New World Notes

WEEKEND OPEN FORUM

Got topics to discuss, subjects/events to announce?  Post here, for highlighting later.  Suggested topics: grid-based gripes, great builds, weekend happenings.

Update, 7/2:  Laetizia Coronet announces an upcoming discussion on controversial words banned from Search. Ms. Coronet, by the way, recently made a surprise announcement about being Ms. Coronet.

THE RINGMAKER SPEAKS

The kung fu master who embedded the knowledge of Wikipedia on a magic ring explains how it works, and shows where to get one of your own.

GUARDIAN OF ROCK

As I write this, my friend Aleks Krotoski (avatar eerily resembling her real life analogue) is at the open gates of Second Fest, welcoming guests to a weekend of live in-world music featuring top musicians from SL and the wider world.  Top line performers are the Pet Shop Boys, who I'm assured will be appearing in avatar form.  (Disclosure: I'm a proud contributor to the show's program guide.)

Your direct teleport to a continent of rock is here.

HOME BASE

When she wasn't pondering the sociology of Second Life, the multi-talented blue cat named Patchouli Woollahra cobbled together on extremely short notice a simple but handy info site for New World Notes, part of SL's sprawling four year anniversary island.  Diamond-shaped, it's a good home base to start exploring the rest of the isle, an impressive trip through the historical landmarks of the world since 2003.  SignpostMarv Marvin and his team of volunteers have created a richly detailed tribute, so I'm grateful to Patch for whipping up our humble outpost.

Click this link for a direct teleport to the NWN site on anniversary island.

Once there, be sure to catch a ride on the humming monorail that takes you through the site, then hop off to ponder the many wonders below, like this glorious sculpture by Madcow Cosmos:

THE OPPOSITE OF SEX

"What if they gave an orgy and no one came?"  It's a provocative question, and Lillie Yifu (who's quickly established herself as one of the best bloggers on the topic of SL sexuality) answers it after taking a stroll through what she calls "The warrens of the undercity", i.e. some of the most popular free adult clubs in Second Life.  What she finds there isn't erotic, but fascinating and insightful all the same, a hard look at the real limitations of virtual fantasy.  Read it here at Raise the Red Lantern, the NC-17 spinoff to her main blog.  (Obviously not work safe, unless you work at Nerve.com.) 

Rik's Picks for June 28-July 1

Rik Riel's weekly round-up of upcoming SL events...

The Long Now Foundation presents the in-world premiere of Brian Eno's massive art installation "77 Million Paintings" alongside its real world premiere in San Francisco. Described as "a constantly evolving sound and imagescape which continues [Eno's] exploration into light as an artist's medium and the aesthetic possibilities of 'generative software'."  How's that for high concept! The event will open [Friday] at 8PM PDT on Kula 1 (Teleport SLURL) with an interview with SL artist Angrybeth Shortbread, who designed the in-world installations. There will also be several public venues hosting unique installations of "77 Million Paintings," including in time order:

• 8PM Kula 1 through Kula 4 (Teleport SLURL)
  
• 8:30PM at Art Center in Avignon (Teleport SLURL)
• 9PM at Ars Virtua in Seventh Eye (Teleport SLURL)
• 9:30PM with Jeremy Neumann, Hooper Sim (Teleport SLURL)
• 10PM at Leeds College of Art and Design at The Collective (Teleport SLURL)

Also coming up this week: transgender pride, Jesus' General, voicechatting about voicechat, a freaky technocarnival ride, haute couture, and a new in-world talk show. All that and lots more metaversal happenings after the jump...

RING OF KNOWLEDGE (Updated)

If this works half as well as the demo suggests, it's a spectacular innovation:  a script that sends a search query from Second Life chat to Wikipedia, and back in-world as a silent message to the user. It's all contained in a ring worn on your finger, and in the video, one of its creator is able to query and receive information on lockpicking and Missy Elliot (!) in a matter of seconds.   The world's repository of knowledge, in other words, at (and on) an avatar's fingertips.

I've messaged  Oran Arrow for more details, and will post as they arrive.  Meantime, read more about it here.

Update, 11:43AM: In Comments, Kate recounts her first trial-run with the all-knowing (sorta) ring.

Update 2, 6/29:  After the break, Oran explains how the ring works, and offers a SLURL for getting one of your own.

SCULPTING DATA

Anjin Meili with his wife, muse, and Alpha tester, Elzbiet 

Last week of May, sculpties (sculpted building blocks) were introduced to the world, and organic objects immediately appeared; by early June, sculpties were already taking a life of their own.  Less than four weeks later, a man working from a boat moored off America's Northwestern shore figured out how to convert the data of objects (real and virtual) and automatically transform them into a new 3D form.

"The idea is rather simple," Anjin Meili tells me. "Rather than use artistic talent to create new objects, utilize existing data sets to create objects." He was reading a paper on reflective mapping to create extrusions for the textile industry. "So I came up with a way to implement some of that.  This one is a bit outside the capability of Linden Script Language.  So, I coded it on my server side instead."

The results are sculpted primitives of dizzying detail and complexity, photorealistic in their vividness.  And because the process involves an automated capture of objects, it's apt to revive fears of another Copybot-like controversy, however unjustified. 

"It's where such work will always go," says Anjin, smiling. "Conversion of any external data set.  It's all about how you slice it and dice it. If the data is there, and can be visualized on the grid... Someone will find a way. Not just me, but all across the grid there will be folks who figure it out and start unlocking those doors."

This door is a particularly tantalizing one, for it promises to utterly transform the very substance of Second Life. And by blurring distinctions between attributes of virtual and real objects, create a permanent stream of 3D data through the metaverse, the broader Internet-- and the physical world beyond.

"[I]n short," says Anjin Meili, "this is Sculpted Data."

After the break, a marvelous visual sampling of his technology (most taken from real world data), his thoughts on the "copying" controversy, and a more technical explanation of the process.

GETTING META

RSS this blog:  Meta Metaverse, Meta Linden's after-hours analysis on the SL demographic/user data he posts monthly for the Lindens.  If he keeps up the vigor, it'll be an indispensable resource for tracking the world's growth and activity.

Tateru's Monday Reality Mix

Scrutinizing Bunnies Zoey Witherspoon (left) and Jacinda Paine

Tateru's weekly look at recent real world incursions into Second Life

What happens when Tateru Nino, motherly Mary Poppins of the metaverse, goes to visit Playboy island? A new Avatars Gone Wild video? How does an autistic Resident explore what is, arguably, the most tactile and sensual brand in the world?

In addition to Playboy, we look at the SL Pride Festival, discussions on virtual goods and the future of the 3D Web, the BlogHer conference, a big Japanese department store that expects to make millions through SL this year, and more.