Second Life and the Future 

I have been in Second Life for a long time now, at least in avatar years. I have been fortunate to find many, many bright people and despite its problems that is the single most important reason I have stayed and still do despite a growing wave of virtual worlds that will soon hit the Net. Whether or not Bleys Chevalier and I release MicroPepper and RegionTracker is still under consideration given stability issues.

It is these same issues that prompt this blog. MicroPepper and Region Tracker are designed to let sellers (or universities) scale their micro-vending operations, reporting, and affiliate force with a low-cost flat rate fee- in our opinion it is the best, but that is our opinion. Right now if a delivery fails on initial delivery, we make at least ten more re-attempts to deliver. Starting to get the drift of the pain digital crafters are feeling? You must be able to allow content creators the ability to SCALE and that means reducing customer service overhead.

(Note: If you want to beta test MicroPepper or Region Tracker contact Bleys Chevalier or Corwin Chevalier in-world or message me at Twitter . Currently with only a handful of beta testers the system processes about 500,000 Lindens per month and you can also track your SLEX sales, visitors, frame rates, etc, etc.)

My Timeless Mentor

At any rate one person stands out who has been a great mentor, Timeless Prototype often known for his Multi Gadget, Mookah (Sheesha, Hookah), Radio Controlled Planes, Walk and Talk and a certain couch that I spent hours writing copy for *cough*. I doubt there are few people in Second Life who do not possess a Multi Gadget. I give them out as welcome gifts. There are many knock-offs, but the Multi Gadget does it all. (O.K. It cannot protect you from Prokofy Neva, who is my second favorite person in Second Life.)

Tracking Timeless

As the lore goes, I tracked him down to his underground club, Timeless Underground, where we discussed ancient philosophy over a game of chess, but this is Second Life and nothing is out of the question- like playing chess in a club that looks like an Elder God from the Cthulu mythos was sawed into pieces and scattered about while people are experimenting with trance dance moves from the Matrix.

We, even today, continue our philosophical discussions and he was integral if not essential in collaborating with me on the Primula Rasa  (here for more photos), and the Monolith 8 campaigns, and I was happy to donate island use for the 4th Annual Satellite Exhibition (4ASE) (Click to See Video). You should also catch his famous London Eye and he is also known for helping out with Relay For Life. Warning- his idea of fun is hanging out in sand boxes while dodging LOLCube attacks…in his own words:

I “grew up” in the sandboxes, and it’s always good to remember where you come from in life, even in Second Life, and show your respects. - Timeless Prototype

Time Stands Still?

At any rate Second Life has had its share of issues- as any platform does, but as of late developers are getting waspish. While I parlay with Time on a daily basis I was concerned when I saw this on a scripting list:

 ”…object to object e-mails failing, replying to offline IMs via e-mail
failing, and I’m srsly DONE asking

daily issues

enough!

I’ve taken the Multi Gadget vendor offline, tiered down, waiting for
island parcel rental to expire. I will treat SL as a beta game and/or
chat room until general stability returns.”

Seemed like a good time to get a few answers straight from Time. 

Interview with Timeless Prototype (a.k.a. Time)

Wayne) OK Time, for the uninitiated how long have you been in Second Life?

Time) Since 2004.

Wayne) That is a long time as avatars go. So I take it you do you enjoy the platform?

Time) Yes, it appeals to me on artistic, technical and social levels. No other virtual world comes close to this.

Wayne) I can identify with that. So why pull your vendors offline as I noted in a scripters list ?

Time) If people buy stuff that won’t deliver and I can’t reply via offline IMs because I’m not always at my computer, then I’m going to get unhappy customers…customer satisfaction is incredibly important.

Wayne) What are the top three upsides to Second Life? 

Time) Top three positives: Creativity outlet, shared experiences with friends and micropayment capital of the Internet.

Wayne) How about the top three negatives?

