Not long now…

… I hope …

In case you aren’t aware, for about 10 weeks my main machine which could handle Windlight well went out of action. At first we thought it was the Motherboard that was bricked so we sent it off with the warranty and then found out that it was not the case. So then we discovered it was really the graphics card that was to blame for the problems. Assuming that everything else is fine I should have the machine back very soon and enjoying Second Life like I should have. It’s annoyed me to no end because I wanted to fully experience things like SL5B and the Relay for Life.

So while I was in the downtime I managed to get my old computer up and running again. During the downtime some things went wrong with the machine. But it gave me a chance to experience Second Life from the older hardwares perspective. It intrested me because I always hear people with low end machines complaining that their machines are unbearably slow and get 1fps. It makes me think, what exactly are they putting the Settings at with the viewer. Case and Point this screen capture of my settings, hardware and frames per second.

This machine right here is about 4 or 5 years old now. Yet I seem to be getting 17fps on this low hardware. The only problems I get sometimes is that the machine will hang for a few seconds. But that is down to the machine having 512 MB of memory. Now I understand that some people having laptops and they really do suck for Second Life if they are cheap laptops but the fact is if you buy one of those cheap laptops you are shooting yourself in the foot for any 3D application. I know because I got one for the laptop and yes it sucks big time. I wonder what other people with older hardware get when they are on Second Life. If you read this blog let me know in the comments.

Microsoft + OpenSim?

OK, so I heard something about Microsoft and OpenSim over the weekend but I didn’t really look into it. Then I saw Radar blogged something about it and since he’s a Mac user and it mentions Microsoft I decided to take a look at it and learn about this whole Microsoft thing.

Apparently Microsoft (And I quote from Mixed Realities) say:

Zain Naboulsi, a “developer/evangelist” at Microsoft looking closely at OpenSim, told the Reuters bureau in Second Life that the company seeks to integrate at least three of its free services into the evolving open source package:

• coding tool C Sharp Express;
• SQL server express, Microsoft’s database platform to handle OpenSim’s inventory calls;
• Windows Live ID, a identity-management tool.

OK, So C Sharp Express coding for Open Sim…good I guess
SQL Server Express for Open Sim Inventory calls…good I guess
Windows Live ID management….nope not good.

Why do I think Windows Live ID for Open Sim isn’t the greatest idea for Identity Management? Because it isn’t something I would want. I would much rather prefer something like Open ID. Maybe I am wrong on this opinion but because Open Sim is open, I’d rather it use something like Open ID for the interoperability between servers.

Am I wrong in thinking this? Is Windows Live ID all that bad?

If I am wrong then it may go back to the days when I used to use the .net passport system which I hated but had to use and it drove me nuts.

SL on Xbox?

Earlier this week I came across this blog entry by Dusan Writer which talks about a placeholder found on the official Second Life website at the URL - http://search.secondlife.com/.

placeholder page for XBOX, PS3, and iPhone versions of client when they launch next real soon now

However if you visit the site now it says

placeholder for search

So, what’s the deal? Well here’s what I think what happened

1. LL is working on an XBOX 360, PS3 and iPhone version of Second Life and someone in the departments placed the wrong placeholder at the URL instead of a placeholder for an offline search engine for Second Life
2. A PR Stunt
3. An employee who was bored and decided to have some fun without realising that it would be noticed

However if LL is working on a client for the Xbox, PS3 and iPhone then I will be happy for two reasons. I Have an Xbox AND an iPod touch. For those who don’t know the iPhone/iPod touch has the same operating system and hardware (minus the phone, camera and soon to be GPS) meaning it would work on the iPod as well.

On the Xbox and PS3 you can talk via a microphone or keyboard (at least on the 360 you can). Also the whole Flycam features that are coming soon could in theory work well with Second Life. Not to mention that they are dedicated systems for gaming making Second Life be smooth and free of system lag (sim lag will probably still occur).

Although this may never happen I think it would be awesome if it did. Here’s to hoping that the almighty lindens are working on it

Finally Declared Dead…to iTunes

A long time ago in the summer of 2006 I tried to start a weekly podcast called "The Weekly Warf Show" but it was kinda…really…boring. So it went into my archive of Podfade.

It was of course submitted to iTunes, but I deleted the show and its feed last year. However iTunes has only just caught up with this revelation

Dear Podcast Owner
The podcast located at the URL shown below has been blocked or removed from the iTunes directory as a result of technical problems with the feed.
Name: The Weekly Warf Show
Feed URL: http://www.podshow.com/feeds/warf.xml

I wonder how many dead podcast feeds still lie on the surface of the iTunes store…

Downtime Sucks

OK so Stuart Warf has not been in Second Life a lot recently…

So, in this blog entry I am going to be clearing things up with reasons (or excuses) to my disappearance.

• XBox 360 + GTA 4…
  It is a good game and it is quite addictive…apart from the annoying 12 year olds who use voice and scream down your earhole and grief the games…
• My PC is Broke’d
  Well…this really is the main reason why the disappearance of Warf happened.

  So, on Friday 9th of May 2008 my motherboard (after some other difficulties) practically died. After days of trying to diagnose the problem I pretty much figured out that it was a brick. But just in case, I contacted the MSI technical support via my laptop. It took them 6 days to reply… and the advice was pretty much useless.

