If you like crashing into each other, you can go to the Battle Dome and have a go on the bumper cars. 
I have travelled Second Life and seen some wonderful things and some dreadful things, too. Haven’t we all? I have met people from different countries in sims dedicated to those countries and their languages and had to use an online translator just to find out if I was making a fool of myself with my schoolboy Italian. (I was!)However, someone recently brought to my attention a translator, a FREE translator, which used Google to do the translation in Local Chat, immediately and for several languages at the same time.
I already had a translator but found it difficult to use so kept it in the bottom drawer of my inventory.
Well, it sounded to good to be true. However with my newshound’s hat on, I went to Phaze Demesnes (227, 224, 24) and found Ferd’s free Google Chat translator. I was standing in queue waiting for the others to get their copy.
I clicked the board and the translator went straight into my inventory, and I was amazed. There was a long list of languages, clear instructions and within half a minute, my world had changed.
At the bottom of my screen, there appeared a list of names, distances and languages.
Then, when we all got talking, I could see someone saying something in Spanish, somebody else in French and someone in Korean. THEN, it came up on the screen in English, for each one!
Astonished at how quick it was… and accurate, (I speak French and could tell with that language, at least.) I went off to foreign sims and tried out “my” new skills. Well, I’m a happy bunny. I can go anywhere and be understood in over fifty different languages, just by speaking English. All we need is to get this into Real Life!
I was so pleased that I contacted the creator and he introduced me to it’s sister application, Ferd's Chat to Speech V1.4 Universal Web Translator. You could have knocked me down with a feather!
This one is based on the translator, but converts the typed words into audible SPEECH!
Now, that is a very difficult thing to do and uses up a lot of bandwidth so it is limited in its distribution to people with poor eyesight and organisations who represent them.
But, how wonderful! I know we have got adapted keyboards and screens and all sorts of clever stuff in RL, but it is something like this that shows the potential of SL.
A few people like Ferd Frederix, with their skills can open up new worlds to many more people who may not otherwise have been able to communicate in text, because this is not just Voice, it is simultaneously translated, a different thing altogether.
Ferd reserve all rights to determine which individuals and organizations may use the Chat to Text Speech system.
Examples:
· Sight-challenged individuals
· Organizations that support the blind
· Event organizers
With these two apps, I think Ferd will have made an enormous contribution to communication in SL. And I, for one, would like to thank him.
Kim Trefusis
I have the good fortune to rent an office on Vio. What is Vio? Vio is two things. It is a place and a concept.The place is set on two island sims, Vio and Vio II.
The centrepiece on Vio is a circular auditorium called The Crucible, with seating for over 70 people. Facing it is a giant whiteboard which can be used for any of several purposes. In front of the whiteboard is seating for the speakers. The auditorium is the middle of a five-part layout. The four outer squares house sweeping arches which support a huge exhibition hall, over 20 metres up in the air, with more than 20 exhibition stands. A wide corridor takes you round the hall which is spaced in such a way that you do not feel crowded, a welcome difference to many exhibitions I have attended in the past.
Separating the four outer squares and running under the auditorium are waterways flowing out to the sea. This is a business centre with a beautiful heart. Three of the outer squares are open spaces to enjoy. The fourth is grassed over and is surrounded by information panels, telling you all you need to know about Vio, the place and the concept. Surrounded by these, is the “Cool Wall” a bank of panels dedicated to each Vio resident, telling all about them, each panel gives out information created by the residents themselves.
Through the trees that surround the whole of the centre, you can glimpse several superbly designed single-storey buildings. These are the offices of Vio. There are more on Vio II.
On Vio, there are twelve complexes, as each building is known, and they all back on to the sea. How wonderful to be able to take a break from the day’s work and take in such a view! Each one has the facility to offer up to four different layouts. Depending on your needs, you can have a quarter of the building, separated from the rest for L$ 700 with 150 prims a week. Next up is a half at L$1400 a week with 300 prims. If you want more, this can be negotiated with the estate manager, Esvee Fallen or the owner Xander Newman.