Time) Top three negatives: insufficient business and collaboration tools, intermittent stability and no shiny alpha and shadow casting (immersion is very important, anything that breaks the immersion is a big failure IMHO)

Wayne) As a long-standing and well known veteran where do you think Linden Labs should marshall their resources?

Time) Linden Labs should focus on stability, even if that is to be interpretted as adding new features such as Kelly Linden’s work to make it possible to send HTTP requests to scripts in world so that we won’t need to rely on e-mail protocols for sending data into SL. Hopefully this could also be used for messaging between scripts in world too, being careful about security implications of course.

There is currently also a glitch with rendering updated objects such that the most recent change to the objects does not get applied visually until it is either selected or further updated. It impacts the immersion factor at the end of the day, you bring your mind out of the world by one level to recognize that it’s a glitch.

Wayne) When can we expect your vendors to go back online?

Time) There is currently no planned date for bringing them back online. I guess I need my faith to be restored in the Second Life platform before I commit more time to it, at least from a serious content creation perspective.

Wayne) Any parting words of advice?

Time) Hope can be a very powerful driver. If we lose hope, we’ve lost everything.

That’s all folks…let’s hope Linden Lab get things sorted out. Next topic- Security in Second Life…oxymoron or…

Popularity: 3% [?]

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My brother is a stickler for deals. A true system gamer. I have not tested his methodology below but figured I would pass it along for those who will go through loops to get deals. The deal is at Buy.com and for the Logitech 9000 camera- which gets good rankings. One one deal you get a reduced price and the other, if you go through all the hoops I think you actually get paid.

Compare to the 9000 (Logitech website)

You can get this camera for $45.73
9000

Buy.com Price:     $85.73
Shipping:      FREE

Sign up for the buy.com visa and get $30.00 off =  $55.73
 

New Google Checkout Customers: (only if you are new)
Instantly receive $10 off your first Google Checkout order!
Limit one per customer.

With the Google perk you get another $10.00 off  =$45.73

Not bad, but what if buying a camera actually put money in your pocket?
 

Get Paid to Buy This Camera

Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 (Click Here) - 960-000048

1) Check camera make sure it is one you want.

2) Surf here and get the $40.00 rebate form.  Ends june 11 2008

3) Sign up for Buy dotcom Visa and get $30.00 off

4) Use Google checkout and get $10.00 off

Buy.com price:     $59.99
Price After Rebate(s):$19.99
Shipping:      FREE
Google Checkout -$10.00  = $9.99
Buy.com visa -$30.00 =  You get the camera and paid $20.00

I have not went through the process, but my brother is pretty sharp about these sort of things. If you are one of those people who love deals- have at it and let me know if it worked. If you really like the post consider casting a vote at Digg and spreading the word. Keep in mind some shops will not let you “stack” promotions- for just this reason.

ADDENDUM on Camera Prices:

I did a little price searching on the Logitech 9000 (not the one with USB) to see how this deal stacked up. Pretty darn good. Here are the results from a random sampling of competitors that sell the product. Dell, OnSale, and NewEgg seemed to fair the best, but I did not note any special deals. Happy Hunting.

• Pricerunner France 70.02 EUR
• PCRush  $92.73 USD
• xPCGear $89.99 USD
• NewEgg $84.99 USD
• Otto Produktkatalog 99.99 EUR
• Shop.com $87.80 USD
• Skype $99.99 USD
• Webhallen Product Catalogue kr745.00
• inWarehouse Product Catalogue kr745.00
• UK Product Catalog 69..99 GBP
• Camera World $90.45 USD
• WolfCamera $90.45 USD
• PCMall $92.99 USD
• Dell $79.99 USD
• Shoplet $87.95 USD
• OnSale $74.99 USD

Popularity: 2% [?]

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Scribd.com is offering a rather interesting online publishing service that lets users upload portions of their blogs, podcast transcripts, documents and other material using a proprietary system. They claim over 17 million people a month view documents on Scribd.

What is Scribd?

(skribb’d) is a free, web-based self-publishing platform and document exchange community that enables anyone to easily publish, distribute, share, and discover electronic books, documents, presentations, newsletters, photo albums, and more.

