The SL House & Garden Group Annual Awards 2010/2011 nominations for [MAGIC NOOK]!

Saturday, November 27, 2010 / by

I'm very proud to say [MAGIC NOOK] has been nominated for The SL House & Garden Group Annual Awards 2010/2011 in two categories: Best Freebie/Gift of 2010 and Your Favorite Shop To Visit (best decorated) Of 2010.

The SL House & Garden Group Annual Awards 2010/2011 nominations for [MAGIC NOOK]!

It's truly magic to see my store among so many fantastic nominees. Thank you!

If you'd like to vote for [MAGIC NOOK] to win in the two categories, you can cast your vote here:
http://slhouseandgarden.wufoo.com/forms/sl-house-garden-group-annual-awards-20102011/

A huge thanks to those of you who already voted for the nominations and to those who will be voting for [MAGIC NOOK] in the online survey. Every vote means a lot to me!

The winners will be announced on December 5th. May the best designers win!

Avatars in browsers

Saturday, November 20, 2010 / by

I'm a curious avatar. However, when I heard of SL Web Viewer, my first thought was 'what for?'. But after actually trying it, I see some possible uses.

Getting to try SL in a browser wasn't as easy as it seems. When I read the beta is open, I went to http://interest.secondlife.com/beta and meh - I wasn't qualified to test it.

Luckily, I am also a very persistent avatar :) I managed to access the web viewer with a little javascript code I found on New World Notes:
javascript:window.popup_shown=false;$('#guide .failure').hide();showSuccessPopup();
(thank you, SignpostMarv Martin!)

SL Web Viewer 1

SL Web Viewer 2

SL Web Viewer 3

It works fast. Really fast. I'm impressed with Gaikai technology. Everything rez in time, the teleports are working properly, you can chat with other avatars - just as if you were logged in a regular viewer. It does have some limitations though: you don't have your inventory, your look is limited to pre-defined avatars, you can only teleport to locations from 'Destination Guide' and your name is simply Guest.

SL Web Viewer 4

SL Web Viewer 5
SL Web Viewer 6

SL Web Viewer 7

The controls and options you have are limited - generally, the web viewer can be used to explore and chat only. But, the overall experience is fun and you have to keep in mind this is only a beta, so things might change in future. If Linden Lab will continue to pursue the idea, that is. It's interesting though: imagine embedding a location from SL on your website, so that visitors can log in to your events, meet with SL residents at your venue, and maybe register for regular Second Life if they like the experience, since SL sends a 'There's more to explore!' e-mail after each use of SL Web Viewer.

SL Web Viewer 8

SL Web Viewer 9

I'm certainly hoping to hear more on the topic of web based SL in future.