New World Notes

How to Run Minecraft on a Rasberry Pi from the Rays of the Sun - New Mixed Reality Human Wellness Project from Jeff "AM Radio" Berg

Behold, minecraft powered by the sun. Digital isn't just code. "We don't need a generation of coders. We need a generation of digital thinkers..." -Block Breaker @mraspinall pic.twitter.com/GH6PHhlnYX

— Jeff Berg (@parametricshape) April 16, 2019

This is a gloriously geeky project from artist/coder Jeff Berg, famed for many years as the virtual world innovator known only by his avatar, "AM Radio". It's also a virtual world project with a decided mixed reality twist: Running Minecraft purely from solar energy. This is possible with the Rasberry Pi, the single-board computer, which comes pre-installed with Minecraft, and some savvy hacker fu from Berg, who figured out how to do it for well under $200 (price list below).

While running Minecraft from the sun's rays is a cool project in itself, Berg's ultimate goal is to use Minecraft's display environment to indicate the health level of plants in the office, which in turn, will also suggest the wellness levels of the people in the office too. "Plants thrive in a good environment," as he puts, "People thrive in a good environment." (Which is why, in the video, you see sensors hooked up to a plant.)

"I suppose it would end up in charts, spreadsheets and databases," he allows. "With Minecraft however we have the chance to allow anyone at any skill level to explore data in 3D, in context of the spaces they occupy, in a simple and inviting interface for any age that promotes exploration, Design Thinking in spatial contexts, and scenario building." (More on that later in a follow-up post.)

Formerly a UX designer with IBM during his virtual world days, Berg is now digital skills leader for North America at Arup, an engineering and design consultancy. This side project of his is directly connected: "My AM Radio work in Second Life in large part was an exploration in this direction and is related," as puts it. "I have applied for a grant for this research, but will likely to continue on my own with or without funding."

Here's his full step-by-step parts breakdown, with an illustrated schematic:

Want to Play in Pillowfort? As Google+ Goes, Plurk Slumps, and Twitter/Facebook Remain Toxic, a New Social Network Emerges

Pillowfort is a new-ish social network with a charming name that gamers are starting to talk about, especially in the wake of Google+'s official death. (While it never caught on with the public, G+ had a strong fanbase of virtual world users.) Facebook and Twitter's problems with toxic users and bot manipulation remain epic, and Plurk, another social network with a cult following of virtual world fans, has been slumping in recent years. Will they prefer to help build a Pillowfort?

"It seems rather more locked down than Google," says Pillowfort fan, virtual world expert, and social media power user Patchouli. "It doesn't offer Google's +1 Likeish button, it doesn't do Events proper (though you can probably do blogposts listing events and tag them accordingly so that's a workaround), and it hasn't wound its tentacles throughout multiple services like G+ did. It's also lacking in anything resembling 'Social Search'.  You can only look for stuff within Pillowfort. The only connections you can forge with other social networks are direct HTML links in your posts.

"A lot of this is probably a function of how much more work needs to be done to bring Pillowfort close to the standards we're used to in our other socmedia toolset. That and the fact that many social media networks enable cross-network sharing only through mutual contracts (and when these break down, it more often than not turns acrimonious at best - remember when Instagram links suddenly degraded from TwitterCards to obscure HTML links after Facebook bought Instagram out?).

"So in short, G+ refugees will be faced with not having a lot of things, but Pillowfort has core functionality that matches up quite well to what any service without a direct tie-in to the Google ecosystem can probably manage."

So that's what Google+ users can expect. For folks from other social networks:

Company Roaming Planet to 3D Scan Whole Ecosystems to Incorporate Into Unreal-Based Virtual Worlds

When you watch this jaw-dropping video, keep in mind that none of the elements from nature are actually from the real world -- though at one point, most of them were. This is made possible by a company called Quixel, which has been roaming reality for a long time, 3D scanning whatever they saw from the material world they considered worth incorporating into virtual ones:

On our global scanning expeditions, we scan entire biomes and ecoregions to capture everything contained within them. From the smallest blade of grass to the largest cliff, every element is scanned and made fully modular, enabling you to create the most detailed worlds imaginable.

So almost like a 19th century naturalist expedition, except all the samples aren't sent back to museums, but to 3D rendering studios. More on how they made this specific video from the Unreal blog:

DeepMind Tech Uses Smartphone Camera to Capture User's Expression & Movement, Then Replicates It on Phone's Avatar in Real Time

From DeepMotion, the AI company which taught NPC avatars how to argue, and how to learn how to dribble basketballs, new avatar technology coming for the Samsung Galaxy S10:

Led by industry experts from Blizzard, Disney, Pixar, Ubisoft, and Microsoft, DeepMotion leverages the latest in AI technology and robotic control theory, allowing users to instantaneously animate their emojis simply by moving in front of the phone’s camera. With DeepMotion’s Digital Avatar simulation, users will now be able to use their body to express themselves more fully. The new technology will bring body language to emoji communications, which to date have been limited to facial expressions and simple head movements. Users can now capture body movement using the rear camera, or upper body movement using the front-facing camera.

More here, another video below. The demo video leaves me a bit confused as to how the avatar interacts on the phone itself -- in an app, or on the default screen, or what -- but if the real time motion capture works as well as represented, I'm impressed. And plan to check this out in person next week at GDC.

