Howard Rheingold was in Second Life tonight. If you don’t know who he is, you can visit his website (Link) or plug his name in a search engine and get plenty of returns.

The event was well-attended (considering the limitations of the platform, that is). No surprise. Net celebrities always bring a crowd. Plenty of Lindens were there too. A few SL Future Salon regulars. Some fresh newbies in only to hear him talk.

Streaming audio seemed to work better than usual. I do like that small lectures can be held in Second Life. However, the event itself just didn’t do anything for me. I guess I was expecting too much. So if you want an in-depth recap, try the SL Future Salon website (Link). You’ll doubtlessly find a chat log and, eventually, a link to a podcast.

Via GigaOM I spent some time exploring Hive7 – a net-based, interactive space (Link). It’s an interesting effort with some intriguing possibilities right out of the gate. From GigaOM’s post (Link):

Robert Scoble made the argument that Second Life is an OS, while others nodded their head in agreement. That might be the case, but increasingly, I believe that this will give way to a more web-based virtual world.
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Web is the ultimate platform, and I think in the end it wins. Hive 7 is just the first example of the next generation web possibilities.
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He put together a virtual universe which has rooms where folks can meet, meet, chat, exchange resources and items. What got me excited about Hive7 was that it allows anyone to customize the whole experience. You can take the code, and tweak it.
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Looking at what Hive7 has built, I have just realized that the web has now gone 3D.
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Check out the one where Max and I are doing collaborative browsing. A browser inside a browser – now that’s cool!

Well, as much as I like what’s been done, I have to be honest … there are portions of this write-up that aren’t quite accurate.

The first is that the web hasn’t “gone 3D” by virtue of Hive 7. It’s a 2D interface. So while it’s nice, it’s not 3D. For that sort of thing, I’ve been following the efforts of people like Kerry Bonin, who has been working diligently in the background on a modified version of the x3d standard which he calls “vml”. I recently retrieved the link to his site from another PC, and am happy to be able to share it here – Vscape (Link). Maybe a little traffic will dislodge that demo.

The second is that Hive 7 doesn’t truly have “collaborative browsing” in the sense that it’s comparable to two people using the same monitor; more like “pseudo” (the term used by avatar “Hive 7 (AS)” … whoever that is). Specifically, if I click on a link on one of the Hive 7 virtual browsers, it’ll show on my screen, but no one else’s. Users are forced to use a URL toolbar at the top of the shared browser window.

That said, I’m impressed. A collaborative space using a browser is still powerful stuff. In one room there are 2D chess sets. Now imagine someone creating their own game – perhaps a prototype for a real life board game. They could test their game online in “private” virtual rooms (Hive 7 allows for that option). Similarly, imagine uploading your own landscape and filling this space with custom objects and then using that for virtual training. For example, you could have a garden landscape, tools and bulbs for planting, and a URL to a set of instructions. Or maybe it’s a biology lab and you have to re-assemble a human skeleton. Or it’s chemistry class and students have to create molecular chains.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing how Hive 7 matures. The individual with whom I was chatting mentioned that what they really needed were the features expected in forthcoming browsers. Among the things I’m expecting from next-generation browsers is built-in support for x3d. That may not be quite as nice as Bonin’s vml format, but it’d be a start. And then we’d have a 3D internet.

(By the way, I’m the floating blue head in the image above.)

If you saw my earlier post (reLink), then you’ll know I’ve been following the latest issue concerning the virtual world, Second Life: allegations of child pornography. Actually, more than just following it; I’ve been involved in online discussions regarding the sensitive topic being debated. So much so that one of the individuals voicing their concerns, “bella Ophelia”, implied that I and all others who weren’t prepared to join in the witchhunt were, in fact, the pedophiles about whom she was concerned (I believe that person has since been banned or at least suspended; if it had been more than implied, I’d be contacting a lawyer).

Of additional interest is the fact that this person’s partner, “Levi Glass” (I assume this is also bella’s RL partner based on comments in the forum threads) took over the crusade, but then commented how much he enjoyed pornography (he may be a real life photographer who does pron photography; some of the comments suggested he was). Here are some of his comments:

It is because it is my line of work {pornography} that I have a clear idea where the line must be drawn.
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Oh, and I’ve never paid a model in my life, they either pay me or if it is a mutual project they pose for free.

It’s tough work, but someone has to do it.
Yes, I’m very smooth

Class act. There are some curious people out there.

I guess it’s worth pointing out that at no time was any simulated activity of the kind they were protesting actually seen and/or documented. When pressed, it turned out to be an adult resident using a childlike avatar who was “dancing suggestively” in a “sexually charged dance club” (whatever any of that means). It was clothed and there was nothing else going on.

I think the concerned parties were also alarmed by the avatar’s profile, wherein the person said that they were “available for hire”. I guess the thought that people actually hire themselves out to be virtual children to virtual married couples never occurred to them.

In any event, perhaps due to my early suggestion that they take the matter to the mainstream press, that’s what someone has done. Apparently C|Net is now interested in the story. If you’re interested and have access, you can find plenty of locked threads on the Second Life forum. Or you can read the spillover on C|Net (Link 1, Link 2). I guess we should be on the lookout for an article.

Last week MoCo Loco mentioned (Link) the “Handshake” lamp by Paris-based designer, Arik Levy. Most of us who’ve been watching the development of RP as a fabrication option (especially in Europe) are familiar with his work.

Today I notice that Core77 has linked to a BusinessWeek article (Link) that gathers more information and images and packages it for easier consumption. I guess they share the same eyeglasses.

Meanwhile I’m finding other examples of people using rapid-prototyping machines to create products and sculptures (I even mentioned one recently – reLink). There still aren’t many, but I’m guessing that will change quickly. When I do find something interesting, I’ll definitely be posting something here.

In the meantime, if you’ve not noticed the Time Compression links on my blogroll, you might find them interesting. If you dig a little bit, you can find some informative rapid-prototyping/manufacturing articles on both.

{Image Copyright © 2005 L Design}

A little over six years ago when I moved to the East Coast, I made a decision to start eliminating stuff from my life. The relatively little I had was still too much for me.

I was aware that the future job market probably meant I (and others) would need to be more mobile; able to pull up stakes and relocate on short notice. So downgrading made good sense to me. Years earlier I’d made some major changes in my life (like becoming pesce-vegetarian) so to me it seemed like a continuation of some unfinished business.

With that in mind, the first thing I did was get rid of my furniture. To this day I have nothing more than a desk, a chair, a drawing table, and a simple wire shelf unit for an old television. That’s it.

Similarly, I’ve gone through most of my belongings, eliminating that which is unnecessary or of no significant sentimental value. I’m not yet finished. The amount of junk collected over a lifetime is truly amazing; and I’m far from what anyone would call a packrat. Hopefully I’ll have reached a satisfactory level of non-ownership this year.

So it’s with interest that I caught a post over on Brand Noise (Link) pointing out an apparent trend(?) similar to my own behavior. I have to admit though, what’s being reported is pretty lame imo. A pact to not buy anything for only six months? Piece a cake.

Why blog about this? Simple. Just because I want to eliminate the anchors in my life doesn’t mean I don’t like nice things. Far from it. I just value my freedom more. I simply want physical objects that are truly important and worth the hassle of ownership. The rest can exist in a virtual space as far as I’m concerned. If I get really attached to it, I’ll have it fabbed.