Live Early Music Concert with Thom Dowd in Second Life® (part 1 of 5)

On Saturday 14 November at 12 p.m. PDT Thom Dowd and Marie Gillard's concert was streamed live into Second Life®. It was a magnificent concert of mostly baroque music and took place on the beautiful sim of Languedoc in the Languedoc Coeur Chateau Ballroom, Languedoc Coeur (59, 60, 47)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Languedoc%20Coeur/24/37/40
The concert was transmitted live in streaming video from Thom and Mitsy's home studio in Fribourg.
HVX Silverstar recorded the concert in SL® using Snapz Pro X software to capture the screen. All were dressed in their Saturday finery!

THOM DOWD and MARIE GILLARD, RECORDERS
Sonata in G major ~ Andrew Parcham fl. 1700

Sonata in G major ~ Andrew Parcham fl. 1700
Poco allegro, (Allegro,) Adagio, Allegro, Aria
Se la face ay pale SAT Guillaume Dufay c.1400-1447
Ich sachs eins mals ATB Ren Anon. 1470

Philis schoone Harderinne with variation Jacob van Eyck 1590-1657
Ach Moorderesse with 3 variations Jacob van Eyck

Wohl kommt der Mai SAAT Ludwig Senfle c.1486-1543
allemande ATT Gervais

Sonata in a minor Diogenio Bigaglia 1676-1745
Adagio, Allegro, Tempo di Minuetto, Allegro

Suite in g minor Daniel Demoivre fl. 1700
Allmand, Gavott, Saraband, Jigg

Fantasie in g minor TWV 40:9 Georg Philipp Telemann 1681-1767
Largo, Spirituoso, Allegrol

Sonata no. 6 in G major for 2 Alto Recorders Georg Philipp Telemann
Affettuoso, Presto, Soave, Spirituosol

Second Life Release 1.20.15 (92456) Beta Test Grid (osx)

Second Life Release 1.20.15 (92456) Beta Test Grid (osx), originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

A blast from the past... loved the login image.

Library Video Channel: promoting services such as logging in from off campus using the VPN & a look at PubMed's new interface!

Connect from anywhere using the VPN (virtual private network), Health Sciences Libraries, UC Davis.
Photo: "Looking for a Better Thing" Katrina Brown ~ KatrinaBrownPhotographer.com ~ Video by Bernadette Daly Swanson, MLIS ~ Software used: Techsmith's Camtasia Studio for Mac & Camtasia Studio 6 (windows), Apple Final Cut Pro 6, Apple Motion templates, Quicktime Pro, YouTube's AudioSwap (Ben's Song) and the very cool YouTube Annotations feature.

Related Blog post from work: blogs.lib.ucdavis.edu/hsl
Health Sciences Libraries website: www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hsl

PubMed's New Look! get up to speed on locating your favorite features as well as new techniques for researching your topic more efficiently.
Parts 1-5 available in HD720p (click HD button then watch at full screen). Note: Adobe Flash Player 10 is required to view HD videos on YouTube. If you do not have an updated Flash Player, follow the link on the YouTube screen to update your browsers. View, share or embed the YouTube playlist for the 5 part video series.


A Look at the New PubMed Interface & the Advanced Search features including the home page, advanced search overview; using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to search the database more efficiently; clinical queries section for systematic reviews and search tools finding a specific citation; using My NCBI for setting filters, storing collections and saving searches; emailing search results and preparing your search results for import into bibliographic management software such as Endnote.

Halloween in Second Life® on Info Island (Community Virtual Library)

Second Life© Subcultures by Botgirlg

Second Life Subcultures .2, originally uploaded by botgirlq.

Botgirlg's superb subcultures image. It says it all.

On P Squared chatting with Philip

After reading Philip Rosedale's blog post, Next Chapter:
https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2009/10/15/next-chapter (sorry... you may need to log in to read it)... I logged into Second Life to visit P Squared. Actually, I used the link from the Sand Castle Studios site:
On location: P Squared in the very beautiful Second Life®
Many thanks to the imagination & ever-continuing reinvention of Philip Linden Rosedale. Picnic-ing on P Squared when a along came Philip Linden.
made my day! I told him I had met him at SLCC in Chicago and San Francisco... and was most pleased to meet him here in the real world!
So now you'll find him at Burning Life.. one of those tiny little green dots!
so cool.... now there's a machinima that goes with this.. but it's the tour of the island before Philip arrived... stay tuned on my youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/hvxsilverstar

On P Squared chatting with Philip, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

If you decide to travel,take the quick route via the SLURL site:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/P%20Squared/128/128/30