Scribd provides:

1. A simple yet powerful method of publishing and distributing your own electronic books and documents in a variety of formats - for free.

2. A vibrant, global community of eager publishers, readers and collaborators that offer great content and constructive feedback.

3. A massive, perpetually growing library of open, community-generated and -published content.

4. A secure, flexible private document managment system.

Scribd for Professionals

http://www.scribd.com/platform/home

iPaper is a document viewer built for the modern web. It’s the first full-featured viewer that runs in a web page with no additional software. Using iPaper on your website offers the following fundamental benefits:

• Increased traffic to documents
• Enhanced security
• Monetization of your documents with contextual ads.

The Scribd Platform

This provides a set of tools and documentation that allows you to easily integrate iPaper and other Scribd features with your own website. There are three ways to integrate iPaper with your website:

• QuickSwitch - Convert all of the documents on your website to iPaper in minutes
• Scribd API - Everything you could ever want to do with iPaper, document management and searching
• Embed - Upload to Scribd and then copy and paste the embed code

The Scribd Platform is a broad set of tools and services designed to help you customize, integrate, deploy, and monetize fully-formatted documents on your website without extra software. The platform’s components - the Scribd API, the iPaper JavaScript API, and QuickSwitch - vary greatly in their complexity and specific features, so be sure to review the online documentation so that you can determine which one is best for you.

Tools

Scribd Uploader (12.8meg)

Category Feeds

Caveat

However some have complained their content has been “lifted” e.g. “screwed by Scribd”. Scribd has posted their side of the story…and I tend to believe these instances are unscrupulous people who snag content and “make it their own”. At any rate this is another interesting venue to publish your documents for both exposure and possibly contextual advertising revenue.

iPhone Compatible

You can click on a document on Scribd, and iPhone will open the document in iPhone’s native viewer. iPhone supports PDF, Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and text files…yet another way to get your content out there.

Tell me what you think.

ADDENDUM: Confirmed it supports the following formats:

Adobe PDF (.pdf)
Adobe PostScript (.ps)
Microsoft Word (.doc)
Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pps)
Microsoft Excel (.xls)
OpenOffice Text Document (.odt, .sxw)
OpenOffice Presentation Document (.odp, .sxi)
OpenOffice Spreadsheet (.ods, .sxc)
All OpenDocument formats
StarOffice Documents
Plain text (.txt)
Rich text format (.rtf)

Popularity: 2% [?]

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Bingr.com has released what appears to be a time sensitive split testing service for bloggers…For 30 days - you get detailed reports about who’s clicking your links. (After 30 days, your links will continue to redirect, but will not be tracked.)

This is is how it works and it is pretty easy to do.

Take this URL for the SLExchange (New Window) where you can get a Linden-based commission for making a referral, if a person purchases. Common practice. Yeah- affiliate marketing in Second Life. Novel huh?

http://www.slexchange.com/index.php?affiliate=e4ae92a68b86af46da9a13873783f1

With the Bingr service you give the URL a simple name. If you are going to do multiple tests beyond A/B like multi-variate, etc. You might want to use a simple convention slex1, slex2, slex3, slex4. It doesn’t matter because the service is still going to return a random string.

Thus the long URL above becomes: http://bingr.com/5i92

Not exciting, but split testing from various multi-verses could get interesting.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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It is that time again. Personalization for those inclined to give special gifts to their virtual or “pixelated” friends. What do you give your post-human, spend-too-much-time-in-Second-Life friends? Photos, better yet photobooks, or yes- even stamps of their avatars!

The latest deals, coupons, and breaks are updated: - dotphoto promotions

- Kodak coupons
- Snapfish special offers

- Photoworks special deals

Let’s not forget Stamps.com which allows you to put ANY photo on a block of stamps…not that many people send snail mail these days, but sending one with your avatar’s snap is a classy touch.

Popularity: 6% [?]

