bailey's girth. I'll change their names for privacy purposes:

Patron #1: Perhaps you would like to be a fat Siamese cat?
Patron #2: hehe
Me: Hey !
Patron #1: LOL
Patron #2: hehehe
Me: I'm just well fed :)
Patron #1: hehe

There are very few overweight avatars in Second Life, so I guess he does stick out a bit. When I bought it, this is what he/she looks like out of the box (male version on left, female on right).

I wasn't wild about either, so I fattened him up to look more like his real world counterpart. Wandering around as a female human in Second Life, I sometimes feel like a target in a virtual singles bar. A doughy Siamese draws a different type of attention.

2006-11-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do in Second Life involves trying out different sports and gadgets. This make for great photos and video, but I'm more interested in the process - how the equipment is obtained, how you interact with it, and if it's any fun.

Over in Voss, I found a snowboard vendor at the bottom of a (sadly) non-functional chairlift. The white snowboard on the white snow is a little difficult to see, so they placed a bright green arrow pointing to it, but people still didn't see it right away. The first thing that was confusing is that the box that the snowboard arrives in looks identical to the actual snowboard, so there were several people trying to ride what was actually the delivery mechanism.

Once you unpack the box, a notecard is displayed with instructions. First you need to put on the boots, which have two parts for each foot.

Once you've got the boots on, you drag the snowboard from your inventory and then right click it and select Ride. When I did this, however, I got an alert that I needed to put on the boots, which I was already wearing. Then I got an alert that I was being given a folder with boots in them, so I accepted it, took off the boots I had on, and put on the new boots. Same problem though. Then I wound up with two snowboards attached to my feet, and I was able to walk around with them on???

Just as I was about to give up, it started to work and I was shooshing around all over the place. Quite cool, but a little difficult to control.

It was at this point that a stranger in a car pulled up. He kept trying to lure me into the car saying that he had the heat on and it was nice and warm. Uh, no.

I wound up stuck in an area where I couldn't move, so I had to detach the snowboard and start all over. I didn't have any luck getting it to work again, so I sent the creator a message to find out what the secret is. Until I hear back from him I'll just stand here at the bottom of the non-functional chairlift holding my non-functional snowboard, ignoring the guy in the car.

2006-11-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

It feels kind of weird to switch between the catsuit and my female avatar. It shouldn't, I guess, because I can have as many avatars as I want. In an uber-geeky moment, I decided to make a few t-shirts that feature pictures of the cat avatar the I can wear while dressed as my female avatar. This was also a way for me to become more familiar with how clothing is created in Second Life. I'll include a brief tutorial, which you can just scroll past if you just want to see the pictures of the end result.

The first thing you need to do is download the templates from the Second Life website. They provide a PDF describing how to use the templates and the Design and Textures forum has a lot of helpful information as well. If you're more the live instruction type, New Citizens Incorporated (NCI) has weekly clothing creation classes.

Anyhow, if you want to make an embellished t-shirt, it will take about five minutes and cost 10L$ per item. You first create the texture using Photoshop and then you create the shirt in Second Life.

To create the texture:

Open the Upper Body Template in Photoshop

Take a look at all of the layers. The only layers that should be visible (the ones with the eye ball) should be Background, Working Layer, and Overlay. You should see this.

Select the Working Layer, and add your design. For example, if you want to create a black shirt with an image in the front and text on the back, your image should now look like this.
Deselect all layers except T-Shirt Alpha (If you want a long sleeve T-Shirt, use Victorian Alpha). Using the Magic Wand (with contiguuous un-checked, anti-alias checked, and tolerance set to 32), click in the white area and then choose Select --> Save Selection. What you name it doesn't matter, but it will be displayed on the Channels tab of the Layers palette. It should not be selected (no eye ball).

Hide the T-Shirt Alpha Layer (no eye ball) and Display (eye ball) the Working Layer and any other layers you added for your design. It will not look like much of a shirt at this point, but we're getting there.

Save the file as a TGA (Targa), 32 bits/pixel if prompted.

Open Second Life and select Upload Image which is under the File menu. Select the file that you just created. You will see a preview of the image and it should now look more like a t-shirt.

