Relaxing in Visit Mexico’s new Ruta Maya sim

I saw news of this new sim come across a blog and had to go check it out. I absolutely love the Yucatan peninsula in RL…and the builders did a great job with this sim, offering a fantast mini-recreation of the ruins of Tulum to accompany their recreation of Chichen Itza in an adjoining sim. Another laudable development since the last time I was at Visit Mexico’s inworld presence is the addition of a bilingual, native DJ and local music. If I let myself get lost in the place, it’s like I’m back in Mexico. Any chips and salsa sitting around?
posted by Morris Vig on Mexico 2 using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

IBM’s “gated” SL communities

IBM announced that they will be hosting private sims on the SL grid, but on their servers in their server farms.  Personally, I couldn’t care less.  Let the business-types mingle amongst themselves, which is somewhat in line with what Dusan Writer says.

If it hadn’t been for this post by Ian Hughes at eightbar, I probably wouldn’t have even posted on this topic.   Specifically:

There is a lot to this and one key thing is that it is not the only thing we are doing still. Interoperability is still key, having various instances of virtual worlds and intergrating them to one another and to the enterprise are key. Services Oriented Architecture is the industry word for the pattern.

None the less it will be exciting to work out how to persists and share services across an internal Second Life grid and Active Worlds and IQ Metaverse and Forterra and…..

Likewise the flow of how we transition from being on an intranet grid to a public grid and back again.

Now, THAT is interesting.  I’m an SL guy through and through, but the abstract notion of making these “competing” platforms link up…and make it work…is something that perhaps IBM will be doing us all a favor by figuring out.

(Hughes also promoted his Twitter account as a means to have dialogue.  He’s talking lots of nuts and bolts.  Interesting, interesting stuff.)

3Dconnexion 3D mouse – Coming soon for SL users

Logitech’s 3Dconnexion group announced today that their line of 3D mice will be available for Second Life client users in mid-April. It looks to me like this new hardware development could make a qualitatively better Second Life user experience…and with prices starting at $59, it’s not entirely out of reach for the common person. Here’s a piece of their press release:

While traditional mice control motion on a two-dimensional plane, 3Dconnexion’s 3D mice allow effortless movement and control within a 3D environment. On the Second Life Grid platform, this means that actions such as moving, flying and designing are more intuitive. While designing, users can simultaneously pan, zoom and rotate without “Being able to move freely within and around the environment is a crucial component of the Second Life world experience,” said Joe Miller, vice president, platform and product development, Linden Lab. “3Dconnexion’s 3D mice have the capability to increase the immersion and improve the overall experience of our Residents and we’re always open to such developments.”

From this video, it really does look like the user experience could improve considerably. Integrating movement controls with camera controls simply and intuitively is a quantum leap forward.

May have to buy me one of these…

[UPDATE: Ogle Earth offers a couple more thoughts…and don’t miss Dusan Writer’s first-person impressions in the comments!]