phew, the patent stuff from SpotON3D has caused stress (or at least concern) for some in the OpenSim community and rightly so. apart from raising your voice and placing something written online, there is not much that can be done. BUT . . . online comments about this issue do have an impact and you can’t downplay that importance (think of the effect that facebook and twitter had on the uprising in Egypt – mere words but very powerful in it’s size)
so on to the lighter side – did you see that Linden Lab reports an annual revenue of $100 million? not too shabby and certainly fun, fast, and easy for the execs and Philip
speaking of Philip, he has a new venture out called Coffee and Power and the part of it that you should find interesting is that the commerce part of it looks like Second Life
you buy his currency and can cash it out. it works very well with Second Life so why not repeat it?
the amounts for Craigslist-type services (does that include modeling and escorting?) are typically small and i suspect the same psychology on spending exists for Coffee and Power as do in Second Life – you don’t think twice about spending a few bucks for silly things. in the screenshot below, you can see that Philip paid someone about $1.50 USD to learn some card tricks (and a bonus coin trick). that Philip, always the life of the party and now we know his secret! =D
i like that someone is offering to sell you a G+ invite for $1.50
i think i’ll offer virtual lap dances for $4 bucks, hey that’s how Anshe got her start in Second Life . . . =p
and totally unrelated to virtual worlds but something i am addicted to and proves that even fakey avatars are total goofballs
A lighter break!??! How can you talk about taking it easy, relaxing, being so non-chalant when the end is near!!
“Our Earth is degenerate in these later days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to write a book and the end of the world is evidently approaching.”
Or so says the unknown author of an Assyrian clay tablet circa 2800 BC *laughs*
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Ten-Notable-Apocalypses-That-Obviously-Didnt-Happen.html
Sarge Misfit
9 Aug 11 at 3:44 pm
that is such an excellent quote and really helps us have perspective on history
Ener Hax
9 Aug 11 at 10:33 pm
Yes, it shows just how little things have progressed. After almost 5,000 years, there are still people who see nothing but doom and gloom, those that think a quick buck is more important, that writing a book is a valued status symbol and adults are still complaining about kid’s behaviour :-D
Sarge Misfit
9 Aug 11 at 10:54 pm
But indeed, things can be done… The OECD Consumer Policy Toolkit has a complete set of action plans to get things on track for consumers…
There is no blind-eye left for grid operator un-quality now, as Maria Korolov seems to endorse (in the wake of all that repeated dubious fanfaring produced, she apparently has trouble taking a clear policy and implementation position on grid operator quality management)…
http://www.oecd.org/document/34/0,3746,en_2649_34267_44074466_1_1_1_1,00.html
Eurominuteman
10 Aug 11 at 1:23 am
Who is ripping off who? (whom?)
http://fiverr.com/
DreamWalker McCallister
10 Aug 11 at 8:15 am
Hey Grid Operators, simply give Maria Korolov a bigger advert contract than other gridders if you need preferred lobbying support…
Eurominuteman
10 Aug 11 at 9:47 am
Ener, I looked for a way to contact you with some important info about Unity3D, but found none.
So here goes…
Unity3D installs anti-piracy spyware without your knowledge or consent. I wrote about it at http://excelsior-station.wikidot.com
Sarge Misfit
10 Aug 11 at 3:00 pm
hey Euro, Maria does gher best to present unbiased information and she is very “newslike” in that she tends to do research and actually collect information and present it in a balanced manner
i just talk off the top of my head and would typically rarely consider anything i write as news – it’s more informational than news
that said, i don’t know if Maria has had SpotON3D as an advertiser in the past but even so, that would sway her very little (if at all)
but . . . speaking for myself, that’s why i no longer run ads, well the google ad is totally random so that should never have an influence. i would be biased toward anyone that paid to have an ad here, it would be hard for me not to be
overall, there are so many sites that provide info plus the links you provide (most of which i do check out) that i always will have the mantra of Caveat Emptor (what? the caviar is empty???)
Caveat Emptor is something i try to live by in my decisions and i suspect something many of us in this small community do as well
great find DreamWalker! i can’t believe (actually, i did believe it ratehr quickly) that Philip ripped of that idea! holy cow do those two sites seem identical!
hey Sarge, i got ya covered with tonite’s post and will send you my email address =)
Ener Hax
10 Aug 11 at 10:35 pm
Ener, I have some FB chats from her that indicate a different policy.
Eurominuteman
11 Aug 11 at 12:30 am
I have FB chats from Maria Korolov that indicate that she is purposely adding gasoline to the flames of this discussion, prior to her article about 5 patents…
So it’s very clear to me that dubious fanfaring is being put forward, and that I require stringent fact-finding based on solid evidence… The style of virtual lip-reading she has introduced in order to keep the flames going is not quality press work.
Eurominuteman
11 Aug 11 at 12:41 am
Besides many don’t seem to understand the legal priorities.
Deceptive Advertising is a breach of law that can be handled in the short term.
Econsumer.gov is a portal for you as a Consumer to Report Complaints about online and related transactions with foreign companies
http://www.econsumer.gov/english/
Patent proceedings is for the mid-term.
Eurominuteman
11 Aug 11 at 6:57 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_advertising
Eurominuteman
11 Aug 11 at 12:40 pm
Patent threats become small if SpotOn3D would advertise like this (don’t worry, they don’t) “The company’s processes and systems include Software Engineering Institute CMMI Level 5 and ISO 9001:2008. It aims to achieve shorter time-to-market”… In this setting, those complaining Grid Operators would have to cope with a completely different animal…
Eurominuteman
18 Aug 11 at 12:20 am