For example, notice how this one is missing the inner sleeve - likely because the Contiguous checkbox was accidentally selected. If the image is a solid color instead of looking like a t-shirt, go back and re-do the alpha channel step. Assuming everything is ok, click the Upload button. A confirmation will display when the upload is complete.

To create a new the t-shirt:

Right click on the Clothing folder in your Inventory and select New Clothes --> New Shirt.

Locate the New Shirt in the Clothing folder, right click, and select Wear. You should now be wearing a white shirt.

Under the Edit menu, select Appearance.

On the left side, click the Shirt tab.

Click the Fabric thumbnail and then locate the file that you just uploaded. It should be under My Inventory --> Textures. Once you've located it, click Select.

Continue to modify the shirt using the sliders for sleeve length, shirt length, etc. When you are finished, click Save and the item will be saved to your Inventory. You should probably rename it (right click --> rename) so you can find it easily in the future.

Here's my first creation - a sleeveless tee with Virtual Bailey's head on the front. I put this blog url on the back in one line near the waist, and although it's a cute decoration it's really not readable.

This was my second creation.

And then I made a few variations using different colors and fixing the font issue.

As you can see in the image, I also customized a pair of jeans =^.^=

2006-11-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

In a previous post I mentioned that I ordered a statuette of Virtual Bailey from Fabjectory. It arrived on Monday and I now that I have stopped skipping around singing "he's here, he's here" and thrusting it in people's faces, I can post a few pictures.

(Pardon the phonecam pictures)

I didn't know quite what to expect when I ordered it, and I had visions of those mold-o-rama gorillas from childhood zoo visits. But it doesn't feel like plastic and it's a lot heavier and more detailed than I expected. If you're remotely considering ordering one of these, just go for it. You won't be disappointed.

2006-11-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

So now that I have good hair and a business appropriate outfit, I noticed that my makeup could use a touchup. There are hundreds of stores selling "skins", some full body and some face only. Shopping for made-up face skins is just plain weird. Moreover, you really have to be careful where you wander, the full body skin stores are both creepy and not safe for work.

I learned that makeup is actually a tattoo that is applied to your face. This is also a way to apply piercings, but I haven't ventured there yet. This might also be used for men's facial hair but I haven't ventured there yet either. If you're in the shopping mood, you might want to start at CMFF. I didn't buy anything there, but they have demos, sell full body and face-only separates, and have skins in multiple ethnicities. One floor up from the women's section they sell a few male skins and some wild "fantaskins". I demoed the silver paint skin out of curiosity.

Unlike the hair demos, makeup demos are indicated by the word "DEMO" tattooed across your face. It is quite useful to be able to try before you buy especially at the cost of $L1.

I ended up paying $L300, which is considered on the cheap side, but here's a before and after for comparison purposes.

I think the most noticeable improvement is in the eyes, but in the picture she looks better rested and more confident too.

Metaverse Gallery

2006-11-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

The Metaverse Gallery recently opened and is currently featuring an exhibit of Shoshana Epsilon avatar portraits.

At first glance, the gallery resembles a space age Guggenheim, however closer exploration reveals that the levels aren't connected posing some navigation challenges. The transparent floor also takes some getting used to.

The initial teleport location has several phone booths that serve as teleport stations to different parts of the island, however I ignored them on my first visit because they are similar to the Vivox phone booths that I've seen elsewhere in Second Life.

The images are well done and each one has an accompanying notecard that describes the model and location. There are also some nearby artists studios with some insteresting pieces.

posted by Juiceof Prunes on UTD ArtTech Island using a blogHUD : [permalink]

2006-11-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

The roller skates that I bought came with ice skates, and since I had so much fun with the roller skates, I was anxious to try out the ice skates.

I searched for an ice rink and found the Zouk City Snow Village. There's a Moopf Murray vending machine here too if you need skates. There was no one around, which is nice when you are learning how to skate, and the light snow over the rink added to the ambience. Did I mention how well the skates match my color scheme?

The ice skates are slightly easier to use than the roller skates because there is a HUD for easy access to trick selection. You use the page down and page up buttons while skating forward or backwards. For added complexity you can spin around while doing tricks. These skates absolutely rock!