On Vio II, there are four areas separated by water ways, running to the sea. In the centre is a beautiful water feature. There are large, two storey offices available at L$1900 a week offering 360 prims as well as the one storey buildings. The whole aspect of Vio II is more mixed than that of Vio, which is the hub of the island group. It is beautifully landscaped and has a serene atmosphere to it, enabling you to make those important decisions in tranquil surroundings. An interesting touch is the lighthouse, in one corner.
If that’s not secluded enough for you, may I present the Skyboxes? There are eight single storey buildings and four two storey buildings, over 500 metres in the sky. Standing on one of the balconies, I can see the others suspended in a bright blue sky. Majestic!
Vio offers a wide range of office facilities, from 200 sqms to 1660 sqms, from 150 prims to 450. And the rest… The rest? Conference facilities, networking as part of the business culture, the use of the Crucible for discussion, seminars and meet & greet. There are secure meeting facilities available to hire and so on. There is definitely more to Vio than meets the eye.
“But, Kim, you mentioned two things”, you ask. Yes I certainly did.
The concept. Vio is much more than a group of offices, however well designed and however beautiful the surroundings. It is a community.
Take a look at the information panels and you will see what I mean. Seriously, after you have read this article go to Vio, 145, 146, 27. Or look in Search for Vio and that will take you there.
You will find yourself at the heart of the Vio central hub. Go straight to your left and read the panels from 1 to 20 and be prepared to be amazed. I’ve worked on business parks in RL and SL. But this is different. Based in Second life, Vio brings you the best of both worlds.
You can have your own private office, where you can work in peace and privacy, you can reach out to two worlds with your message from here. People will come to you in their numbers to hear what you have to say and to see what you have to offer.
I work from home in RL (Real Life) but I have access to the whole world because of what Vio and Second Life offer me. I can do this because I am not alone. There is the Vio community.
Ask a question in the Vio Business Group window and the answers are there, not immediately, not every time (I don’t want to paint a false picture of perfection. Perfection doesn’t exist, but Vio does a good approximation!).
Then there’s the website http://www.getvio.com/ , full of information and a calendar of events. It has the business directory, to which you would be added, if you became a Vio networker. There are links to sources of information and help.
To use their own words, I will answer the title question and introduce you to their concept, which makes Vio so very, very different.
“What is VIO?
VIO (VIRTUAL INNOVATIVE OPPORTUNITIES)
VIO is a collaborative business incubator bringing together virtual world and real world companies to work together to accomplish their goals. VIO is also the name of the SIM or island in the virtual world of Second Life developed to serve as a resource for the RL and SL business community.”
Here are the contact details again: Estate Manager, Esvee Fallen, owner Xander Newman. Website: http://www.getvio.com/ , Landmark; Vio (146, 147, 27).
Come and join us, this could be the beginning of something big!
You would have to have been there to have believed it. The Amazon Job Fair was in full flood when I arrived. There were up to 60 avatars there at any one time, sometimes peaking at over 70, and not one sign of lag. Everyone was rushing hither, thither. Scattered amongst a throng of jobseekers, shouting “Where do I put my resume?”, “I'm interested in project and program management opportunities”, interspersed with “You can also email your resumes” was a group of Amazon employees fielding these question with patience and aplomb.
“I have been here since 5:15 AM.” said one. What?
I am standing in the empty arena where all this took place only 24 hours ago. It is silent and empty. I have time to collect my thoughts and think about what had just happened. Several hundred applicants had bombarded the Amazon staff for possibly 12 hours.
The area was laid out with a central meeting area surrounded by tents dedicated to particular skills and vacancies. Around this central areas, like 21st century Stonehenge, there was a ring of panels explaining what the event was all about, giving instructions to the very excited and determined applicants that flew, jumped and teleported in and out, doing a good impression of a swarm of giant mayflies. There were mailboxes strategically placed for those who had read the panels and were ready with their resumes. Others, not so well organised, rushed around bumping into each other trying to get the attention of the Amazon staff who were not already surrounded.
Suddenly in the middle of this milling crowd Philip Linden appeared, taking photographs. The senior representatives of Amazon greeted him and they all started to discuss the success of the day, so far. But even the presence of the avatar of the creator of Second Life did not stop the masses from harassing the Amazon staff.