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Once again, as the holidays approach, another photo printing service for those who are fans of avatar photography. I last covered dotphoto promotions, and Kodak coupons as well as Snapfish special offers. Some will scoff at the idea of real world gifts for a posthuman existence, but photo taking and machinima making are two very common activities and thus gifts that avatars give.

This is especially true with Second Life Marriages. As bizarre as it may sound this is actually quite common and I have attended several ceremonies across many different faiths. It is often referred to as having a Second Life Partner. You pay a fee and sure enough that special, virtual someone is featured in your profile as your Second Life Marriage partner.

It is cheap to get married, and a bit more expensive to have them dissolved- but still a bargain if you weigh it against Real World ceremony costs of marriage or divorce. I know of more than one couple, seperated by hundreds of miles, who actually go to bed in real life, yet their avatars stay online and “sleep” in their home using “stay alive” scripts. Bizarre or a sign of the times? I have found it is actually quite common. While gifts at these ceremonies tend to be a donation of Linden Dollars (money), or a handcrafted virtual item in one case I actually saw a couple gifted with land and a virtual home. So why not physical gifts? It is coming as more and more items spew from the virtual world and into real world existence. The logical starting point is photo-based gifts. While some see it as a “game” to many participants this is an important part of their life and relationships.

Photoworks is a photo gifting outfit meaning you can put a photo on just about anything cool from a mug to a calender to an apron or even a jewelry box. It is very easy to turn your digital photographs into one-of-a-kind gifts such as (my favoriate) photo-books, holiday cards, calendars and of course stunning prints. These products are great gifts- especially for virtual relationships- try the photobooks and you will see what I mean, and PhotoWorks’ stresses quality-so the gifts aren’t cheesy.

They carry the following sizes: Canvas Prints, Posters, Large Format Prints, Wallets, 3×5, 4×6, 5×7, 8×10, 11×14, 12×18, 16×20, 20×30

Paper Used: Kodak paper and Fuji paper

20% Off Digital Camera Underwater Housings at Fujifilmmall.com!
Use Promo Code: Under20

Products Produced: Photo Books, Calendar, Calendars, Signature Greeting Cards, Greeting Cards, Slides, Canvas Prints, Posters, Large Format Prints, Mugs, DYI Greetings, Boxes, keychains- you name it- they probably make it.

Photoworks Promotions and Special Deals

10% Off Entire Order
Get 15% off Photo Gifts at PhotoWorks.com

15% off PhotoCards from PhotoWorks
Free Shipping on Personalized PhotoBooks
Free Shipping at PhotoWorks.com
Free Standard Shipping at PhotoWorks.com.

Get 25 Free Prints From PhotoWorks Now!

Get 25 Free Prints From PhotoWorks Now!

Holiday Photo-Cards at PhotoWorks.com
Free Shipping on PhotoBooks

Get 25 Free 4×6 Prints From PhotoWorks

10% off at PhotoWorks.com

GIFT IDEAS FOR VIRTUAL FRIENDS, GROUPS or OCCASIONS:

PLAYING CARDS: card playing is a popular metaverse activity, simply upload your print and you will have a customized deck of cards.

Metropolitan Oversize - Midnight Black Photo Book- Snap photos of your favorite group, club, or hangout moments and you have a regal gift that leaps fromm virtual to real.

11×16 Calendar - Classic Capture a photo a month and you have a cool gift that is unique and blows the store ready calenders out of the water.

Glossy Avatar Puzzle- Virtual relationships are like a puzzle and this nifty personalized gift is a great way to show it off.

Virtual Business Clipboard- With so many “shadow consumers”, creators, content makers and business owners growing the virtual GNP- a clipboard of their virtual business is a great way to get rememebered.

Nifty Avatar Collage Mouse Pad- Simply put together several poignant snaps of your friend’s virtual existence and you have a nice personalized keepsake they can use.

POPULAR DYI CARDS, STICKERS, APRONS, BUILD YOUR OWN, PHOTO BOOKS AND APRONS- SAMPLE PHOTOS of PRODUCTS

Popularity: 9% [?]

