Metaverse Meetup

"To mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet, DARPA has announced the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition that will explore the roles the Internet and social networking play in the timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization required to solve broad-scope, time-critical problems. The challenge is to be the first to submit the locations of 10 moored, 8-foot, red, weather balloons at 10 fixed locations in the continental United States. The balloons will be in readily accessible locations and visible from nearby roads." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

uau - gosmanioana

Ramona Pringle, Interactive Media Producer of PBS Frontline's "Your Digital Nation", has asked me to pass on info about their open call looking for Second Life residents: - This is an open call for submissions to all Second Life users worldwide. - People can send in videos and machinima talking about their experiences in Second Life via the "Your Stories" page of their site (instructions are included): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh... - Anyone can also email Ramona directly at YourDigitalNation[at]gmail.com or just send a message on Twitter by tweeting to @dig_nat or @ramonapringle. She will do searches and will respond/follow. - Annie Ok

"Google has just unveiled Building Maker, an incredibly easy-to-use tool that will help them quickly expand their collection of 3D buildings" - Opensource Obscure from Bookmarklet

I can't try it as there is no Linux version but it looks easy and satisfying to use. - Opensource Obscure

"Life aboard the International Space Station is hard work. Crewmembers have a multiplicity of complex tasks, potentially involving thousands of tools, components and other items. But ESA astronaut Frank De Winne has begun testing the prototype of an unusual helper designed to make astronaut life easier. The ESA-designed Wearable Augmented Reality (WEAR) is a wearable computer system that incorporates a head-mounted display over one eye to superimpose 3D graphics and data onto its wearer’s field of view. Controlled by voice for hands-free operation, WEAR includes onboard location and object identification to show astronauts precise information about what they are looking at, as well as providing step-by-step instructions to guide them through difficult, lengthy procedures." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

Like the microwave, it starts by actually being useful in space and lands as as mainstream technology later on (please be sooner pretty please) - Dani Radu

"Cyclopedia uses the iPhone camera, compass and GPS together to create an augmented reality of the world by overlaying Wikipedia information over the viewfinder. By moving the iPhone around you will see articles pop up according to the direction you are pointing, You can then click on the title to get a quick overview article and, if you want to know more, you can then dive deeper into the full article." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"Metro Paris Subway Your New Eye. This new update features a unique augmented reality functionality (only available to Apple iPhone 3GS users) that enables you to see the nearest stations and POI! Elements located at a distance less than 1km (0,621miles) only will be displayed." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"In Q2 2009, Second Life Residents enjoyed the sixth consecutive quarter of record growth and activity in the in-world economy. At nearly USD 50M per month in user-to-user transactions, the Second Life economy is now on a annual run rate north of half a billion US dollars, making Second Life the largest virtual economy in the industry." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"At the Defcon security conference in Las Vegas on Friday, a pair of hackers showed they could create automated robot characters who could walk around the game world doing the bidding of their masters. Such characters are usually considered unfair violations of the terms of service for the game and accounts are deleted whenever they are discovered. It remains to be seen if the hackers built their automated characters in a way that is legally protected. James Luedke and Christopher Mooney, working in their spare time, said they coded the “enhancement API,” or an applications programming interface that lets people change the user interface of World of Warcraft. You can use the API to change the look and feel of the client. By itself, that isn’t a violation of service rules, as game publisher Blizzard Entertainment makes it easy to do this." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

Did the get a consulting fee from the producers of Gamer? - Kevin Russell

"Twinity, the world’s first mirror world, is launching virtual Singapore – Twinity’s first city in Asia – on August 9th." - Annie Ok