Again, the still images really don't capture the surprising gracefulness, so here's a short video.

2006-11-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

I finally made it back to a half-pipe skate ramp that I found several weeks ago.

I bought a pair of Moopf Murray Skoopf Ultra Roller Skates from a nearby vending stand and put them on.

What I noticed immediately is that my walk was transformed into a graceful glide. The instructions were fairly simple - click the page up button to do a trick. On my first try I held it down too long and ended up flying instead of doing a trick. I got the hang of it pretty quick though. You can type /500 menu to display a selection menu where you can select trick style. The half pipe is well designed with railings at the top to stop you from going over the edge, though on several of my tricks I ended up over the edge and in the nearby ocean.

(have you ever seen an airplane go by in SL??)

I'd definitely recommend these skates! And since this is all about motion, here's some quick video that I shot.

2006-11-04T07:30:00.000-08:00

In a previous post, I mentioned that I need to be in human form every once in a while. It turns out that these situations also require traditional business attire. Weird, I know. I'd made myself a pink top, black skirt, and boots using the appearance customizer but I decided to go on a shopping excursion to see what alternatives exist.

A friend pointed me to Bare Rose where she said that I could obtain a free women's business suit. What I liked about this massive store what that there was a map at the main arrival location that offered teleports to the various sections (men's, women's, etc.). Then, the women's section is organized into categories such as casual, formal, and oddly, Japanese. Unfortunately, the product display is completely overwhelming and despite a lot of looking I was not able to find what I was looking for. If you look closely in this picture, you can see my avatar as a small pink spot at the bottom in the middle.

I then tried searching for "business suit" and found Realities in the Mariner's Seaside Mall. Technically, they sell a women's business suit but it was a little too revealing for my needs.

I went back to search and found Musashi-Do. Here I found a suit that was pretty risque in the display photo but 1) they sold separates and 2) it looked like I could modify it to make it acceptable.

In summary, I few "good enough" outfits (several free ones too!) but I'm still searching for Virtual Ann Taylor and Virtual Talbots. I guess there's not much of a market for conservative women's attire in fantasy land.

PS - I eventually found the Bare Rose free women's suit on SLExchange (center picture) - they have a men's free suit too.

2006-11-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

Recently, I've encountered situations where I've needed to be a human avatar. First off, how ridiculous is that! I'd run into avatar discrimination before, but these new situations made a bit more sense (work-related) so I decided to play along and give the "catatar" (cat-avatar) a break for a few days. One benefit of the metaverse is being able to develop as many personas as you want, right? So I changed into my female form and quickly realized why I would up in a catsuit to begin with.

I have horrible hair. You can edit you appearance using sliders that change hair shape and length, but they all look like helmets. Having saved my weekly stipend for several months, I decided to go shopping for some new hair.

The first place that I found was Gurlywood. At first I was a bit overwhelmed. The walls were covered with rows and rows of pictures of hairstyles. They were stacked four high so you either had to fly to see them or use the camera controls. You can buy a demo for $L1 that lets you see what the style will look like, although it's green :)

Most style were under $L 200, and you get one style in four or five colors.

Next I went to Goldie Locks This store was slightly easier to navigate for several reasons; the pictures were only stacked two high and the square open room meant that I could stand and one place and browse using the camera control or mouselook. It was here that I learned about "flexi" (hair that moves and is therefore much less helmet-like). This store also has demos (although with a different texture green) and prices were around $L 150 but you bought one color at a time.

Next I went to Taunt Hair Shack. This store also had demos and their styles were $L 199 for nine colors. This store didn't have the quantity that the other stores had, but what they lacked in variety they made up for in documentation (including a link to an explanatory video!) that described specifically how to position and resize new hair. This is very important considering that a lot of new hair looks like this when you wear it.

The last store that I visited was Tickled Pink. I liked that their demos used the actual hair color instead of the green texture. Styles here went for $L 195 for one color.