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Continuing the tradition of aggregating online photo printing services for avatar photo fans I have found dotPhoto- Join Free – unlimited photo and video sharing, receive 50 FREE Prints now! ( See Kodak coupons and Snapfish promotions)

- 50 FREE 4×6 prints.
- FREE personal web site.
- FREE multi-media slide shows.
- Make Cool Videos with transitions
- Online photo sharing with friends and family members.
- Enormous storage for digital photos and videos.
- Whole range of extra photo related material

++ Get 10% OFF your order with coupon code 10OFF1006

++ Print and frame your digital photos at dotPhoto!

FREE PHOTO UPLOAD SOFTWARE (BETA)- works on cell phones too.

dotPhoto, using Noromis Software makes it super easy to get photos from a camera and upload them to your account. You can enable processor-intensive functions like adjusting, cropping and red-eye fix on your local PC for better responsiveness using their desktop printing platform. On average people generally print 50 to 100 prints at a time online (some people print over 1000!!), and doing it without software to do it in batch is a major pain. Not to mention there are many occasions when you want a print to take to school or a few photos immediately. As a plus dotPhoto provides free download capabilities, so you can email wireless images from camera phones, download them to your desktop, and print locally with dotPhoto Go. Single photos, small batches, or giant batches- this place has it covered.

avatar photos Deals & Shopping Dotphoto

Popularity: 8% [?]

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OK I have reviewed Kodak in the past and Snapfish but Sony Image Station doesn’t appear to have image books- too bad it is a perfect for avatar pictures of course! I like to capture images in 3-D metaverses, not for texturing- for collecting.

Sony’s ImageStation, PC Magazine Editors’ Choice January 2007, rated best online photo service and take advantage of the tremendous growth of digital photography by joining Sony ImageStation’s service…..but this might be better than Sony’s offer- make your own avatar postage or baby stamps-that you can mail

SPECIALS

NOT TO FORGET MY UK FRIENDS- AVATAR PHOTOBOOKS

myphotobook.co.uk> Discounts applicable!

Popularity: 15% [?]

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Breaking up the long AM prelude post…

- I tried iStockPhoto for the first time and I loved the service. Why is it people are very comfortable with selling pieces of video or their photograph, yet when it comes to words people don’t like it? Eitherway I love the fact that many are indy photographers. I really want to see micro-transactions take off…time for avatar photos perhaps.

- Interesting tool reviewed by Heather Paulson. Lots of neat graphs- speaking of which I checked out Google’s Beta Analytics and, aside from a network, ahem, change or two, less really is more. I still cannot find a metrics package that does what I want though. They might reign supreme, but I think Mashable missed it. However, Google has mopped up Measure Map.

- Ben Edelman checks in on traffic inflation via spyware and Jimmy Daniels also discusses it. ComScore, Alexa, Nielsen- all of these places are tangling with the IAB- at least ComScore and Nielsen…but let’s talk Alexa. Again in an extremely long beta podcast I think Professor Harrelson and I made it pretty clear that gaming a system like Alexa is as easy as pie- unless they fixed it since then. Throw your old metrics out the door.

- Since we are on Alexa- Amazon fires up Web Services in Second Life according to mark Wallace at 3pointd.com, (no surprise given Bezos has a stake) and we learn how to build an Amazon store per the Jnana System- nice try- I am more interested in Jnana’s core software. Sophisticated logic Without coding- Zero code! An inference engine and automated control logic sporting declarative semantics and multiple reasoning tools.

I better post this at Revenews so Trust knows…but I am taking a break…although for Second Life fans this month’s print issue has quite a forray into the metaverse, which is much more plush than my short piece written several months ago. Now we have widgets…or gadgets.

Popularity: 16% [?]

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I admit it. I love to shop for electronics and computer stuff…especially deals. (Reminds self to work on “stacking strategy paper”. While probing for some USB Memory I found some neat deals at BUY USA and BUY CA.