Credits for some of the creators shown in the video:
Out of Sim Reef & Sculptie Palms & Dead Trees by Tobias Novi
Art by Artoo Magnetoo
Flowers (on the coffee table inside house) Mitch Ishnoo
Tiki Tatoo Cie - Hatzfeld Runo
HVX Silverstar is wearing: !Rebel Hope Designs - Pirate Calico Jack
Pink slim glasses by Gudshu Udal
Wunderlich's Victorian Antigone Hair - 1866 Blondes
Tuli Faith light natural skin
SBK Parish Shape by Kira Paderborn
Mysterious Morticia (CGL) gloves
EarthStones Bali Hoop Earings
Zaara Classic Jeans
My Favourite thing in SL® Armord Steam Boots by Marcos Fonzarell
Machinima & ramblings by HVX Silverstar © 2009

Blogging on the rugged digital shores of Davis Island in Second Life®

I recently found myself immersed in a never-ending blog post trying to cover both a compelling overview of Second Life® and share our experiences with the MH214 Health Informatics class:
On the rugged digital shores of Davis Island: in Second Life® with the MH214 Class


Close-up of one of the orientation activities (camera controls)in the glistening waters surrounding Virtual Ability Island. To visit the orientation location use the following SLURL to open the SLURL map. From there you can either join if you do not already have an account, or click through to teleport to the location. Doing this will automatically launch any Second Life® viewer that is installed on your computer: http://slurl.com/secondlife/virtual%20ability/128/128/23


Visit the Virtual Ability website.
Tags: "davis island" "uc davis" "second life", "Virtual Ability", blogging, Second Life, libraries

Snapz Pro shows resilience after mac computer crash!

Snapz Pro shows resilience after system crash!, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

While logged into Second Life and running both Wiretap Studio and Snapz Pro (Ambrosia's latest version) http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/
that dreaded black veil moved slowly down my screen -- the "Kernel Panic" --with the message written in multiple languages alerting me to hold down my on/off button for several seconds to turn off computer. Actually, I don't remember the exact wording as the loss of brain cells likely works to calm readers of the bold text message as the veil drops on the screen.
In the past, I would have lost the video being recorded using SnapzProX, of course due to the crash and not Snapz.... but the story ends to the sound of the resilient and lone trombone heard above the crowds of brass... Snapz rose to the center of the screen as I logged back in.... standing alone, proud and ready for action: "Save movie... now or later?"
Thank you, Ambrosia.

A month on Davis & Prophylaxis Islands: home of the original and updated Vitual Hallucinations

So I have been mad busy working with the MH214 class for the Health Informatics Certificate Program through the UC Davis Extension. The UC Davis Psychiatrists / researchers, Peter Yellowlees MD, James Cook MD, Martin Leamon MD and myself were the instructors for the new class: The Internet and the Future of Patient Care. Two of the Psychiatrists are the researchers behind the top 10 listed and the often cited Virtual Hallucinations build on Sedig in Second Life.
Most of the assignments and discussion have been shared using the UC Davis Extension's Online Learning Campus which uses the open source Moodle software. We also held 3 sessions in Second Life.

The virtual gatherings for the MH214 class have resulted in a lot of media from snapshots to machinima (which is video captured in a 3D real time game engine or virtual world such as Second Life®).

The following two articles available in full text via the National Library of Medicine's database, PubMed, describe two of the Second Life locations visited, Virtual Hallucinations & Bioterrorism Defense Training facilities, both on the private research islands of UC Davis faculty and fellow researchers: Peter Yellowlees MD, Martin Leamon MD and James Cook MD.


Documentation of the rich visual environment can be seen in the photos from the gatherings in Second Life®:
Sept. 3rd photos: visiting the builds on Davis Island (Virtual Hallucinations & Bioterrorism Defense Training Facility) and a tour of Imperial College London's Second Health Polyclinic
Sept. 10th photos: Include shots of discussions, building demo, tours of health related
Sites.
The Playlist for videos taken during the Sept. 2nd and Sept. 10th classes and assorted other instructional videos used for the online class Second Life® portions. Parts 1-5 introducing our avatar sides:
general introductions with MH214 students and Peter Yellowlees, Marty Leamon MD and Bernadette Daly Swanson MLIS, sharing of SL® experiences, troublshooting audio capture, building demonstration with James (Linden) Cook MD and tripping and touring around the metaverse looking at medical sites and health and medical research projects.

View the entire Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5333F5146C944E14

or a series of clips from Sept. 2nd and Sept. 10th tours of Davis Island... beginning on Virtual Ability Island:


Part 1 of 5: Troubleshooting audio and introductions all around...


Part 2 of 5: Building with James Linden! Health Informatics Professionals need a place and the skills to build it... our first introduction.


Part 3 of 5: More building with James and discussions on virtual worlds, avatar height and in world physics:


Part 4 of 5: Visiting CISCO's Virtual Palomar West Hospital & their RFID bracelets used by avatars to tour the facility. It is the 3D version of the hospital to be built in San Diego by 2011. Next stop, Virtual Ability Island, co-winner of the first Linden Prize, a contest Honoring Second Life projects that are Improving real lives; Studio Wikitecture and Virtual Ability were both awarded $10,000 USD


Part 5 of 5: (10 mins.) More on Virtual Ability Island and the sites visited during the Sept. 2nd and Sept 10th classes including Virtual Hallucinations and Bioterrorism Defense Training units on Davis and Prophylaxis Islands (private UC Davis locations for research projects) and the very cool Imperial College's Second Health London Polyclinic.