The main issue I had navigating all of these stores is that there was no logical organization scheme. I expected styles to be grouped - somehow - perhaps by short, medium, long, wacky, up-do, etc. It's also surprisingly difficult to select new hair. In the real world, you have something to begin with. Your hair is capable of a finite number of styles. In Second Life the options are limitless - I not only have to pick a style from the walls and walls of options, but I then have to figure out what color I want. I ended up going with this style from Goldie Locks.

Don't worry - female form is only temporary and Virtual Bailey will be back shortly. It's much much easier being a cat.

Weather Data Visualization

2006-11-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

NOAA has a preview of their soon-to-open exhibit at the Second Life Science Center on Info Island. The exhibit is very well done and provides a lot of information through notecards, video, and of course the oversized 3-d visualization of real time US weather. It was snowing in International Falls.

posted by Juiceof Prunes on Info Island II using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Roma!

2006-11-01T07:30:00.000-08:00

Roma!

This was my first visit to Roma since their major redesign. It was nice to look at before, but now it's an experience.

You arrive on the docks where you are provided with notecards that explain both what the island has to offer as well as how to use the various features. There are also helpful hints about lighting settings so that you view the environment in the way intended by the designer. The experience also differs by time of day, so I'll have to come back some time and explore by torchlight. I picked up a free toga before heading out to explore.

You are also alerted that this is a "no fly zone" which means you actually have to walk or use the Roma transportation (more on that later). I've grown attached to flying just to get a sense of where I am, so without it, I used mouselook to get a birds eye view of the island.

I walked up the steps past the marketplace. Across from the Roman Baths (which I'll have to return later to try) and the two caged lions, I turned right and headed up the stairs.

The Hippodrome is located mid way up the stairs. I was able to race a chariot around the track, and if you are there with others you can have a timed race with up to three participants.

Further up the hill I found the Gardens of Maecenas. Inside the gate, an unusual little statue lets you control the weather with the click of a mouse. This environment is a good place to rest - with its swan-filled lake and fireflies.

I passed the gladiator Arena and the Theater (which features 20 minute plays) and arrived at the Odeon. When it is not in use, there are some musical instruments on the stage that you can play. (a little Photoshoppery here to make up the band since I was alone)

If you don't want to walk, there are fountains throughout where you can summon a traveling litter to take you to another destination within Roma. Each fountain also features a God or Goddess that can tell you about the area you are in and what is nearby.

The last place that I visited was the waterfront. Here I sailed around the small harbor for a bit and then found my way into a tunnel which led to more open ocean.

Throughout, Roma uses text overlays, non player characters, and well-placed easy to read signs to improve wayfinding and information delivery. Moreover, the well written descriptions and instructions include historical facts intertwined with information about how you can participate in the various activities. Well done!

posted by Juiceof Prunes on ROMA using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Fall Boat Show

2006-10-31T12:02:00.000-08:00

I saw an announcement about the Fall Boat Show in the Second Life Herald last week but I almost missed it.

Much like its real world counterpart, a boat show in Second Life brings many boating industry vendors together which makes it a good place to see many different products. You can even board the boats and go below deck to checkout the cabins, galley and head. (although that ain't no marine toilet)

I'm not in the market to buy a boat yet, but I did try out the free Original Flying Tako. I found a marina with boats back in April, but it wasn't at all intuitive so I gave up after about five minutes. The Original Flying Tako was very easy to sail. You can only sail if you are seated in the back (which makes sense) and once you begin sailing the wind speed/direction is displayed. If you know a little about sailing you can easily figure out how to turn the boat to make it go faster. With my new building skills I think I'll make a sailor cap :)

They have just about every type of marine transportation imaginable - from submarines to pirate ships. I saw a two-seater Oriental sailboat by Inu Meiji for $200 and a feluca-esque "Leviathan" by for $700 (sold at Harbour Market in Elf Harbour). I had to change into my Halloween costume for a quick picture.