Two Gigs SnowDrive USB 2.0 Flash Drive At the moment, meaninig it could change- this comes to around $9.95 US if you are New to google checkout uand use it or $19.95 with Free Shipping and not new to Google Checkout. This piece of gear is usually pretty pricey- anywhere from $34.00 to $59.00. I am getting one for my youngster.

“ACP-EP Memory has teamed up with the best snowboard companies in the industry to create the first and only authentic “USB Flash Drive Snowboards”. Combining the graphics from actual Forum Snowboards you can get your favorite snowboard graphics, like X-Games Star Eddie Wall Signature Forum Snowboard. For the stylish sneaker net.”

Forum Graphics w/ Rubberized textureNeck strap attachment on USB DriveUSB 2.0 High Speed Interface (USB 1.1 Compatible)True Plug-and-Play connection for hot swap functionLED indicates when drive is in use. Hot-swappable, Plug and Play O/S. 1 x 4-pin Type A Male USB 2.0 - USB.

ACP-EP 2GB USB 2.0 SnowDrive Flash Drive $19.95 Shipped

Dimensions 0.19″ Height x 0.94″ Width x 3.74″ Length
Standard Warranty 2 Year(s)
Compatibility Plug and Play Operating System: Windows 2000Windows XP Mac OS 9.0 or later
Product Name 2GB SnowDrive USB 2.0 Flash Drive

Some other options…

Micro Sized Memory at Micro Prices- 1 GIG SD Flash Card with Adapter

One Gig Micro SD Flash Card Bump up your cell or PDA for more Contacts, Videos/Movies, music or whatever! This 1GB Micro SD Flash Card fits into any Micro SD Port/Slot. Includes secure digital Adapter, downloading music, photos, video direct from your PC is a breeze. Plug the Micro SD back into your PDA/CELL PHONE and you are ready to go. If you are new to this- the adapter is just a standard Flash card, the little tiny piece of memory is what goes in the PDA or Cell phone. Easy to do, pull from cell phone or PDA then put into adapter so you can work with it (if you don’t have a USB or Blue Tooth connection)- Try beating the price after rebate.

Qualifies for FREE SHIPPING
List Price: $22.95
Our Price: $19.95
Price After Rebate(s): $2.95
Shipping: FREE
Buy.com Total Price: $2.95

For the Hyper-Minamilist- Thin to Win

ACP-EP 2GB USB 2.0 Mobile KeyDrive Flash Drive - 2 Gig - USBThe USB 2.0 Mobile KeyDrive allows you to take your files anywhere in the palm of your hand. Two gigs is perfect for transferring your MP3’s, digital photos, games, spreadsheets, documents, presentations or any personal files from your computer. You can even run an entire presentation from the Mobile KeyDrive. The USB 2.0 interface is a must. It’s Windows and Mac OS compatible and does not require any drivers (except for Windows 98). This ultra-thin USB design is as thin as a house key and only 1.69 inches long. Includes a key ring strap with an easy detachable switch.

For The Paranoid File Transporter

ACP-EP 2GB Mobile Vault USB 2.0 Flash Drive - 2 GB - USB - Portable The Mobile Vault Drive with Portable Vault software is designed to encrypt data on your USB 2.0 Flash Drive so that it will not be useable or accessible to anyone without the proper access password.The Portable Vault software is extremely easy to use. Once you enter your password, you will have the ability to add and remove files and folders from the vault. Files that are added will be protected using 256 bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption. Files may be added using drag and drop from Windows explorer as well as using the Add button from within the program.

Additional Savings: NOTE EXPIRATION DATE- On some deals you must be a new customer!

$15 OFF $200 Coupon in Computer, Software, Home Networking, Digital Camera and Electronic Stores! New Customers Only! expires 3/31/07!

$10 OFF $150 Coupon in Computer Store! New Customers Only! expires 3/31/07!

Popularity: 5% [?]

