Category: Tech (Page 2 of 3)

Decentraland Launching 2.20.20

January 18, 2020 / gogo / 1 Comment

What is Decentraland? It is a new virtual world, where you can socialize and make money. Users can build, buy, and sell land with a cryptocurrency called MANA. My friends kept asking me if Decentraland is similar to Second Life or will be better than Second Life, and the answer it… I don’t know. We’ll find out!

Sketchu Silver Forest

January 16, 2020 / aemeth / 0 Comments

Not long ago, I bought an Oculus Quest and have been diving into the world of virtual reality. Doing everything from establishing a boxing practice routine with Thrill of the Fight, to exploring different maps in VRChat, there’s been a ton of things to see and do!

There are a few things I’d like to show you, though, just to bring home the point of how lovely and how immersive virtual reality can be.

VR Madness

October 2, 2019 / aemeth / 1 Comment

There’s so many things happening in virtual reality and gaming lately, that I absolutely have to blog my opinion about it! Everything from Facebook Horizon, to the Oculus Quest headset, to the brand-new SL Blogger Network. Are you ready? Grab some tea and let’s have a chat!

Sansar

September 5, 2019 / aemeth / 0 Comments

And so it came to pass after the lands of Juicy faded away in favor of nicely built houses, and the Mainland slowly became more barren, a new land rose up out of the depths of metaverse seed grants. It was fairer, and its people with new bodies milled about to create and speak to one another. They spoke of VR implementation and a Steam store page–

Sorry. I’ve been reading LoTR again lately.

Today I’m taking a look at Sansar, lovingly referred to by SL citizens as “Second Life 2.0”. I took a look at the game because my other friends on Plurk were kinda scared to, so I volunteered to step up and poke around. Yes, that was really a conversation on Plurk and I said I would go on behalf of everybody. So! Here I am, back from my trip and writing about it.

Before I begin, let me state that what I write here is my impression of the game. If I missed a fact or got something wrong, then that’s the fault of the user experience I received. I’m just going to present what I know.

VRChat versus Second Life

July 17, 2019 / aemeth / 0 Comments

Why is it that whatever I say sometimes causes so much fuss? A couple of weeks ago, I compared VRChat‘s avatar grading system to Second Life’s avatar complexity numbering, stating that we should adopt grades instead because it’s simpler for users to understand.

But Second Life likes to play the telephone game with re-quotes and paraphrases. Soon, my suggestion morphed through other mouths and turned into “I want us to pare down our avatars to Ruths”, and that’s not what I said at all. Do people read around here? Do they just like being outraged over things? Make a little cash with clicks in the process?

Whatever.

In an effort to retain my goal of an ultra-chill summer, I took to the seas of the Bellisseria continent to invest in deepwater fishing. And while I’m here, let’s do that “VRChat versus Second Life” comparison. We’ve already gone halfway with it. Why not take the whole kit?

What Sansar Can Learn From Its Competitors

January 16, 2017 / aemeth / 5 Comments

Hey, Linden Labs! I know you’re working hard on two different projects right now, and that’s great. I also know you’ve mentioned being forced to do so because if you didn’t, someone else would replace the virtual worlds you’ve worked hard to build up. Right?

It’s 2017. Here are your rivals. There’s more than one:

FotoJet; Online Photo Editor

September 2, 2016 / gogo / 0 Comments

I am a huge fan of online photo editors. I have reviewed Picnik, PicMonkey, Ribbet, etc. I have used all of those services and found each one to be easy to use, fun, and definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of editing without using Photoshop.

FotoJet sent me an invite to review their online photo editor and collage maker, so I tried some of the filters and fun graphic design tools. For now, signing up for an account is FREE. I predict that once this service gains more popularity, they will introduce a fee, like some of the services I mentioned above. Usually the price is a few dollars a month, or around $20-$25 for the yearly subscription. It’s fairly cheap, if you enjoy these type of things.

I was able to edit photos, make posters, make magazine covers within a matter of minutes. Everything seen above is editable – resize the text, re-position it, or remove it entirely! If you’re looking for a fun way to jazz up your SL photos, check out FotoJet!

While I know my way around Photoshop, I really love playing with photo editors when I want to make quick edits to my photos. They’re great for adding filters and color manipulation. If you enjoy using online photo editors, let me know in the comments.

Obviously, I am not paid to write a review of FotoJet. Companies invite me to review things all the time, and I only review the services that I find beneficial or useful.

What I’m Wearing:

Exile – Half Shut Eyes
Ricielli – Jessy Top (Soft Pink)
Ricielli – Kendall Skirt (Sand)

Yabusaka Mesh Head Studio

September 2, 2016 / aemeth / 0 Comments

Can you tell what kind of mesh head I’m wearing? It’s kind of borderline, isn’t it? If you see me walking around a sim, you might think I’m just very good at shape-making at first glance. But if you see my profile…ah! I’m wearing a mesh head after all. No flat Second Life face, no weird nose, a fully developed mouth instead of two weird-looking bumps.

I’m an artist with not a lot of time or patience to dedicate to 3D programs like Makehuman or Blender. So when Gogo recommended Yabusaka Loon’s mesh head program to me, I hopped on the chance to try it out. Continue reading

Book Readers in Second Life

July 3, 2016 / aemeth / 0 Comments

Do you read books in Second Life? There are some authors who sell their books in the grid for the love of sharing their craft with others. I’m one of them! For The Crystal Heart Festival, I launched a new comic series dealing with magical beings, sexuality, gender, and a deadly realm. It’s called The Other World and you can actually buy a copy and read it in Second Life.

Here’s a picture of what the HUD readers look like.

You add the readers to yourself and it shows up as either the tablet or book model, depending on what you’ve chosen. The author of the book can divide up chapters for easy navigation. If you stop on a page and take the HUD off, the tablet will remember where you paused.

If you’re an author who wants to use this awesome system to publish, you can get it on the marketplace here. It’s called Book Builder Publishing System and I recommend it!

So why buy The Other World? Simply put, it’s kickass and it shows a lot of different superheroes than just your typical Perpetually Single White Cis Hetero Male archetype. We’ve got plenty of those out there. My cowriter and I brought a lot of diversity to the table on this and we know we’ll find the right readers who are hungry for it.

Click here to visit The Crystal Heart Festival and buy a copy of The Other World! You can also buy the PDF copy online here.

My Wishlist For Project Sansar

April 4, 2016 / aemeth / 6 Comments

What would it take to make Sansar thoroughly engaging? Sure, Linden Lab can update the graphics and make it much easier to load and navigate the game, which I imagine they’re doing right now. But what would make it stand out from the previous grid? What would draw in new users, as well as ones from SL?

This is an ongoing list that readers are welcome to add to. If you want to suggest a feature here, please do so in the comment section! Maybe someone from the Lab will see it and think it’s a good idea, too.