And our tour video from the Health Informatics 2009 Conference at the UC Davis Medical Center:


Take the Tours:

For anyone using the Firefox browser... or for anyone who wants a quick way to reach the MH214 class locations in Second Life... read on!
Download and install the toolbar with quick links to the Second Life locations visited during the last sessions, as well as additional links:
http://mhi214joinusinsecondlife.ourtoolbar.com/
Links include:

Davis Island (private - MH214 students & faculty only)
Virtual Palomar West Hospital
Second Health London Polyclinic
Virtual Hallucinations public location
Library Studios (my island in process)
UC Davis Extension Class site

Mozilla Firefox browser:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/upgrade.html

Note: Second Life viewer must be installed on your computer to use the toolbar. When you click on the buttons on the toolbar, they will launch the SLurl site for Second Life and allow you to click through which launches your SL viewer so you can login to the site.

Oops... racetrack bits flying over ALA Island...

Oops...my racetrack flying outside the sim onto ALA Island..., originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

I have had considerable trouble trying to rez this racetrack... hoping to hear back from the creator. At this point I was hopping off my chair thinking of the real picture...
shooting 3D objects over the ALA island (American Library Association)... thanks for a high draw distance and a good eye in the early hours of the morning... dragging them back to my island now!

Working at the SW edge of Davis Island

Working at the SW edge of Davis Island, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

This is where I will be hanging out on Davis Island, Second Life.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Davis/0/102/22
Once we are all added to the UC Davis group, we can gather on the island for a virtual meet-up.
Access to two free full text peer reviewed journals is available from SL and the web:
Marty Leamon MD pointed out that the most recent issue of Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is dedicated to health and health care in Second Life.
www.jvwresearch.org
Vol 2, No 2: 3D Virtual Worlds for Health and Healthcare

Journal of Medical Internet Research
http://www.jmir.org/2009/2/e17/HTML
A Survey of Health-Related Activities on Second Life

Second Life® - Create your Avatar, download the viewer & login!

I made the following 3 videos for a quick introduction to the process for joining the Second Life® community which includes selecting an avatar and name, downloading the viewer (a small file) and then logging in for the 9 step introduction to the most beautiful virtual world on the planet!

http://www.secondlife.com
A playlist of the videos shown below is available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D3FC4145B4052788

Creating your Second Life® Avatar

Also available in HD 720p:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I17Oz7Vaykg&fmt=22

Logging into Second Life (HD 720p)

Also available in HD 720p:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBnbTCouC8&fmt=22

Second Life Tutorial in 9 easy steps

Also available in HD 720p:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bAK1kQq6Ig&fmt=22

weird stuff...

weird stuff..., originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

a screen from the video playing on my island, Library Studios, is showing up on surfaces/textures on other sims when I teleport...
everywere I look has that same image on it.. but it's from a video.
once the object rezzes, the image from the machinima disappears. So weird!

Improving the retail experience one virtual racetrack at a time...

library studios Sandy Sandy Sandy, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Library Studios Island sits amidst the popular Alliance Virtual Library and partner sims in the Information Archipelago; American Library Association (ALA) to the north, Stanford Libraries to the west and one of the Cybrary City Islands to the east. The expansive sandy coast with its wild ("out of sim lines") rocky refuges begged for California "real". I don't know a coastal community in California where the deep greens of Somerset actually meet the ocean waves. So, working our little avatar legs off, with the estate/region window open, we attempted raising and decrease the default 'highs and lows' for the texture files... it was one surprise after another. The most daring change in the height levels for the SouthWest quadrant brought a wave of 'virgin sand' rezzing across the English greens, leaving it more like SoCal... Oh, no, this is Sonoma!
Now the roads... Hyacinth and I have been working on piecing together the sculpty pieces. Daunting. I need an escape.
Shopping in Second Life® should set me on a new path of retail therapy or bring me to my Linden Dollar senses and just try to pull together a few coastal slopes and winding roads from the road packages and textures I had previously collected .
So let's buy some roads:
First stop, PR Hollywood's Fusion City (101, 99)

It's at this point that I have rezzed and re-rezzed PR Hollywood's race courses... watching the pieces fly through the air in an urban dance as it darts across the black skies; certainly enough to qualify as a higher level retail experience.
The choices span the screen and the imagination. I find myself contemplating a racetrack running through my formerly calm landscape where I can still hear the waves crashing against the digital shore while laying out streets and arguments atop Fusion City's midnight platform.
Well, still streetless, I'll have to contemplate the options and return tomorrow to scan XstreetSL® and the SL® search before going back to my roadwork jigsaw that is currently sprawled across the sim.


http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fusion%20City/97/96/1001

fusion city prefab demo roads 317 prims, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Thoughts from Library Studios Island (pick up machinima workflow instructions here) in the very beautiful Second Life®.
SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Library%20Studios/32/45/23

Exploring Twtpoll: do you already have a personal Twitter account?

