News
From uvvy
New transhumanist meeting place at Extropia Core in Second Life
I just moved here, from a to-be-deleted wiki, the article Shadows and the concept of self, by By Giulio Prisco and Richard L. Miller, March 11, 2005. Enjoy.
See this article for a report of Charlie Stross' talk in Second Life, at Dr. Dobbs Island and mainly dedicated to cyberculture. We are organizing another appearance of Charlie in Second Life.
November 2007 - relaunching this site on PHP5 and Mediawiki 1.11. Because of spam I have deleted all talk pages and restricted all edits to sysops. I will give sysop status to all trusted friends who ask. Please see http://transumanar.com/ for other news of August - November.
Banking and e-money in Second Life (and beyond)
Concierto de Els Pets en L'Illa Diagonal, Second Life
L' Illa Diagonal en Second Life
CSI:NY in Second Life - preview of the future of TV
Assisi lands in Second Life
On 21st september at 6 p.m. italian time (9 a.m. pacific coast time, 12 p.m. east coast time, 5 p.m. London time)Assisi will open in Second Life (coordinates 1090,1200).
The project, built by Wedoit s.a.s. (Assisi) with the partnership of Metafuturing S.l. (Madrid) and Euromedia Italia (Terni), aims to provide a wonderful experience of the Saint Francis' Basilica in Assisi, one of the most famous religious sites in the world.
The Basilica, built with original proportions and sizes, is unique in its quality and details, and in its interior churces avatars can enjoy many renaissance paintings of Giotto, Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti and many others.
Every painting has a caption explaining the brief details, just by clicking on it. It's also possible to wear an HUD(Heads Up Display), built by Wedoit too, to have a complete virtual visit, accessing textual and audio informations about the paintings.
The device is currently available in italian and english languages only, and it is distributed at the two entrances of the churces.Assisi enters the circuit of Italiavera, a selection of beautiful reproductions of italian cities and sites.
For more informations, please visit:
Part of the metafuturing team on Spanish TV on Second Life and VR worlds. Youtube
The Second Life Voice Viewer is Live! Voice is now part of the main Second Life Viewer. I have participated in Second Life voice tests since the very beginning, first with the Vivox external service (in 2006 we organized the first events with live Vivox voice chat in Second Life with the collaboration of Vivox staff), then in the closed beta, and finally in the open beta (First Look viewer with voice). Now the voice subsystem, based on Vivox technology, has been integrated in the standard Second Life client. I can testify that there has been a huge improvement since the first voice beta releases and now the voice subsystem is solid and user-friendly. More...
Instituto Cervantes in Second Life
La sede virtual del Instituto Cervantes en Second Life ha recreado el emblemático edificio de la calle Alcalá de Madrid. Con esta iniciativa el Instituto Cervantes se sitúa a la vanguardia de las instituciones culturales españolas con presencia propia en Second Life, en línea con otras instituciones y organismos internacionales de prestigio. La Isla Cervantes ha sido diseñada y producida por Metafuturing, S.L., una empresa de Madrid especializada en Second Life, Realidad Virtual y servicios de Internet.
The virtual headquarters of Instituto Cervantes in Second Life recreate the representative building of calle Alcalá in Madrid. With this initiative, Instituto Cervantes places itself at the forefront of Spanish cultural institutions with own presence in Second Life, in line with other prestigious international institutions and organizations. The Cervantes Island has been designed and produced by Metafuturing, S.L., a company based in Madrid and specialized in Second Life, Virtual Reality and Internet services.
Article: The open distributed metaverse
Curso de verano sobre nuevos conceptos de TV en la Universidad de Santiago y Second Life, uvvy island in SL (uvvy2), 11-14 de Julio 2007
Metaverse Roadmap Overview (PDF). Key info about the 3D and virtual future, now to 2025. The Metaverse Roadmap (MVR) is the first public ten-year forecast and visioning survey of 3D Web technologies, applications, markets, and potential social impacts. Areas of exploration include the convergence of Web applications with networked computer games and virtual worlds, the use of 3D creation and animation tools in virtual environments, digital mapping, artificial life, and the underlying trends in hardware, software, connectivity, business innovation and social adoption that will drive the transformation of the World Wide Web in the coming decade.