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Sam Harrelson (Pastor Sam?) has converted another to the ranks of the “will not be undead soon”….

early this a.m. I said:

I am already looking at converting my Ibm X40 (backup lap) to Ubuntu now…still thinking on it. I know I have to spend some up front time, but I have to wonder if the long term pay off is worth it….Learn more about Ubuntu.

Late this P.M. after a long day of security research…

It is DONE- the dirty deed is done dirt cheap andquite complete, Thanks to Eric G. for assisting! Ubunta advocates are everywhere. I have been absorbed into the world of Ubuntu…

My old IBM Thinkpad X40 (story below) now sports this O/S and it screams like a bat out of hell (you might try Ubuntu 6.06 if your PC is rather dated)….so far so good…. I feel like I have been unplugged from the matrix and spat out into a giant toilet bowel of jelly slime…now I wonder if it can push Second Life? Doubt it. I do feel some machinima widgets coming on though.

BTW this is filed under deals and steals too- no coupons needed, no discount codes- Ubuntu is FREE…Grab the .iso and burn it to CD or order it if you wish…or if you like getting stuff in the mail or want to send a gift…here are some Ubuntu things that are DIRT CHEAP. Burn it or buy it for your friends, your mother-in-law, man it beats MonkeyPhoneCalls even…well close.

Seriously- Do you want a cheaper laptop? Start with a different O/S and different office tools- and your laptop is already far cheaper and more for the price- think about! Open Source is like a giant raging coupon on steroids. Plus- you can actually work with it- you know- like the cars we used to own that didn’t require a Cray to analyze and fix an oil leak.

Burn it or get it…or start your own production outfit and become an evangelist. Just don’t go all Conservapedia on me (sounds like Briticanna propaganda to me.)

While we are on innovation- I just watched and reviewed two great pieces on learning in the Second Life Metaverse on learning and plasticity while surfing YouTube (widgets coming)…here’s your guide.

Sam writes…

Wayne and Jon … install Ubuntu so that we can start a Guild. Forget Second Life, this is where the action is (literally!)…

Yeah Sam-I know, I will get around to WoW- one day. It has kickass machinima too at a huge adoption rate, but I don’t need any more games and I am more into social diving. Anyway Innovation Island needs to be built. Let’s start that Guild. Jon???

Also check out:

Book Description (Spotted use for as low as $0.74 in Aftermarket)
ThinkPad: A Different Shade of Blue tells the exciting inside story behind the creation of one of the most successful brand names in computing. Through interviews with the ThinkPad Team and IBM executives, and access to internal documents and memoranda, the book provides a rare inside view into the workings of an IBM brand team. Here is the inside scoop on the cultural and personality differences that almost killed one of the most significant development efforts in IBM history. More importantly, it offers valuable lessons on what it takes to build a world-class, enduring brand or product.

BTW- Did I mention I now have Skype on this puppy? VoIP…now I find myself wanting a TOR server…

Not sure if Google Earth works yet- I’ll find out. Heck- I’ll try the pack!

Del.icio.us Tags:
ubuntu, ubuntu_6, second_life, thinkpad, ubuntu_thinkpads, x40, amazon_deals, converted_to_ubuntu, Sam_Harrelson, WaynePorter.com, IBM, emerging_brands, web2.0, OS2.0, ubuntu_6.06, kubuntu, ubuntu_install, world_Class_brands, enduring_products, thinkpad_laptops, x40_series, lenova, lenovo_laptops, save_money_on_laptops, VoIP, Skype_for_Ubuntu, Google_for_unbuntu, Google_Earth_ubuntu, Google_pack_ubuntu, Conservapedia

Popularity: 16% [?]

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The Peguinizer Elite is based on a standard configuration for their take on business customers. This system features an Aspire case and can be easily transformed into a unix powerhouse with your choice of Pentium D Dual Core, the Nvidia addon card, and up to 3 to 4Gb of ram . Add options as you see fit to do the job at hand…. here is the base config. at time of writing.