So we had a great session today exploring creative ways to use Twtpoll in a 50 minute or 1:50 minute instruction session.
We had created ten twitter accounts and my colleague and I went through the tedious task of having all accounts follow each other in an attempt to save time since we only had 45 minutes at the end of the meeting that we could dedicate to Twtpoll & Twitter. Some of the suggestions after a brief exploration included traditional ways that the instructor might use any sort of polling application: pre-tests,post-tests, quiz questions, off-topic questions to wake everyone up... not really! Melissa and I created about 10 twitter accounts for colleagues to use, so we could just jump in and begin using twtpoll with the existing twitter accounts.
Here are some of sample test runs of questions that we later used for classes: http://twtpoll.com/lilshields_01
Sample question for upcoming Doctoring 3 class in Veterinary Medicine following a two hour hands-on session where students were a huge class of approx. 100 split into smaller groups to explore which of the ten databases/resources would best answer this question:




These are ony sample responses, not the actual results:



Some Twtpoll samples: http://twtpoll.com/lilshields_01

This the protected twitter account that I use to create the twtpolls: http://twitter.com/vetmedresources

The accompanying web page for the VMD400 class, created by Mary Wood:
Here is our web page: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/CCAB/doctoringtwo.html and the related video that we used for the outset of the class (filled with clues for group the activities that followed): http://www.youtube.com/libraryvideochannel#p/u/3/1Zmp1xtj6rY. We actually had a looped 5 minute version that played while students were entering the room and it included all of the resources they would be using during the hands-on portion of the session.

Brainstorming uses for Twtpoll and Twitter:
Other interesting ideas included having the students work in break-out groups on the same question using different library resources and then create a Twtpoll to share with the other students. I should mention though that a couple of people had trouble using the application... most likely issues with our own connectivity in the Laab.

Using the embed code on the twtpoll site, you are able to edit the size of the chart displaying poll results. The default is 200 as shown. I am assuming this is pixels. You can also use the polls in stand-alone mode on the twtpoll site, rather than embedding or sharing on one of the many liste popular sites, cell phones, email, etc.
The URLs are nice and short! For a small donation, you are able to personalize the pole with your twitter account profile image and short bio.

http://twtpoll.com/btyzzb

Second Life Sculpties - Blender 3d - Installing Blender and Scripts

Ok... I have to start making my own stuff... hello Blender!
http://www.blender.org for mac, windows, linux...
so cool.

Play Machinima Law Conference Videos 2009

Play Machinima Law Conference Videos: introductions, panels, presentations and demos: Play Machinima Law:
How they Got Game site: http://www.stanford.edu/group/htgg/cgi-bin/drupal/?q=node/981
Preserving Virtual Worlds
http://pvw.illinois.edu/pvw/

Choose your Facebook username...

facebook_username, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

coming soon to an account near you... http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=90316352130

YouTube adds 'download MP4' button...

download_mp4_youtube, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Wow, an extra button without an announcement from YouTube...
It's available from the user's "My videos" listing, so you can only download your own user uploaded videos. I did read that if you are part of the Downloadable video program and have enabled downloads of your video, then ...
http://www.stuffwelike.com/stuffwelike/2009/06/09/download-youtube-videos-the-legal-way/

Animoto's new features: one button publishing to twitter

Animoto's new features: one button publishing to twitter, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

so it took less than 5 mins to upload the 19 images for the test video and then i walked the doggie while it rendered the movie file.
Here is the completed video using AVL photos:
animoto.com/play/NzDtd18ch1eMS5mIo6fzJw

Animoto has great options in the paid version - 14.95

Animoto has great options in the paid version, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

if you have the paid version of animoto you can download the complete videos to your own computer.. super cool! You can upload to twitter or youtube too..
I uploaded to twitter with one button publishing.. on the end there.. only took 5 mins to make the video.. wish the resolution was better and also wish they didn't crop the images to 4|3 from 16|9 or rectangle..
but super cool alternative to video uploads.. more accessible to a lot of people. Here's the video that took 5 mins to make: http://animoto.com/play/NzDtd18ch1eMS5mIo6fzJw

Benefit Concert with Kelvinblue at The Refuge: the art of AM Radio in Second Life®

Go Kelvin!

Feed a family with a virtual wheatfield...

amradio_wheatfield, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

AM Radio's final sunset benefit concert for Heifer International and to bid farewell to The Refuge and Expansion.
Yesterday, Sunday, May 31, 2009, SL turns out to honour one of the great artistic talents on this new world and to bid farewell to the place that took us home to a slower time... to an expansive place with unpredictable turns and falls... to hidden and cloistered places where those before us had left the artifacts from half a century ago. Calling our names.. we sit down a while and think about the HAM radios, the tools, where the work is never done... where we are one with the work, one with the technology.
Above the penetrating music of Kelvinblue Oh, AM Radio shouts explanations into the crowd... how buying a cornfield in SL will feed a family along with the benefits of buying a gaggle of geese.... with all donations going to the AM Radio supported charity, Heifer.org and AM Radio's donation page
AM has inspired the community artistically, intellectually and forever more...
people from around the world stood at the crossroads on the Wales sim amidst The Refuge and Expansion installation. Earlier performances were given by Colemarie Soleil and Joaquin Gustav.
Goodbyes are difficult... but even moreso when there is no point for return, no visits, no artifacts...