To read:
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2007/06/video-interview-3d-printing-for-all.html
http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9249157
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18911/
Seminario de inauguración de la Universidad Pública de Navarra en Second Life, uvvy island in SL (uvvy2), 18 de Junio 2007
Link:
http://eurekadejavu.blogspot.com/2007/01/cliff-nakamura-avatar-of-writer-and.html
Anders Sandberg in Second Life on converging cognitive enhancement, uvvy island in SL, May 24 2007 10am PST
Forbes: By the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a "second life," but not necessarily in Second Life, according to Gartner, Inc.
Seminar on Transhumanism and Religion in Second Life, Sunday, April 29, 2007, 10am SLT-PST, uvvy island in SL
The Instituto Cervantes will open its doors in Second Life on April 23. The Instituto Cervantes in Second Life is produced by metafuturing.
Prof.Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, England will be giving a talk in the Virtual world of Second Life (uvvy island) on APRIL 23,2007. The topic of the talk is “Upgrading Humans: Why not?”. The event is organized by the Second Life Chapter of the World Transhumanist Association. Read more...
The European Union is looking into entering the virtual world and opening up an office in Second Life - an increasingly popular internet-based virtual world - which the Swedish government and the French presidential candidates have already entered. Mr Dowgielewicz, spokeman for EU communication commissioner Margot Wallstrom, explained that an EU office in the virtual world would be part of the commission's effort to get closer to the EU citizens and communicate better with them, adding that the EU institutions are still quite weak on communication in some areas.
Yesterday we had a very interesting event: the first conference on Second Life as a business environment for a Spanish speaking audience. See the page Conferencia sobre "Second Life como entorno de negocios" (in Spanish) for a complete coverage with pictures. About 140 participants attended - 80 in brickspace, in the conference hall of the Computer Science department of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and 60 in Second Life in the islands uvvy and Novatierra. The speakers presented Second Life and other VR worlds as technological and social phenomena, and focused on emergent business applications. Our streaming video server and a MacBook Pro running the QuickTime broadcaster have been used to stream real-time video and voice to the audience in Second Life.
I am participating in the closed beta voice test in Second Life. I will report in this notebook.
Changes forthcoming on uvvy island
Dr. Dobbts tutorial on Using the Linden Scripting Language. The Linden Scripting Language (LSL) lets you add behaviors and interactivity to objects inside Second Life. Slashdot: Dr. Dobb’s Journal runs a lengthy introduction to Linden Scripting Language, the language behind avatars and their interaction in Second Life: “LSL is a scripting language that runs server-side, on a piece of software called the simulator. The simulator does just what it’s name implies — it simulates the virtual world of Second Life. Each simulator runs everything for 16 acres of virtual land — buildings, physics, and of course, scripts. While you manipulate the script text in a form that is somewhat easy to read, the actual code that runs on the simulator is compiled. A compiler is a piece of software that takes the text version of the script and converts it into something that can actually run. In the case of LSL, the compiler exists within the Second Life viewer itself. In the future, it is likely that the compiler will move from the viewer into the Second Life simulators, but where the code is compiled isn’t very important. What matters is that the text is converted into a form that can run on the simulators.
Manoj Undercity made a simple movie of uvvy island , and events happening there including those of WTA-SL chapter. The video is on youtube.
We are organizing an information day for Spanish firms and press on Second Life as a business platform. The conference will take place in "mixed-reality", in parallel in Madrid and Second Life. More details (in Spanish) on the conference page:
Conferencia sobre "Second Life como entorno de negocios, Viernes 9 de Marzo, 2007, Madrid y Second Life.