  So…where do I stand now?

  Well I am looking for the reciept so the motherboard can be returned and I am hopefully going to be back online with my awesome machine by the end of the week.

So… While I wait for the conclusion to this chapter in my PC’s life, I will probably be doing some blogging and get some SLPN stuff sorted out.

SecondLie?

Anyone suddenly notice this new twitterer called SecondLie?

As far as I can tell it started on Thursday this week and has since made about 300 tweets (as of the time of writing) and has almost 200 followers.

So far the twitterer (whoever it is) has entertained me quite a lot.

Check it out, Whoever it is…

Remember, It’s only a Server

Last week the Lindens announced that they were going to be introducing a new land store system which promises almost instant delivery of sims. With this a price drop was announced for the purchasing of Estate simulators.

When the new Land Store launches, setup fees will be:

* Normal Islands: USD$1000 setup
* Normal Openspaces: USD$250 setup
* Educational Islands: USD$700 setup
* Educational Openspaces: USD$175 setup

For some reason people started to interperet this as being a move against the OpenSim project or that the Lindens are having poor sales.

But if you take a logical approach to it. You will realise that it really isn’t the case. The fact is that technology gets cheaper and cheaper. Take an iPod for example. As more features and storage is added, the prices drops. This is the way that the tech industry moves and it obviously ripples into Second Life.

But wait, what about OpenSim?

Well… I am pretty sure that just last week, it was announced that OpenSim and Linden Lab are working together to integrate OpenSim servers into Second Life.

How is that going to work?

I think that they will probably have a message that pops up every time you enter the area of an OpenSim based server like, “This is a third-party server and Linden Lab is not responsible for what may happen”.

Personally I am excited about the prospect of having third-party servers in Second Life as this will lead to even cheaper server options for people. Of course all the backing up is down to the third-party or you instead of Second Life, hence the cheaper aspect. After all part of the cost for sims is that you need to pay the maintainence fees, backup charges, bandwidth etc.

As stability slowly comes to Second Life…so does some really exciting stuff that I just love the idea of.

SLPN’s next phase!

OK. Live Podcasts. I have already talked about this on the SLPN’s blog about us moving to live podcasts. Well as of this week we shall move to the live podcasting aspect that I have been intrested in doing.

So how is this going to work?

Well certainly not with video, at least for now. My approach is to do it with audio in a radio enviroment because it is easier to stream for some people who have lower bandwith. Also it’s what I know best. And as much as I like a challenge I prefer doing it in audio for now. It’s live because we will record it in front a live audience and as we move on, we will get the video in the mix as well.

So the week begins most likely on Tuesday with a new show called “The Warf Show” which I will be doing on KONA radio which will replace the Podmafia Re-Broadcast. With Podmafia being a podcast, there isn’t much sense to rebroadcast it I think. It might be this week or next week though. But I will be recording it for podcast purposes.

Then there is MetaNews Weekly which WILL happen this Wednesday at Nowhereville at 9AM SLT. 9AM SLT is 5PM for all the UK folks so that will be a fun little challenge. The hosts of that show are Malburns Writer and Tara Yeats in-world.

There is a SLPN Live group that I have set up for people who want updates for when shows are happening and such like. The group is not the only solution. We also have a Subscribe-o-Matic board for all those updates as well so if you DON’T want to waste one of your precious groups, well your not left behind.

My thoughts on the whole trademark issue

I haven’t really posted up my thoughts on the whole trademark issue with the whole inSL™ thing. Sure I have podcasted about it (Podmafia Podcast Episode 41 with Crap Mariner) but that was before the clarification was released on April Fools Day (good timing LL).

So, I personally haven’t changed a thing to the StuartWarf.com blog as of yet even though a clarification was released because I am lazy and quite frankly annoyed since I have to go through 300ish posts to check.

As for SLPN (SL Podcast Network) We have changed a few things around like the Second Life Newscast will be changed to MetaNews Weekly (some other cool stuff about that will be happening real soon. I just need to finish some things off) and have submitted the site for the inSL™ on Tuesday. So far they haven’t sent me an email back saying “We don’t like some of the stuff you have, can you change it please etc.)

Personally I don’t think the lindens will sue the bloggers and podcasters because we are probably their biggest promoters. But business that clearly infringe on the Second Life virtual world will need to either change what they are doing quickly or probably face a Cease and Desist letter.

I think the bloggers need to stop worrying because I really doubt they are a threat to the trademarks and all that legal jazz that Linden Research® owns.

Take it or Leave it - One Night Only!

OK, So the 2008 season for the Second Life Relay for Life is in full swing and I am part of the team Take THAT, Cancer so. I decided to bring back an original idea I had proposed to one team for last years RFL that never happened…and make it happen.

So… on SATURDAY 5th APRIL 2008 at the SLPN HQ in Nowhereville will be a One Night Only for Take it or Leave it.

What is Take it or Leave it?

Take it or Leave it is the Second Life version of Deal or no Deal which I used to host before the gambling ban. However for this night it will be a Just For Fun and hopefully we will get a tournament thing going with some prizes and stuff.

If you have any products that you want to giveaway for this please IM me in-world because I want to offer MANY prizes. But of course the aim is raise cash for the Relay for Life cause (preferably for the Take THAT, Cancer team).

I will have more on this hopefully in the next week or two