A long time ago in Teen Second Life®: Ramapo's new educational islands in 2007

A very long time ago in the spring... year 2007... Ramapo creatives expanded their three island private world to six isles... this is the morning after the island delivery.
Floating above the islands of Suffern Middle School, Ramapo School District... where I first met Peggy, Fred )FireSabre / Fred Fuchs in world) , Kevin and Lyr Lobo.

La photographie et la petite gallerie de Willow Ahn - le printemps 2007 dans Second Life

Willow, J'ai trouvé le film finalement...
hvx

Mon amie, Willow Ahn...

Oh Happy Rez Days Abbey and Hyacinth in the ever so beautiful Second Life®

Oh, happy Rez Days! Abbey Zenith, Librarian Super Hero, has been logging into Second Life® since the fine spring day of May 18 2006. Ever since, she has been influencing people about the great opportunities awaiting libraries and academics across the physical and virtual worlds. One day plus one year later, in logged Hyacinth Cortes, librarian, exhibit builder and expert chair chaser and shopper. Happy Rez Day, Hyacinth, since the ever so fine 19th day of May, 2007! Filmed on location at Jazz Cat.

Do you own an OLPC... XO?

Join the community and add your XO!

View OLPC World Map in a larger map

So what are you reading? New York Times article: "End of the University as we know it"

Currently screen-reading this & installing software: New York Times' article: End of the University as we know it... need a coffee?

Camping allowed, browsing encouraged...

The Library of Congress funded
Preserving Virtual Worlds Project

The Center for Internet & Society: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/

Play Machinima Law Conference, Stanford Law School: April 24-25, 2009.
The Twitter feed: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23pml

The very cool Hackleman Brothers': Myndflame

An older post from the Virtually Blind blog (no longer updated): Virtual World Screenshots Raise Copyright Questions... scary, scary, scary.

Caleb Booker's great post about ROI in virtual worlds and why they're waaaaay better than webcams!

Caleb Booker's 'Business in Virtual Worlds'
So then does the shape of the screen matter?
Was LBJ a “close talker”? Where avatars come in... yes, you can maintain some personal space.
http://www.calebbooker.com/blog/2009/01/27/roi-in-virtual-worlds-1-why-webcams-fail/

Will you Play Machinima Law?

Yes, you can still take a couple of days off and speed or fly to Palo Alto, California to take part in this uber-exciting conference... like a weekend vacation immersed in the issues of your favourite past-time... making machinima, archiving machinima...
Are you breaking the law... or not?
Absolutely can't wait... I'll be on the panel: Machinima in Game Preservation: A Fair Use Activity?
Moderated by Matteo Bittanti, Associate Researcher, Stanford Humanities Lab, Stanford University.
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/playmachinima
A new debate has already started with the YouTube comments...

Are you a Mindspotter? A Mindkeeper? ... are you Danish?

Dive into The library innovation that is the Mindspot Project: a universe for youth, focussing on what is interesting and usable to the users, gaming events, unorthodox branding where the message is distributed through many different channels, content created in co-creation with young people, lessons in information searches based on young people's needs, Mindspot's caravan, "the Spotmobile"
a glimpse into the future of the library... 2014: the new main library in Aarhus Harbour aptly named 'MediaSpace'
Watch "Mindspot the Movie: The Library as a Universe"
on their YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixsOLvLSARg&fmt=18
Check out the site: http://www.mindspot.dk/
Thank you to Sidsel!

Chris Pirillo installing SDD on 8 core Mac Pro.. yes, please

Chris Pirillo installing SDD on 8 core Mac Pro.. yes, please, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

So I'm watching my favourite show: Chris Pirillo Live on UStream with 572 watching the very elegant $800 SDD going into the stealth mac pro (16 GB RAM, 8 cores)... I want one!
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/chris-pirillo-live
or http://live.pirillo.com

Celebrating Ambrosia's New SnapzProX 2.1.4!

Celebrating Ambrosia's New SnapzProX 2.1.4!, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Changes & Enhancements to Snapz Pro X 2.1.4

-Added a "Save Later" button to the movie conversion dialog.

-Rebooting between movie capture and conversion no longer trashes the capture file.

-Display a very rough approximation of the output size of each track.

-Display a warning if the estimated movie size is greater than the available disk space.

-Raw capture are stored in ~/Library/Caches/Snapz Pro X, and can be copied or moved to other computers running the same version of Snapz.
-Long captures no longer fail during audio conversion, but the audio track is limited to 6.6 hours.