Resume Mailbox whispers: “My inventory has changed and there are now 115 notecards inside.” Amazing! Despite the chaos, things were happening just as Amazon had planned. I was just a bystander, a witness, and I spent my time there in shock! I was being buffeted by 2 day old residents, still unable fly and walk properly, seeking high-level positions with Amazon, belying their stumbling steps in Second Life with a Real Life of years work experience at a very high level of expertise.
Like two sides of a football game, Amazon staff and the hundreds of applicants were battling it out for what was a truly common goal, the filling of vacancies in a shared and flexible and workable environment.
I arrived on a sun-drenched beach to start my journey through Reflections Plaza, a residential paradise. As I looked round there were people chatting, sunning themselves by a tiny inland lake fed by a sparkling waterfall.
Is that a good, appropriate question to ask, nowadays or a worn out record. Let’s find out.
A bot is an avatar which is controlled by a machine, rather than by a human, simple really. So why worry about that? If a human can do a thing is Second Life, what does
it matter that the process can be automated?
On the positive side, it means that all regular or widespread communications can be done at a single stroke of a key and left to be run by a bot. So what’s the fuss?
It is the purpose to which a bot is put that is contentious. The notorious copybot is a case in point. It is possible to steal a design, change permissions, sell the design/product in huge quantities without the original creator benefiting from his or her work. Worse than that, a copybot automates this process. It can be placed in or around a designer’s premises without being identified and steal, steal, steal.
All activities in Second Life are based on the open source Linden Scripting Language (LSL) (open source means that it is available for anyone to use in any way that they can devise) this brings many benefits to Second Life residents’ lives. We can build houses, vehicles, clothes, we can write scripts to power our cars, planes and boats, to greet people, send them messages, invite them to parties etc.
Open Source means an open world.
However, it also makes virtual criminal activity possible, too. Like a knife, its use depends on the motives of the user. A knife can save a life (in surgery) or take a life (in a robbery). A bot can enhance our second lives by opening up communication channels, for instance, or it can bring misery, if used to steal our hard-earned designs of anything that can be built in Second Life.
There had been calls to revoke the open-source rights to residents. When the furore had cooled down, it was realised that this was just a knee-jerk reaction. Pandora’s box is open and it’s too late to close it.
Do we want to put our freedom back in the box? Just look at the figures when you log on to Second Life: 50,000 or more people logged-on at any one time. So many of those people are creating, contributing to their home-from-home.
Beautiful houses, “wild” animals, pets, cars, planes, even our own virtual bodies have been made possible by this open source policy. Linden Lab started everything but it’s the residents who have continued it to heights we see today.
And that’s the problem. With freedom comes the abuse of freedom. So, why should we NOT revoke open source lsl. Because we will also revoke our creativity.
We must protect our freedom over and above our commercial and financial gains, because those gains would not exist without “freedom” or ”open source”. Freedom is not the culprit here, it is the abuse of that freedom and those residents who abuse it to their own, selfish, ends that are the culprits.
With freedom comes responsibility, so let’s take that responsibility as a community and hunt down those who abuse our rights and remove THEM.
With the waves breaking upon the shore, we came across some beach chalets. Now there is somewhere I would like to live, a few feet away from the ocean. To be able to wake (rezz?) to the sounds of the sea is my idea of paradise.
Have you ever fancied a day out? I mean a REAL day out. Maybe get a few friends together and have some fun? Of course you have. Being with friends for a while at the weekend makes a hard-working week worthwhile.
Somebody, possibly only a day old in Second life, is asking to borrow L$1. What! You have been through this so many times before and so have your friends. No matter what the group is you belong to; SL Help Desk, blues appreciation or even one dedicated to philosophy, someone is begging. Not all the time but it feels like it.
Oh, yes, they say, “borrow”, “I’ll pay you back soon”, “It’s for a friend”. Do they have no idea what ONE Linden Dollar is worth in the Real World? There is no comparison. But they still do it. Recently, one asked for L$930. Well that, at least, is worth begging for! But they still got the same short shrift as all the others!
Some respondents on the group chat window get very angry; some just mute the beggar and close down the window. Others will lecture them on the morals of begging, still others quote the TOS. The responses are varied but follow a pattern...................
Continued reading Kims article in the PEOPLE section
Have you ever been to a boxing match? Have you ever been to a boxing match in SECOND LIFE? I HAVE!