I also saw a sign for Starboards Yacht Club, which has lessons and a regatta on Sundays as well as Thursday night racing. Might have to check that out in the future. I also picked up a free personal flotation device.

posted by Juiceof Prunes on Sanchon using a blogHUD : [permalink]

2006-10-30T22:01:00.000-08:00

I'm attending a Halloween party in Second Life so I thought that it would be fun to dress up (something I never do in real life). I happened upon a Bastet outfit that I decided I just had to have, despite the fact that my savings was dwindling fast. Anyhow, when I tried it on, the skin texture was a little disappointing but overall it certainly was good enough. There was something about a cat dressing up as another cat that made me laugh. Looooser :)

I was a little worried that most people aren't too familiar with Egyptian culture, so I decided to make a sign to indicate that I am Bastet and link to a website providing additional information. This was also a way for me to practice my building skills. I'm including step by step instructions in case anyone is looking for a non techie tutorial on how to build an object (in this case, a simple sign) and have it load a website when a user clicks on it.

First, you need to make sure that you are in an area where you have permission to build. If you don't have your own land, use Search to locate a sandbox area.

If you are making a sign, like I was, you need to prepare the image (to be displayed on the sign) and then upload it using File --> Upload Image. Once uploaded, images appear in your inventory under Textures.

A sign is made up of two shapes, or prims. You create the shapes, link them together, add the script that makes it "clickable", save it to your inventory, and then align it so that your avatar holds it properly.

To create the square part of sign shape

Click CTRL+4 to open the Create palette (also under Tools --> Select Tool --> Create)

Select the cube shape (top row, far left) and then click in world. You should see a new cube in world and your avatar should be pointing at it.

The Create palette will now be in Edit mode. Select the Stretch radio button and then use the red, blue, and green controls to change the shape. For example, make it taller, wider, and less deep.

Select the Select Texture radio button and then click the More button to display addition options. Click one side of the sign where you want the texture to display. The side that is selected will show a white circle with a cross inside it. In the lower section of the Edit palette, select the Textures tab. Click the Texture thumbnail (that was the default wood texture), locate the texture that you want to use, and then click the Select button. The texture should now be displayed on the sign.

Select the Position radio button and use the blue control to raise the shape up a bit and then click off of the object to get out of edit mode.

To create the round pole part of the sign:

Click CTRL+4 to open the Create palette.

Select the Cylinder shape (top row, fifth in) and then click in world. You should see a new cylinder in world and your avatar should be pointing at it.

The Create palette will now be in Edit mode. Select the Stretch radio button and then use the red, blue, and green controls to change the shape. Make it taller, narrower and less deep.

Select the Position radio button and use the blue, green, and red controls to align the pole under the sign. Use the camera controls (under the View menu) to view the alignment from different angles.

To link to two objects together

Right click one object and select Edit.

While holding the shift key, select the other object.

Click CTRL+L. The objects should now be linked as one.

To add the script linking the object to a website

In the lower section of the Edit palette,select the Content tab.

Click the New Script button.

Double click the new script to edit it.

Delete the text that is there and replace it with this:

default
{
touch_start(integer total_number)
{
llLoadURL(llDetectedKey(0),"Go to Google","http://www.google.com");
}
}

Replacing "Go to Google" and the URL with whatever you want.

Click the Save button.

Save the object to your inventory

Right click the object and select Take.

The object is now in the Object folder in your inventory. It is named Object by default, so right click and select Rename and give it a meaningful name so you can easily find it.

Align the object with your avatar

Right click the sign in your inventory and select Attach to --> Right hand.

Right click the sign and select edit.

Select the Position or Rotate radio buttons and use the red, blue, and green controls to maneuver the sign so that it is in the right position. Use the camera controls to inspect it from different angles.

The whole process takes all of ten minutes. Here's the result.

2006-10-29T11:25:00.000-08:00

Over on bloghud a saw a post from the CDC island. Though the post mentioned nothing of the actual experience, I had visions of global pandemic simulations or real time disease outbreak visualization maps.

Unfortunately, the CDC's presence in Second Life is what I'm now referring to as "brochureland" - a combination of the terms brochure and island, similar to the term brochureware used to describe websites that are used as electronic marketing rather than having specific features or functionality. The experience was very similar to a booth at a trade show - many display signs and pictures, some of which linked to various sections of their website and other websites such as the Metaverse Messenger.

2006-10-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits in being a virtual cat is that I have no need for virtual clothing or accessories. Well, no need doesn't mean that I can't have them anyway.