-Updates

"AmbrosiaAudioSupport.kext to 2.3.10, which fixes incompatibility with System 10.5.7"

System Requirements:
Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later.
The Ambrosia Software site:
http://www.Ambrosiasw.com

Ambrosia's SnapzProX 2.1.4 long awaited fixes

Ambrosia's snapzprox 2.1.4 update, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Thank you!

snapzProX Movie could not be opened (OSStatus error - 1409)

snapzProX Movie could not be opened (OSStatus error - 1409), originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Ian Smith's post "Something I said..." has helped me through this utterly frustrating afternoon. Luckily I did take a few hours break while I thought the video was saving... and caught some sunshine, sushi and a latte while watching passersby wheel their groceries across the parking lot... such a waste of time - killing time while Snapz is not saving my vid and having to wheel groceries across parking lots. Looking at alternatives now and really clearing the disks. I have HDs on the Mac Pro and this should NOT have happened. Alas, it did. So I will keep the main HD really clear in future. I do feel better after reading Ian's post.. yes, it was nothing I said.. just did.

SnapzProX cannot be launched - error code -1712

SnapzProX cannot be launched - error code -1712, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

still mad

snapzProX Operation could not be completed - error code 1712

snapzProX Operation could not be completed - error code 1712, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

I was saving the very large HD720p file from the SL Story Project this afternoon and nightmare of nightmares... it was saving to my main hard drive instead of another HD and I got the dreaded message that II was running out of disk space. There was actually 58 GB space remaining on the drive. The file was likely about 3 GB.. so I was really mad... at myself and OSX... and a tiny bit at Snapz.
I am using Snapz Pro X 2.1.3fc2
.... mad, mad, mad.

Second Life Media goes Buckaroo! Stream video with VidMon & display & access web sites with WebMon

So if you are looking for an easier way to stream video into Second Life or provide access to web sites... drop by Buckaroo and pick up WebMon, VidMon and Slider...
Buckaroo Open Source Party, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Buckaroo Open Source Party

Buckaroo, Eduisland 4 (27, 175, 32) slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%204/41/176/25
Excerpt from Bucky Barkley's ( Daniel's) message:
"...interactive objects (WebMon, VidMon, Slider, and much more) have gone Open Source, under a Creative Commons License [1] They are at my store, Buckaroo:
Enjoy, make use of the objects. and send me numerous custom project offers ;)
[1] Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License..."

The Buckaroo T-shirts were made using the Robin (Sojuorner) Wood templates.

Pooky Amsterdam and her quick wit at Alliance Virtual Library Awards Event

Playlist of Golden Leaf Awards videos (6 videos available in SD or HD):
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A62EAF659A614A28
(Note: click on the HQ (high quality) or HD (high definition) button on the YouTube player to view better quality or larger videos (1280x720 = HD)
Part 1: Arriving at the Cinesphere: Pooky Amsterdam greeting attendees with the microphone and her quick wit... with everyone fighting lag as they make it along the red carpet to the wacky teleporter.
Attendees who were recorded include: Krull Aeon for design and creation of the Golden Leaf Award and the beautiful building where the awards were held (see the end of part 6 for great shots of the building and interior). DaisyBlue Hefferman for the interior decoration of the building. Daisyblue's voice instructions for using voice/microphones were super too!
Remember HQ.... really.... click on the teeny tiny HQ button at the lower right of the YouTube player, else you'll be thinking you need glasses or I'm a terrible machinimatographer. OH, remember there was mucho lag. .. your life depends on it. hahahahah says HVX Silverstar

Virtual World Conferences: VWLEM 2009 Conference Planning Meeting

VLEM 2009 Conference Meeting: March 2, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

The Virtual Worlds Libraries Education & Museums Conference will be held in the virtual world of Second Life and some of the presentations will also available on the web via Adobe Connect, April 24-25, 2009.
For further information on the keynote speakers and presentations: http://www.alliancelibraries.info/virtualworlds
For the YouTube playlist of commercials created by Valibrarian, Pia Klaar and HVX Silverstar (me): http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B4809870F4C04968
The planning team is currently reading through presentation proposals on a variety of topics including:

-Virtual world events and exhibits as the drivers of attendance and engagement
-Immersive learning environments
-Reference service possibilities and practicalities in virtual worlds
-Corporate and special librarianship in virtual worlds
-Educational tools and resources
-Enterprise uses of virtual worlds
-Tours of LEM locations in Second Life
-Gaming and virtual worlds
-VW LEM opportunities for children, tweens, and teens
-Dreams and visions for LEM activities in virtual worlds
-Assessing LEM initiatives in virtual worlds
-Sustainability issues and opportunities for LEM activities in virtual worlds

Stay tuned for updates including registration times, price and orientation for speakers and attendees:

Conference Schedule (tentative):
Friday, April 24, 2009, from noon to 4:00 p.m. Second Life Time (U.S. Pacific Time):

noon to 12:45 p.m.: Keynote Panel (no conflict)
1:00 to 1:45 p.m.: First group of sessions
2:00 to 2:45 p.m.: Second group of sessions
3:00 to 3:45 p.m.: Third group of sessions
4:00 to 4:45 p.m.: Social event

Saturday, April 25, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to noon Second Life Time (U.S. Pacific Time):

8:00 to 8:45 a.m.: Keynote Panel (no conflict)
9:00 to 9:45 a.m.: First group of sessions
10:00 to 10:45 a.m.: Second group of sessions
11:00 to 11:45 a.m.: Third group of sessions

Youtube woes: Is the default view 'normal view' for the SD videos better than the HD videos? Absolutely, yes!