System Specifications:
Intel D945GTPLKR Mother Board with 945 chipset
2 PCI, 1 PCI Express x 1, 1 PCI Express x 16
10/100/1000 Mbit Ethernet
Onboard Sound System
Intel GMA 950 on-board or PCI Express Graphics
1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 6 USB, 2 Firewire
Keyboard and Mouse

—-

Kick in the Nvidia card , Pentium D Dual Core and 4 Gigs of Ram+ the The SATA Hard Drive weighing in at 320 Gig for $95.00 plus (at 7200ms seek) the Nvidia 7600GD 256M for $195.00 and this **is** a decent powerhouse…

They have two other boxes in addition to this one, not to mention they offer ‘Nix based hosting…Check it out at ActUSA

I am already looking at converting my Ibm X40 (backup lap) to Ubuntu now…still thinking on it. I know I have to spend some up front time, but I have to wonder if the long term pay off is worth it….Learn more about Ubuntu.

Del.icio.us Tags:
business_customers, dual_core, harddrive, kbuntu, kbuntu_computers, nvidia_card, open_source_discount_computers, pci_express, pentium_d, powerhouse, ubuntu, ubuntu_computers, ubuntu_pre-configured, windows_alternatives

Popularity: 5% [?]

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Caught this at PaperGhost.com, stacking up the xbox360, the wii.

Amazon Reports: “We sold out of our initial supply of the Wii on Sunday morning, November 19, in less than one minute. We expect to receive periodic shipments of the Wii from Nintendo throughout the holidays and we will post availability updates in this section of the product detail page as well as in the customer discussions below.”

NOW Wii in STOCK after marketing still going strong though.

You and Wii: Everything You Need to Know

The coolest thing about the wii is you actually move. We could all use more of that.

Other wii Accessories- In Stock

Wii Play with Wii Remote
Nintendo Wii G-pak Console Organizer Case
Wii Wireless Sensor Bar
Wii Points Card
Wii Classic Controller
Wii Remote Controller

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Wine culture have you on the run?
Wine lists make you cringe?
Decanting a lost art?

The truth is everyone has their own idea about what makes a wine taste great. It all comes down to preference, and there are no right or wrong answers. It is all in your style.

But if you like or wish you could utter insane phrases like “butter-and-oak bomb”, “…beautiful aromas of flowers, ripe fruit and crushed blackberries. Full-bodied yet refined. Layers of tannins. Balanced.”, “…pure sunshine, delivering loads of dark fruit and berry flavors with broad, lush, tongue-coating fruit tannins.”, how about stuff like….”Wild aromas of decadent fruit, with lots of plum, fresh mushroom and fresh strawberry. Full-bodied, with ultrasilky tannins and a long finish. Wonderfully crafted. Seductive. ” or better yet “…possesses crisp acidity along with dramatic tropical fruits intermixed with minerals, roasted hazelnuts, and bread dough characteristics. A huge, mouthfilling Chardonnay with laser-like focus, it boasts amazing delineation for such a concentrated wine.”

You have to start somewhere- you might as well learn when to let it breathe and when to decant (Clue you need at least a cheap decanter- use a wine outlet.)…wine is fun and like golf, harder than it looks…try this book and learn how to spot cheaper rare wines, good varietals and proper etiquette.

From the Founder of Vintage Wine Magazine comes an indispensable resource for choosing and enjoying wines of all kinds. The FREE Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wine will help you learn everything you need to know to become a wine conniseur.

FREE DIGITAL DOWNLOAD- $18.95 Value- NO CREDIT CARD

OUT OF STOCK at Amazon at time of writing this…but you can get it free- no catch.

Compare to similiar Amazonian texts…ok this one is for cooking wines, but if you are a wine idiot how would you know?

Need to break up your tannins? Learn how to decant- not just for sediment anymore- breaks up your tannins so the wine can breath…this wine snob shows you how to do it and look suave in the process. Bingo. Analyze!

Popularity: 6% [?]