With the recent influx of real world shoe vendors in Second Life, I thought Virtual Bailey's paws could use a break from the cold hard virtual asphalt.

I first visited the Reebok store. When I walked through the doors, I saw a display featuring "blank" custom RbK's for sale for 50 Linden dollars. You can read about the real world counterpart here. I bought a pair, put them on, and then headed over to the customization kiosk.

Kiosks are often difficult to use in real life, and this one matched my mental model of real world kiosks. The instructions on the wall were in a very small font, and the controls on the actual kiosk were too small to be clickable unless you were zoomed in so close that you could no longer see the shoes. Also, why no tie-in to the real world? Shouldn't I be able to buy a real world copy of what I created without having to go to the website and start all over? Virtual Bailey does look fresh in his new shoes though.

Next I headed over to the Adidas store.

The Adidas store sells a3 Microride trainers for 50 Linden dollars. They come in two versions. The black and orange "high jumpers" are supposed to enable your avatar to jump super high and the blue and white "astronaut shoes" are supposed to have a special float feature.

There are "test mats" in the store, but I couldn't figure out how to get them to work. You are also supposed to be able to watch some promotional videos, but when I clicked any of the screens it just tried to load a web page. I ended up buying the blue and white pair.

I'm not entirely sure that I'm using them correctly. I'm not sure if I'm "floating", per se, but Virtual Bailey is walking differently. Once you're wearing the shoes, and the "toggle", you type /adidas to enter float mode.

2006-10-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

Last night I visited the Yahoo Time Capsule Sim. This is the in world collection box for Yahoo's self described "electronic anthropology project". They are gathering digital content - images, text, audio, video - for a period of 30 days at which time it will be turned over to the Smithsonian for archival purposes.

Destroytv was there filming. They launched a few weeks ago and broadcast images from Second Life to their website. Using their website you can view the stream of images coming out of Second Life, change the position of the avatar that is filming, and even enter a message that is spoken in world by the Destroy TV avatar. They also archive all of their images on Flickr which means that I now show up in their Flickr tag cloud.

The Yahoo Time Capsule Sim will be open until November 6th - go submit something.

2006-10-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

In a recent article in Wired, I read about Wengen. It was described as a ski resort that even had throwable snowballs so I decided to check it out.

When you arrive you are standing at the base of the chairlift. There weren't any instructions or anything so I just decided to get on (right-click and ride) go to the top.

The ride to the top was pretty entertaining. The chair lift swung back and forth and passed through some clouds. There was even the real world "bump bump bump" as the chair went over the poles. Once at the top, Virtual Bailey automatically exited the chair and was on top of a mountain looking over an adjacent sim. This is when I realized that I had no skiis.

Not sure what to do, I saw an adjacent mountain and decided to fly over there and check it out. The only thing there was a dog sled, which I tried to ride but could only stand on because I wasn't the owner.

I teleported back to the base of the chair lift and walked over to the lodge. I assumed that I'd be able to rent skiis or a snowboard, but there were just a lot of other visitors walking around and chatting (some wondering where to get skiis!). I also couldn't find the throwable snowballs. Perhaps I'll go back another time and investigate further.

2006-10-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

A while back I read about a project by UC Davis called Virtual Hallucinations. The goal of the project is to use virtual reality to show simulations of hallucinations experienced by people with schizophrenia and use the simulation for training and education.

When you arrive at the exhibit, you are provided with some general information about schizophrenia. Next, you have to get a badge which you wear throughout the tour.

The exhibit takes you through a psychiatriac ward. Stops along the way simulate and explain different types of hallucinations. Throughout the tour you hear disturbing voices, which can be stopped at any time using a special command. Think Second Life meets "A Beautiful Mind".

SL Gadget

2006-10-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out a new HUD attachment called the SL Gadget.

It has an interesting feature that alerts you when youre friends are nearby. To quote their website, it enables you to tell "if one of your friends is mapping you again." This is the SL equivelant of stalking where you use the map to see where your friend

There are a handful of other features that I haven't explored yet such as usage statistics and integration with slprofiles.com. I just want to know when I'm being mapped :)
posted by Juiceof Prunes on Velda using a blogHUD : [permalink]

2006-10-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

Fabjectory -

I read that it is now possible to get a real world statuette of your Second Life avatar. Get OUT! A little Virtual Bailey for my desk?? Sign me up!