ABSOLUTELY, YES!!
Does the YouTube default view 'normal quality' of the HD video looks even worse than the default 'normal quality' of the SD vids? Check out the embedded vids below and decide which of the two LOW res default views is best. Of course forcing the high quality or HD views is the best option:
High Quality: Here is the link to the HIGH QUALITY view on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRbG_GC3GgQ&fmt=18
HD 720p: Here is the link to the actual HD view on YouTube and not the low resolution default view of the HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-76ESWqUMvw&fmt=22

So here is the DEFAULT 'normal view' embed code from the YouTube Site: this is SD 640x480 video displayed in the LOW RESOLUTION as seen on YouTube:



Of course, we can get around this by adding the following code to the end of the URL in the param name and the src in the YouTube embed code: &ap=%2526fmt%3D18
YouTube should offer us the default and the high quality code... yes, we like it when it's easy!

Using the DEFAULT 'normal view' embed code from the YouTube site: THIS ONE is the HD720p video

Give me the Embed Code Generator for High Quality YouTube Embeds....

Using Rupert Howe's Embed Code Generator for High Quality YouTube Videos instead of adding the code: &ap=%2526fmt%3D18
http://www.twittervlog.tv/high-quality-youtube-embed-generator.html
See Rupert's site:
http://twittervlog.tv

Of course, I could have just added the code easier than &ap=%2526fmt%3D18 at the end of the URL for the param name and the embed source...




Honestly, this doesn't look like the high quality view... going to check the youtube forums to see if people are having issues with this.

Super Kaleidoscopium with Thoth Jentzen in Second Life:

Super Kaleidoscopium with Thoth Jentzen, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

My absolute favourite place and experience in SL is Thoth's mega-media environment where YouTube vids could take honours for performance... dancing over objects and phantom spaces. "Have you walked through the forest...?" It's a walk through the technocultural wilds of an artist's mind... the forgiving phantom canvas of the forest dance. I think I'll stand a while as part of the hologram that permeates my digital and physical being. I'm still standing... with the 300 meters of media playing above in the phallec theatre of Beau Longement, a media experience that knows no comparison in any world.

In Second Life® getting ready for the UC Davis Health Informatics 3rd Annual Conference

UC Davis Health Informataics 3rd Annual Conference, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

On Davis Island getting ready for the May 7th conference at UCDMC, Sacramento http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/cme/conferences/pdfs/Lecture_Descriptions.pdf
Registration: https://chtapps.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/servlet/CmeSignIn?ccode=MEDINF9

Choreography & Bovines in a virtual world

Here we are: four of us holding tight and ready for another group shot. Though, we'll need some fancy camera work to get us looking into eagle's lens.
Like a fluid roundhouse kick with the mouse moving left across the sky. Hold those smiles and think of Port Reyes Blue...

on location with Think Mapp, HVX Silverstar and the Bovines of UC Davis.... above Machinima Institute trying to make a commercial.

So who is behind the super cool animated sculpty bovines? Jon Haskall is the creator whose work can be found at:


Place: Sculpty Creations Animals
Region: Extrem Island
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Extrem%20Island/176/52/26Highly textured realistic low prim low cost Sculpted prim Animals from all over the world, African, Australian, American, Asian, European.
Owned by: Sculpty Creatures (group)

Thoth's 'blow-me-away kaleidoscope' media experience in Second Life ®

Teleport to Thoth Jentzen's Kaleidoscopium to be blown away. Grab a chair, lay back and be prepared to truly enjoy a YouTube vid or playlist. You'll feel like you've fallen into an audio/vido kaleidoscope.
Watch the vid in HD: http://youtube.com/v/1SzXjdi2Y54&fmt=22

Thoth Jentzen's pure magical media experience... can't wait to log back in and lay back watching my YouTube playlist... go, Thoth!

Annotations Editor on YouTube: annoy me no more by default

Annotations Editor on YouTube, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

I love the annotations feature but sure wish that it would not be turned ON by default.
Many people have complained and have suggested or begged that it be added as a setting in the account settings. Yes, pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassse turn it OFF by default and add, better still, add it to the account settings.
I prefer to use the old access features via the edit button | Annotations tab. This was just fine!
I would like to have a public or group annotations feature allowing people to overlay comments.. hahahah could get messy.
I'd like something like the old Mojiti that was leagues ahead of its time.
Watch video and view annotations by moving cursor over video:
HD 720p version (requires latest Flash plugin and a fast connection): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tCZkJqu7Ns&fmt=22
or High quality version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tCZkJqu7Ns&fmt=18

Video in the snow...

