Last year I kept using a “catchy” phrase Web 2 is Web Do which still stands. This year it would seem that data portability with all the talk of openid, Scoble and facebook, plaxo etc combined with the conversations in October about virtual world data interchange means that this year the phrase will have to be about migration and interoperability on social media of all sorts. Being able to have the stuff you own and need where you are when you need it.
“08 is about how to migrate” or migr8te or even…..
we may have to become Migr8tebar 🙂
I suspect it will not happen to quite the level anyone expects though technically moving data around and providing services is not overly tricky the complexity lies in the social fabric too. If I move to a place, 2d, 3d, 4d etc. How do I determine what I need or would like with me. How does what I take with me alter those around me. e.g. friend links in one arena may not be appropriate in another. Equally I think we might surprise ourselves by what happens when/if things do become more portable.
This ability to access things we already have will need to spread to the virtual worlds, in particular when used in a business of consumer context. Being able to re-use existing web applications and sites within a virtual world adding the benefit of avatar interactions will make a huge difference in a mass market.
That is less about data portability, but does introduce data access. It does happen in some of the virtual worlds, but we tend not to see embedded web browsing the massive public worlds. There are some security implications obviously but ot use the Second Life Parlence “web of a prim” would make a massive difference if it can be solved safely.
And now a Rhino! This time a sculpty
It seems to be safari week here on eightbar. The guys over at archipelis told me about their new sculpty exporter for second life. They have some sample files here. I wrote about Archipelis a little while ago as it is such a simple way to draw and create complex objects I really enjoyed using it. Now that there is the potential to create sculpties, and quite complex ones at that it has got even better.
I created the rhino from the sample whilst I sort out my own models just to see it work. I think you will all agree it is very good.
UPDATE***** If you want to save the upload cost and own a sample rhino I have put one on ONREZ
I was showing it to a few people and Patchouli Woollahra asked me to rez a hippo. That of course reminded Roo and I of the Flight of the Conchords.Hiphopapottamus vs. Rhymenocerous
More metaverse animals, this time a zebra a clever one
This video by Nick Wilson is doing the rounds. A free open source enterprise style toolkit for creating a Second Life presence. Of course I have not seen it, I have no idea what it can do in any detail, but as Nick has been a rising force in virtual worlds he knows his stuff and what is missing. He has closed metaversed and moved onto Clever Zebra with Onder Skall and Lordfly Digeridoo
So, lets see how this one goes its an exciting prospect.
So we have electric sheep, a mysterious turtle with Wello Horld and now a Clever Zebra. Its all good
If you thought that was good look at this
The last post showed some of the work Johnny Lee is showing with wiimotes, this one is with projectors. Calibrating to a surface regardless of angle and in some case shape (watch it until the end).
It seems that the various URL’s including http://www.johnnylee.net are currently dead probably due to the insane amount of traffic generated by being in the top 30 on youtube!
The other thing to note is that IBM has its everywhere display a commercial way of targetting projection onto surfaces and dealing with scale etc.
The original research site is here, the brochure is here and a recent article in fortune, around retail is here
I have always wanted to be able to project things, it woudl be great to have a small device like a PDA or smartphone be able to project onto a table or wall to show someone something.
I know we have an everywhere display installation in Zurich, it is there with the other project I have a soft spot for, Blueeyes. This is a camera and sensors that senses your mood happy, sad etc. Back in 2000 we were trying to get that installed in out UK innovation centres as part of our time and emotion project. using clever sensors to help instrument buildings and capture the atmosphere in order to be able to represent it elsewhere. An ongoing theme as you will have noticed with the metaverse work and things like Wimbledon 🙂
If I can find some everywhere display footage I will try and post it on Youtube or see if IBMtv have any
Using the Wiimote for tracking
For a little while I have been trying to find the time to give the wiimote a try as a PC interface. Roo had some things things running last year. Today as the first day back at work 2 people Gareth and Tim both pointed me to some youtube videos by Johnny Chung Lee.
His website has all the code and instructions you need, but I am putting this video on here because I think it is stunning.
1. Its a great idea, 2. its very well presented yet homebrew, 3. It gets the effect across so well.
So now if we combine ArtTag and the other camera based thing what on earth will we come up with?
Paper 3d printing
You may have noticed a good few references to another pet subject of 3d printers here on eightbar. Well here is another one.
Mcor use the principle of printing out layers of paper that are then bonded together to create a 3d model. That is a really interesting approach, especially given the lower cost of paper versus the plastic based printers.
The other interesting point is the way I got introduced to this. Guy Kawasaki, one of the original evangelists posted it on twitter refering to his truemors website. I follow his twitters and saw 3d printer, so it was a natural conclusion to then post it on eightbar.
Performing, showing off ,positive feedback and recycled content
Back in august over on terranova I wrote a post “What a performance Live Vs Recorded in a multi player world” I have been revisiting the concepts around performance and the ability to interact with people and content in a live sense even more.
The driver for this has been two very interesting mainstream games. Guitar Hero (now at version iii) and Singstar (the PS3 version). The premise behind both these games is as players and users we interact with existing content but add a performance element to that interaction. Guitar hero uses a seemingly amusing plastic guitar, using the buttons on the guitar an pushing the strumming button you are able to play along with songs. The peripheral based bemani (short for beat mania) where you provide responses in time to some sort of music and on screen prompts comes in all sorts of shapes, the dance mat games, bongos, maracas, you name it.