So I went to the Fabjectory website and then headed to their in world store. The in world store provided the same information as the website, so I sent an instant message to Hal9k Andalso and figured that he'd contact me later to set up a time to meet.

Outside, I met this little winged pig person who complimented me on my avatar outfit.

I thanked them and complimented them on their flashy wings. They gave me a copy of the wings and told me to try them on. The result is kinda creepy - like an homage to pets of the past or something.

After a few e-mail exchanges with Hal9k Andalso, we met in world and he teleported me to the studio, which was a neutral grey skybox.

He said that my whiskers would be a problem, and that they would be ignored completely. He was also having problems with my tail and asked if I could stop moving it. Unfortunately, I have no control over my tail - it's "swishy" but there is no swish on/off functionality. Same with my big blinking blue eyes. I never thought that I'd have a chat where someone was asking me to control my tail.

A minute or so later, he sent me this preview.

And a few days later, these proofs arrived via email.

Physical Virtual Bailey should arrive within a few weeks !

2006-10-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

Last night I found my way to the brand new Nissan Island. The place was buzzing with opening night excitement.

The first thing that caught my eye was a Fifi La Feme avatar that left scripted pawprints when she walked - how cool is that !

Back to Nissan. Created to promote the Nissan Sentra where potential drivers spend their time, Nissan Island features a virtual racetrack, remote controlled cars, and video screens where you can watch Nissan advertisements.

When I arrived, there were a few dozen visitors standing around. I recognized a few avatars from the Ben Folds event. I also couldn't help but notice the GIANT vending machine churning out Nissan Sentras in a variety of colors.

When I first arrived, the vending machine ticker was at 60. I stood there for a while assuming someone would mention how the machine worked. I even walked over to another group to see if they were talking about how it worked. While I was wandering, I wild driver plowed into me. A few people in the crowd shouted "Lookout Kitty" and "Kitty Roadkill!"

DUH - there was a sign right next to it that explained what to do.

So I IM'd Toast Alicious and he gave me a PIN number for the vending machine. Here is a picture of his avatar :)

I rezed the car and hopped inside. Once of my colleagues hopped in the passenger seat and snapped a few pictures on the completely out of control ride.

Here's the first hint. You can use the arrow keys to move the vehicle or the W S A D keys on the keyboard, IF you hit escape to get out of chat mode. Otherwise you just type wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww in chat and people think that you are a moron. You use page up and page down to shift gears. My colleague chatted these helpful hints to me as if I should know them (but hey, I'm the one who figured out how to get a PIN number and how to use the vending machine).

But I admit it, I'm a sucky virtual Nissan Sentra driver. At one point I wound up upside down and then trapped between the two tracks.

It was at this point that I realized that our feet were sticking out of the bottom of the car a la Fred Flinstone.

Eventually I got turned around and off the Loop-d-loop.

Then, somehow I wound up on the other side of the island on a track. Doesn't this look like a Nissan ad? I call it Shift_furry.

(except I'm not a furry, but it's still funny)

2006-10-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

I'd read a lot about Starwood's presence in Second Life, but I'd never been to their Aloft Island so I decided to check it out.

When I arrived, I saw a billboard for the Ben Folds event that was starting in a few hours. I remembered reading that Sony was launching a space in Second Life and Ben Folds would be there for a live chat and to play some new songs. I filed this in the back of my mind and continued to wander around the Aloft space.

Starwood was one of the first corporations to (overtly) jump into Second Life. They are using the island to both market the new concept and get feedback as the design evolves. You can read more about it here. According to their press release, the first physical Aloft hotel is supposed to open in 2007.

I took a quick walk through the lobby and then around the pool. Unfortunately the real world beckoned and I didn't have time to explore as much as I would have liked.

A few hours later I logged back into Second Life and was surprised to see a lot of visitors nearby on the mini map. I went over to investigate and saw a dancefloor and about 20 or so people getting their groove on.