How Sims 4 Content Creators Make a Good Living from YouTube

When we talk about virtual world content creation on New World Notes, we're usually referring to merchants who sell virtual items in Second Life and so on. But FastCompany has an intriguing report of another niche that's spun out of Sims 4 -- creating tiny Sims 4-based houses on YouTube, and making money from the YouTube ads, sponsorships, and merchandise:

To her surprise, she discovered an entire community on YouTube devoted to building elaborate houses in The Sims... she began uploading her own builds, as they’re called, to YouTube under the name Deligracy (she goes by her username, for privacy). Today, she has 810,000 subscribers and even sells merchandise, like sweatshirts, mugs, and phone cases. Deligracy’s channel has become so popular that she quit her job as a junior graphic designer because she was making more money from YouTube. Some of her most popular videos, which get tens of thousands of views, aren’t of the most elaborate houses Deligracy can dream up: Instead, her audience is obsessed with tiny homes.

As a rule of thumb, if your YouTube channel has subscribers in the six figure range, you can make a comfortable full-time living from sponsorships -- and when it gets into the seven figure subscriber range, you can make a very comfortable (as in lawyer's salary and above) living. Notably, Deligracy (and other Sims 4 creators) are focusing on a specific niche -- i.e. tiny houses -- that seems to be drawing lots of viewers from outside the Sims 4 fanbase. 

I.E., here's a tip for talented home builders in Second Life, Sansar, and beyond: Your best market may not be in-world, but on YouTube.

Watch: Why Detailed 3D Game Graphics Require So Much Computing Power

Here's a fun Vox explainer from Cleo Abram explaining how 3D graphics are rendered in games -- and exactly why more and more details require more and more computing power. "You'd think that a more powerful computer would make it easier to render games, and it does. Except game makers compete to add more and more detail, pushing the limits to what even the latest technology can do," as she puts it.

Her main case study is the new open world game Red Dead Redemption 2, and as it happens, that's also the title we discussed when talking about the massive hit to user performance caused by 3D content creators who don't optimize the amount of triangles/polygons in their objects:

The EU's Upcoming Copyright Directive Threatens User-Generated Content Platforms Including Virtual Worlds -- But Citizens of Sweden, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland & Belgium Can Help Block It!

Article 13 of the EU's Copyright Directive is an existential threat to every single online game/MMO with user-generated content including Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, Second Life, VRChat, and beyond -- for reasons explained on NWN last year -- and it's about to be approved by the European Union's parliament. (Short version: It'll require every company with user-generated content to create a costly, easily exploitable IP rights filter.) But there is still time to fight this: The Electronic Frontier Foundation is calling out to citizens of several key EU nations to lobby their elected officials:

Specifically, citizens of Sweden, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, and Belgium, click this link to take action.

There's some very good if complicated reasons why those countries are so crucial to stopping Article 13, the EFF's Cory Doctorow tells me -- if you're interested in European Union parliamentary procedures, read on:

Eye-Controlled Robot Enables Homebound Paralyzed People to Become Real Life Avatars Outside -- Even Work in Coffee Shops

This is pretty fascinating with profound implications down the road:

Developed by Ory, a startup that specializes in robotics for disabled people, the OriHime-D is a 4-foot tall robot that can be operated remotely from a paralyzed person’s home. Even if the operator only has control of their eyes, they can command OriHime-D to move, look around, speak with people, and handle objects... a staff of ten people, with conditions such as ALS or spinal cord injuries and working from home, are paid 1,000 yen (US$8.80) an hour (a standard wage for part-time work in Japan) to serve up coffee and interact with the clientele. But more importantly than money, these people are also given a newfound independence.

More here. It's partly inspired by Time of Eve, an anime which portrays robots and humans working alongside each other -- and the filmmakers collaborated on the project so that the robot server resembles the one in their movie. Video below:

2018 VR & Virtual World Prediction Review: How Well Did I Do?

While readers post their predictions for 2019, here's a quick fact check on my 2018 prognostications from last January:

Second Life will enjoy a small burst of user growth. Say 100,000 more monthly active users from the 800,000 or so (counting new users who usually churn out).

Sadly No. (Though private sim ownership increased slightly.)

Sansar and High Fidelity won't see mass growth in 2018. I'd be surprised if either gains more than 50,000 monthly users, mainly because they're still optimized for high-end VR rigs.

Disappointingly Yes. Given daily peak concurrency rates in the two-three figures for each, monthly usage for each is probably in the low four figures.

High-end Rift & Vive VR install base will remain low.

Frustratingly but unsurprisingly Yes.

Bitcoin's daily transaction rate to remain well below 500,000 a day. (The major media may finally notice this instead of writing about the irrelevant sales value.)

Also hilariously Yes. And it's been a relief in recent quarters to see tech and business reporters finally inject some skepticism into Bitcoin hype.

So, 3 out of 4 right.

New iPhone App Remakes Massive Attack's Mezzanine Into Adaptive, Mixed Reality Experience

Fantom Mezzanine is a free new iOS app from legendary UK group Massive Act which recreates their classic, masterpiece album Mezzanine into an immersive, interactive format. It's co-created by adaptive music/sound artist Robert Thomas, who's been designing ambitious audio experiences across many mediums and technologies over the years, including in Second Life.  (Disclosure: Also a pal.)

"It's a continuation of many previous discussions really about music and tech, what we could explore," Robert tells me. "In this app, you shoot a video and the app generates a realtime remix which is like a soundtrack to the action in the video. If you move around in the image, the drums come in and glitch out, if the device moves some of the sounds modulate and change. If you smile the vocals come in. Lots of interactions, some secrets to discover too."

I'm just starting to play with the app, and it's a dreamy way to walk around in the world, where your camera and microphone inputs integrate with indelible audio clips from (in my opinion), one of the best albums of the last two decades. And it's an amazing creative pinnacle for Robert, who many readers might have met in SL back in the day. He worked closely with Massive Attack's Rob Del Naja to create personalized remixes of Mezzanine.

"I was very into Mezzanine when it came out. Working with the multitracks from that album was a real honor."

Download it here, and if you do create videos, be sure to put links to them in Comments!