predictions are really good for looking back onto and saying “boy, was that wrong” =) however, after reading my functional paranoid schizophrenic friend’s 2011 predictions i simply had to chime in (decorum prevents me from mentioning the name of this prok star) =p i look back to what 2010 was for me and it was [...]

i read a post the other day and found it an interesting use of virtual worlds. i had seen other studies where your brain has a hard time differentiating between the real world and the virtual one study had avatars being hit in the head with a hammer! o_O when you saw your own avatar get whacked [...]

if you are coming from Second Life and actually did stuff in there (more than dancing and shopping) then you need groups. apart from having done the estate thing inSL where groups are not optional, i have done builds for corporate use and universities. nothing too major, but without groups, those would have been impossible [...]

it’s a wide open question and one with many perspectives. with so much money being poured in virtual education in the US (something like 29 states have public virtual school options), especially in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), it may be time to look at what virtual worlds can offer there are many teachers [...]

i love being an avatar. many people love what their avatar means to them. for most people, there is a deep connection with that little you running around in-world (ener <– often runs in circles, hands in the air, screaming) =D research reveals what you and i already know (gee, imagine that!) Researchers at Concordia [...]

zomg! yes, your number two could be a number one choice for easy energy! (ener <– never outgrew potty humour) this is brilliant (yet slightly icky) o_O harnessing the kinetic energy of flushing toilets in skyscrapers uses exactly the same concept as hydroelectric dams! (see this article) potential energy of water is converted to kinetic [...]

what’s better than a virtual world? maybe a virtual moon! if it’s made of cheese, you can count me in! =D NASA has banked on it being a big hit, well, actually American tax payers have bankrolled another game the first government game to be a big success (over 10 million players) was America’s Army America’s [...]

so can you lose weight with virtual worlds? well, it seems that you should be gaining weight from being in-world because you are sitting in front of your computer more than ever o_O i know that people who do virtual worlds (and even facebook) typically don’t spend more time sitting around – they simply shift their time. [...]

woof, friday finally! if you are like me, friday is spent thinking about all the stuff you’ll do in-world (and maybe, if like me, you only do about a quarter of what you were planning!) =) the neat thing, i think, about second life or an opensim world is that not only is it an [...]

so what is an avatar? Peter Finn from IBM started a Wiki to help define a set of standards for metaverses. Peter is one of those silent giants (and a canadian, woohoo) of virtual worlds who is truly an expert but goes about adding to virtual worlds and not just talking about them (hey! wait [...]

i see more posts asking about what sims are out there for kids like this one Virtual Worlds and Kids where a parent has a little one that can see that Second Life is a great creative outlet and would like to experience the same. it’s hard to be more creative than a kid and it’s no [...]

textures can affect lag like crazy. one way to help reduce that is to put a few diff textures on one texture file. here is a quick example i wanted to make shipping containers in reaction grid but also wanted uber low load. the texture files are smaller than 512 pixels and are PNG8s the [...]

ever notice how the things you love to do are also sometimes the easiest? take second life or opensim both are real-time 3D programs. i mean at their heart, they are full on 3D applications. maybe it seems like no big deal to log in and go run around, but there is a learning curve. [...]

omg! well, i knew about this from subQuark last year but never saw it in action.  IBM’s email thing is called Lotus Notes and they have something like Second Life as part of it.  so you can IM someone and also set up a virtual meeting it’s kinda neat to see how it’s all built [...]

it is so nice to be able to do what i love – and for virtual worlds, that is building.  i love making practical spaces that are a bit whimsical but still somewhat grounded. it’s what i wanted to do in Second Life but never had the luxury to do except for clients.  by clients, [...]