"Virtual Fairground (http://www.virtualfairground.com) announces today that it is developing Wonderland MMO (http://www.wonderlandmmo.com), a virtual world and MMO game for teenage girls based on the famous story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"Starting today, PlayStation®Home residents will be able to download four G.I. JOE costumes for free, exclusively from Threads Store. Available for a limited time only, Home residents will be able to download the iconic costumes worn by stars Channing Tatum (Duke) and Sienna Miller (The Baroness), or become rival G.I. JOE or COBRA ninjas, Snake Eyes or Storm Shadow. From tomorrow, visitors to Home Theatre will get to see an exclusive video welcome from stars Sienna Miller and Rachel Nichols as well as a trailer introduction from director Stephen Sommers. For two weeks, residents will also be able to watch a number of clips, trailers and featurettes from the new movie during a G.I JOE cinema takeover. For those who fancy becoming a G.I. JOE themselves, visit Home Theatre and walk up to one of the ‘JOIN G.I. JOE’ posters and follow the link to play a training game to see if they have what it takes. Successful recruits will also win a couple of pieces of exclusive merchandise along the way." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"HD Trailer for Tron Legacy (aka Tron 2, Tr2n). Coming in Disney 3D in 2010. Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wild, Bruce Boxleitner. Directed by Joseph Kosinski." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"It appears that some time over the weekend, YouTube began experimenting with 3D videos. I spotted a thread at the YouTube Help forum about this, where Googler Pete said he developed this in his 20% time. He said he is the "developer working on the stereoscopic player as a 20% project." He added that "it's currently very early, hence the silly bugs like swapping the eyes for the anaglyph modes." Peter also shared the various ways to view such videos" - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"Mattel, Inc. (NYSE: MAT) will preview at San Diego Comic-Con 2009 a new line of action figures based on Twentieth Century Fox's upcoming epic action-adventure film, "Avatar," that will incorporate augmented reality technology, marking the first time this technology will ever appear in a retail toy product. The toy line, developed in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising (Fox Licensing) will feature heroes, creatures and vehicles straight from James Cameron's much-anticipated film, which is set for release in December 2009." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"The hands on the screen belong to James Paterson. He is using "Rhonda", a 3D drawing tool developed by Amit Pitaru circa 2003. The first half of the video shows James doing a drawing start to finish. In the second part James is cycling through various previous drawings, created between 2004 and 2005. For the last several years Rhonda has been shown in galleries, museums, festivals and conferences. We are excited to finally release this video online (about time!). Even more exciting is that our good friends Zach Lieberman (openframeworks) and Zach Gage (synthpond) have just joined the Rhonda Team! With their help we will be creating stable releases of Rhonda for various platforms." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"[Editor's note: As virtual worlds and other online gaming communities become more mainstream in the United States, new legal issues are cropping up. Here's one analysis of a case involving a man who claims he should not have been cut off from a gaming site because he needed it to socialize.] “Erik Estavillo is suing Sony over being banned from PlayStation Network, claiming that the company violated his right to free speech and has caused him pain by removing his only form of socialization, as he suffers from agoraphobia.”" - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

Online avatar creation tool, now in open beta. This Wednesday and Thursday only: 50% off the cost of purchasing an Evolver model using the code "MOGRATE". - Annie Ok from twhirl

via Opensource Obscure: "A software that would allow you to copy any content on a sim-wide basis. It doesn’t conduct a check to see whether you own the prims that you’re backing up. Rezzable -note that they're leaving Second Life right now- is asking for comments and feedback in order to decide how to release this tool." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

Update from Rezzable: "Reviewing BuilderBot Release": http://rezzable.com/blog... - Annie Ok

"Sam Raimi has signed on to direct "Warcraft," the live-action film adaptation of the fantasy videogame franchise "World of Warcraft." Legendary Pictures and vidgame publisher Blizzard Entertainment are mounting the film, and Warner Bros. will co-finance and distribute. The team boasts an impressive pedigree: In addition to the director of "Spider-Man," the partners have added "The Dark Knight" producer Charles Roven to the creative mix." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"With Moon in Google Earth, users can explore a virtual Moonscape, follow guided tours from astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17), see the latest rover concepts by teams competing in the Google Lunar X-PRIZE, view high-resolution ’street View' style panoramic photos, watch previously unreleased video footage captured from the lunar surface, and much more. Moon in Google Earth will also incorporate a complete lunar terrain data-set by Kaguya LALT, produced by JAXA/NAOJ, which will serve as the atlas’ base-map. Whether they are rediscovering the iconic moments in the history of Moon exploration or learning about them for the first time, Moon in Google Earth enables users to better understand the Moon, and our relationship to it, with an immersive, 3D experience." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"Announced at this year's E3, ModNation Racers is a kart racer in development at United Front Games that promises to give players the power to customize and create virtually any part of the experience. From the look of your driver and vehicle to the actual layout of the tracks themselves, the game looks to follow in the footsteps of the likes of LittleBigPlanet in allowing the community to take over the content of the game and make it something really unique." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"Ever wanted to check your raid schedule, look up a piece of PvP gear, or concoct a new talent spec while on the go? The World of Warcraft Mobile Armory app for iPhone™ and iPod touch® lets you access the official Armory database from anywhere you have a mobile connection, and features much of the same functionality as the Armory website" - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet

"Medical training programs are springing up in virtual reality, and they may bring big changes to the way health-care professionals learn their craft." - Annie Ok from Bookmarklet