I spotted two colleagues, and tried to teleport another but it wouldn't work. Apparently the event was invite only, but because I was there earlier in the day I had foiled the elaborate security system. Virtual Bailey - concert crasher.

Ben arrived and after a few technical glitches were solved the crowd heard live streaming audio from the Sony studios in New York.

Nissan Island - shouldn't there be virtual licenses?

2006-10-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

I wandered into the brand new Nissan Island tonight. It's definitely worth checking out, but watch where you stand - there are some crazy drivers here. I was road kill. Details and pictures soon.
posted by Juiceof Prunes on Nissan using a blogHUD : [permalink]

2006-10-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

As I posted yesterday, I found surfable waves and a place to rent surfboards in Second Life.

Tropical Island Surfing rents one-time use surfboards for 40 Linden dollars. You can use for as long as you want, just don't stand up once you've started using it because that will be the end of your surfing session.

The instructions weren't super clear so I spent a few minutes unsuccessfully trying to ride one of the boards that was already on the beach.

Then I figured out that I needed to rez the board in my inventory and right-click and ride it. From then on out it was super easy. I used the arrow keys to paddle out.

Unlike real life surfing, it wasn't horrible and uncomfortable, and I didn't almost drown. I missed the first few waves and then figured out that if you point at an angle, you stand up and ride automatically. Woo hoo !

Here's an aerial view of me chilling on my board.

Unfortunately, my surfing time was relatively short-lived. After riding a wave into shore I accidentally stood up forgetting that this signaled the end of the session. Oh well, still fun for sure.

Surf's Up !

2006-10-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

I found a place to go surfing! And since my avatar is an overweight siamese cat, this made for some pretty humorous screen captures. Full report and picture to be posted to Flickr shortly.
posted by Juiceof Prunes on Quan Li using a blogHUD : [permalink]

2006-10-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

(Excuse the back posting, should be caught up in a few days or so)

Second Life celebrated its third birthday back in June (coincidentally, the same weekend as MY birthday, we knew that they were cool!). They developed a four island celebration zone that I explored on several occasions.

Some colleagues and I visited the museum.

And rode the bumber cars (THIS was fun - especially when combined with a conference call).

There was also an aerial tram to take you from point to point. Unfortunately I wound up on it all by myself and had to be teleported to find the rest of the group.

But here's where the real fun was had - the celebration dome.

It didn't get too crazy. It was a PG region, after all.

Inside the dome there were several dancefloors at different levels with streaming music from live dj's.

Here's an aerial view of the dance floor.

The interaction was kind of awkward and weird. To dance, you right-click one of the dance balls which caused your avatar to sit down on the dance floor momentarily. I've seen better implementations of dance balls since this event.

But once everyone was dancing, it was quite a sight. And oddly fun and entertaining. Good avatar watching too. There was this one which looked like a mass of stuffed animals.

This big chicken. (not to be confused with THE big chicken in Marietta, GA)

And if you look closely in this image, there's an avatar that looks like one of those Halloween costumes where two people dress up as one horse.

The birthday bash was not all fun and games though. There was a protest over some changes to Linden Labs registration policy.

I stopped by to see what all the commotion was about and this person was explaining to me what was going on. She kept saying things like "we furries need to stick together" and calling me "P*ssy". Look lady, read my profile. I'm just a cat. Deal with it.

Blog HUD Attachment

2006-10-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

FINALLY - a HUD attachment for direct blogging from Second Life. Now if only they would allow you to place it somewhere other than the middle of the screen. At least it doesn't appear in screen captures.

Hopefully this little convenience item will increase the frequency of my posts.
posted by Juiceof Prunes on Nooribeom using a blogHUD : [permalink]

UPDATE: Blog Hud creator Koz Farina saw my post and IM'd me to explain how to move the control panel. If you right click and select edit, you can drag the blue and green arrows to move it to a new position. Most importantly, he told me that if I ever lose it I can type /9 middle to get it back to the default center location. Wouldn't THAT have been useful when I lost the Cali Cam HUD months ago :) Thanks Koz ! 900 Linden very well spent !