SnapshotMachinimaIcePalace2_010, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Machinima Institute Ice Palace Skating Rink with video displayed across the snow mounds; Daruma Picnic's Force Sun to Midnight interactive art, sound, colour... with North Lamar, Hyacinth Cortes and HVX Silverstar skating, cycling and flying on silver bullets across the skies of the Alliance Virtual Library.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Machinima%20Institute/135/120/35

So, here's my MacBook Air on Second Life ®

macbookair_fromtheAirPreferences128draw distance, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

I'm taking some screen shots overlooking Info International Island (part of the Alliance Virtual Library) in Second Life®. The preferences screen is open showing my draw distance set at 128 meters. The recommended settings are much lower... and clicking on recommended settings will change the image significantly. I have no trouble moving around... just rather slow compared to a Mac Pro or a high end PC. However, this is equal or better to my first experiences in Second Life which were on an old Mac G4 back in October 2006. See the remaining images showing my preferences set at higher settings... some weird black boxes showing on a couple of the images. I am using Grab to get the screenshots.

My Shasta Baby in the Saturday Morning Sun (HD 720p)

Logging back into Real Life, I'm a Golden
Watch in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY2EE8fgJ9A&fmt=22

A little escape even without the 'take a break button'... logging back into real life... I'm a Golden.
Click on the HD button at the bottom right of the YouTube player to view in better resolution... if on good broadband.

A Capella in Second Life ® by Interactive Media Artist, Daruma Picnic, April 28, 2007 (HD 720p)

Embedded at 864x531 instead of 1280x720 as shown on YouTube. Watch HD 720p on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XysByD6rf8w&fmt=22

A Capella by Daruma Picnic: interactive singing sculture.
Art and vocals by Daruma Picnic. Thank you to Jenn, Casssandra and Natalie... and Elizabeth whose presence and wisdom is truly missed by her friends in SL®. Elizabeth is immersed in the art, colour and sound of Daruma's work; it's an experience only possible in a constructed space somewhere between our imagination and our screens. Elizabeth's postings about Daruma's work: http://binaryfootprint.blogspot.com/search/label/Daruma%20Picnic
and from Saturday, January 20, 2007:http://binaryfootprint.blogspot.com/2007/01/but-auntie-what-does-one-do-in-second.html
© Daruma Picnic & HVX Silverstar April 28, 2007. Filmed on Info Island in the very beautiful Second Life®

Archival Footage: Librarians of Second Life ® March 17, 2007 (HD 720p)

So this is a very early machinima that was created back in Feb. 2007. It was originally captured at 720x480... so as you can see it looks pretty crummy up-converted, if that's a word, to 1280x720. Luckily YouTube accepted it as HD even though the quality is pretty poor. BUT... it's a pretty cool window into the early days of the Alliance Virtual Library and a collaborative effort to present a machinima at the ACRL poster session in Baltimore, 2007.
Watch on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54dFEetypL8&fmt=22
Shown emedded at 864x531 instead of 1280x720.

Second Life viewer Jan 4, 2009: 71,457 online (logins temporarily capped)

Second Life viewer Jan 4, 2009: 71,457 online (logins temporarily capped), originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

wow.. and i wanted to go to the Alliance Virtual Library meeting on Info Island.... here I sit with my coffee with the glare of the simulated snow blinding me...

I am Library: an ode to self-discovery & collective creativity in Second Life® in HD 720p

I'm slowly uploading HD versions of videos/machinima about the Alliance Virtual Library to YouTube.  Be sure to click on the 'full screen' icon at bottom right of the youtube player (square icon).
Here is the one from October 2008: 

I am Library: an ode to self-discovery & collective creativity in Second Life®
To view in full screen, follow the link to YouTube and click on the square 'full screen' icon at lower right side of youtube window.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQCoy6MABQM&fmt=22


******************************************************************************
The title proclamation needs a bit of explanation... some excerpts below
Second Life: The Journey toward Virtual World adoption
 .... In order to see the library community of Second Life in context, it is necessary to follow some of the recent Second Life milestones. The proclamation “I am Library” is an ode to self-discovery, in an individual sense; for the people who are the library communities of Second Life, it’s a journey of exploration filled with collective curiosity and creativity as the current presence of “Library” evolves within the context of the greater virtual landscape.....
I am both physical and virtual.
Imagination and creativity…
I am part of a simulated 3D environment created by its users.
Yet I am more. I am global.  I am local. 
I am Community.  I am social.
I am sharing, collaboration and learning. 
I am Library.
I am part of a trans-media journey where destination is experience.
I am the structures and open space, brought to life by the residents of the virtual world.
I am an extension of the physical world relying on broadband and accelerated graphics.
I am here.  I am real, part of the collective creativity…”