We started the Intermetaverse group in Second Life. It is an interest group on the integration of different Metaverse technologies like Second Life itself and Croquet. The idea to create this group started on the croquet-dev mailing list. To participate, join croquet-dev and the Intermetaverse group in Second Life (open enrollment: in Second Life, search group Intermetaverse and join). A workspace for the group is in preparation at uvvy island.
Some thoughts on the evolution of Second Life (and the overall Metaverse) after the release of the client code as open source software and the first experiments with open source server code. I discuss how the future planned availability of the Second Life server code will open a niche for independent SL hosting providers and operators.
Reuters interviewed Linden Lab chairman Mitch Kapor on Friday from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
There is a machinima video of the interview shot from within Second Life. Kapor states that Second Life server technology will eventually become available to third parties wishing to run their own servers - this will be a gradual process, but will enable a distributed Metaverse powered by SL technology - and ends with visionary statements on the interpenetration of virtual and real: "what’s real, what’s virtual, and I realized those distinctions were artificial. It’s all just as real, it’s all just as virtual. And I felt like the walls dropped away, and the universe which has been a small room got a million times larger".
Good CNN Money article on Second Life for business applications: Second Life: It's not a game - Fortune's David Kirkpatrick reports on why IBM's Sam Palmisano and other tech leaders think Second Life could be a gold mine. This virtual world - don't call it a game - has become a phenomenon: Second Life, which is free for casual use, has about 334,000 regular visitors. More than 2.6 million have checked it out, a figure that in mid-January was growing by about 20,000 per day. But what's beginning to catch the attention of IBM and other huge corporations is something potentially far more profound than a new online pastime. It's the ability to use Second Life as a platform for a whole new Net - this one in 3-D and even more social than the original - with huge opportunities to sell products and services.
Through an agreement with Surreal BT (Brautigan & Tuck) we can offer our clients cost-effective land (small parcels to large regions) in top class, zoned and managed Second Life sims.
We are working on the Second Life Museum of Future History. It will open in a couple of weeks.
CNN Global Office on Second Life: "The business buzz around Second Life is big with many major names rushing in. Though Second Life is getting crowded with big name brands, there's still room for budding businesses".
More politics in Second Life: The French Socialist Party and the presidential candidate! Apparently the first meeting was disturbed by right wing French griefers.
January 16, 2007: interesting seminar by David Orban at I Parioli in Second Life.
My comments on the recent announcement of the open Second Life client software: As an avid Second Life user, consultant and "serious" application developer I have made a significant investment of money and time in Second Life, and in the last few months I have often been afraid of losing (part of) my investment. In fact, I was persuaded that if Linden did not start opening the platform very soon, Second Life would fade out with the arrival on the scene of open platforms more suitable for business applications, but I did not think they would start opening the platform so soon. If, as we hope, opening the client software is the first step towards opening the entire platform (or at least licensing the server code under suitable conditions including the right to modify it), then I think serious operators will be much more willing to invest in Second Life. Read more...
CNN Money - Second Life to go open source: Aiming to take advantage of its already-impressive momentum, San Francisco's Linden Lab, developer of the Second Life virtual online world, will announce Monday that it is taking the first major step toward opening up its software for the contributions of any interested programmer.
The company will immediately release open source versions of its client software for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. In order to enter and move around the Second Life service, users must download and run this software on their computer desktop. But now, says Linden CEO Philip Rosedale, independent programmers will be able to "modify it, fire it up and sign on with it".
While this initial step will open up what is essentially the user's window into Second Life for modification, it will leave Linden Lab in control of the proprietary software code for all Second Life's backend services - the server software that makes the world exist. However, executives say that the company's eventual intention is to release an open source version of that software as well, once it has improved security and other core functions. They say they have been preparing for the open source move for about three years.
Linden Lab claims its move represents the first time a market-leading company has taken a proprietary product and released it instead as open source. Rosedale and other executives say they fully expect there eventually to be multiple virtual worlds that use Linden's code, or that at least are interoperable with Second Life, so avatars can pass from one world to another.
I have started 2007 by launching a new blog: Transumanar: a transhumanist blog - online magazine on science, politics and culture.