Also Singstar uses the same principle but instead of pressing buttons to a beat and the tune coming out accordingly it has mics and you sing along with songs. You get a visual feedback of how in tune you are. I had been writing about this over on epredator.com too as its had some surprising results
The point that struck me is that people, normal people not gamers, can see and hear the results of a players performance and really understand if someone is good or bad or just trying very hard. Most things we all do, especially in the tech world are under the covers or obscure enough that people do not understand the artistry. Even regular games, non-gamers will see the top player in the world dispatch several enemies with a single shot before dashing to a new point of cover, and it will look easy. Only other game players see the skill.
These bemani performance games highlight mistakes, highlight perfection but in a field that most people can relate too. In many ways this is reflected in the virtual worlds and metaverses. Here people are starting to see the skill of the build both from trying themselves and also from relating to real life.
If we can make live performance and skills in a business context as identifiable as a good singer on singstar, combined with the ability for people to have a continuous way to practice and refine I think we have some really good results. I am by no means a singer, but I now appreciate the structure of some of the songs I have been singing at a much deeper level than a pure passive listener. It is this ability to delve deeper into existing content, e.g. mr brightside by the killers on Singstar or Anarchy in the UK on guitar hero III, also having repurchased the content for its enhanced involvement. All that music back catalog, fighting to deal with file sharing and without a moments thought I was more than happy to spend another 99p to buy a Singstar version of a Duran Duran song that I am sure we already have on multiple CD’s and MP3 playlists.
So we get to understand content by immersing in it in a very public way and people get to understand our various talents through seeing the performance. It seems an interesting pattern?
Holiday building project in second life
One of the wider eightbar group Anita Cassini in SL told me about a “build a better bauble” project she has got going with some other residents. The basic premise is you build a christmas tree ornanament to represent you or your brand and these all get placed on various trees around SL. The idea is that content creators come together both to show their talents and to also say no to stealing of others work.
Photos originally captured on snapzilla
There is a tree here with a notecard giver that says the following
Merry Xmas!
The holiday season has started..
To celebrate we are launching phase I of a campaign to build awareness of how important intellectual property is for the growth and health of the Second life community.
Lets spread the word by showing everyone in SL how good it is to be creative.
How can you participate?
Phase I – Spread the message spread the joy (Launch – Dec 1)
1) Build an ornament Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza or any thing that makes you want to celebrate this time of year.
2) Requirements
a) Must reflect you and/or your brand can be as sophisticated or simple as you want.
b) You must be the creator
c) Must be only one object linked minimum 1 prim – max 254 prims
d) Maximum size 0.05 x 0.05 x 0.05 (size of a regular block)
e) Must have an IP message as part of the script (one included here) or in a notecard inside the document.
3) You can participate if you have created unique content in SL and/or belong to one of following groups:
a) You are a scripter, builder, artist, designer, machimaniaographer, and or participate in the performing arts.
b) You are a blogger, writer,
c ) Art promoter, museum owner or represent a RL corporation.
c) You are a Secondlife mentor, a tutor or a teacher
d) If you have a created a group that has 50+ members
What to do with it.
a) Send your ornament (named “[Your Name} Ornament”to Anita Cassini in a folder
1) Notecard with brief description of who you are and what you do for everyone to see it (Holiday message would be cool too)
2) Ornament – no mod is ok – but needs to have copy/transfer perms for it to be distributed and placed in the vendor (will be sold at 0L)
-Add the script to include IP message
you can add a notecard giver and a landmark if you wish.
3) A photo of your ornament with you or without you in it.
b) You are encouraged to display and distribute your ornament at your store, in shop_on_ rez and in slexchange, and any other way you wish to make available to the community.
Add a poster of your oranament
Additionally exhibit halls will be placed at IBM SOA Adventure , Nicky Ree – Tropical Orchard sim, Sarg Bjornson’s Prim Heart Amusment Park Matika Textures AM Pro Rides
If you wish to host and exhibit hall please IM Anita Cassini, so she can make the ornaments received available to you.
And remember
*A community message : Copying and Stealing of creative content and using it without permission of its original creator is wrong and illegal. Please do not encourage such activities and do not buy stolen goods.*
Metaverse Chess
Every now and then we like to give out some sneak peaks of our internal metaverse. Here is one of a little torque based chess game I have been working on. I thought I would never solve the final bug, but at last it worked. This is film of it running on my local machine and server, but it will be deployed into the main corporate one very soon.
The premise was to not enforce any rules other than 2 pieces cant be on 1 square. The underlying development is really a model view controller one. There is aserver state to determine what piece is where. That model is changed by actions in the world.
The player walks to sqaure, waits 2 seconds and is allowed to select that piece, then walks to another space and waits 2 seconds and is allowed to place the piece. The delay is because triggers are used on each square to determine relative positions. I had to stop those triggers going off straight away as it meant you could not walk across the board without getting spammed.
The pieces are just letter based place holders, a selection of sets will be available.
We can of course apply the actual rules of chess and validation to the underlying model, but you dont in real life do you 🙂 I also need to make it multi threaded, at the moment it relies on people taking turns and moving off the board, but a free for all where more than one piece can be moved at a time allows for all sorts of user generated games with an ordinary chess set.
Lots of guildmasters
We had a 2 person race for the 6 monthly elections as guildmaster of our virtual universe community here in IBM land. The VUC covers many places and is a community of interest. We that the two main candidates Holly and Pranab have agreed to now have dual leadership of the community. This is really cool and very west wing. Both of them have been significant activists in eightbar and our presence in virtual worlds, so its all good.
So we have 2 guildmasters and we can now see how that works, yet more experiences to share. Well done Ada and Locutus 🙂 W00t