Kitten Fluff

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!!!

2007-02-15T17:52:00.000Z

Indeed, I have migrated over to Wordpress so please update your links and stuff (including new feed if you subscribe) by going here.

Wiikitties

2007-02-14T23:58:00.001Z

The fantabulosa Sharonspotbottom has pointed me in the direction of My Next Favourite Website.
it is Wiikitty and features cats with Wiis and peripherals.

Reason No. 1001 to get a cat.*

*And indeed a Wii!!!

Second Life toolbar

2007-02-14T18:18:00.000Z

I stumbled upon this. I have probably been underground while everyone else has been happily using this extensively, mind you.

It is a Second Life toolbar which even has an embedded media player in there so you can listen to SL podcasts etc.*

Cool. Now podcast.com needs to get in there to supply it with its SL channel, and BlogHud needs a spot there with the RSS feeds from other sites...

What a cool little metaverse tool.

Keep the cross over tools coming!

*Actually, on further investigation I think it is just a radio player - I am not sure if you can load it up with podcast feeds yourself. That would be perfect for me.

Geek valentines

2007-02-14T10:56:00.000Z

So if you are a geek and you have forgotton about Valentine's Day because you have been too buried in code/games/SL/whatever, check out these geek-specific Valentine's e-cards by Mitch on 4 color rebellion.

Cute.

Introducing the book

2007-02-13T19:31:00.003Z

Tech support woes are nothing new, it seems. Via Nick on the SL educators' list, via What is the (next) message.

Gamers get more sex

2007-02-13T16:52:00.000Z

Ha. This is an interesting bit of gratuitous PR. Gametart, apparently the UK's biggest online games rental company, did a little survey - little it was: only 200 women in the sample - which suggests that women who play digital games have sex more often.

Of our sample of 200 women, those who played video games on average had sex 4.3 times a week while those who didn’t play games only had sex just 3.2 times a week. Perhaps even more promising for gamers is the fact that many of the women that we interviewed who have only recently started playing games said that they now have sex more often than before.

Gosh - a whole 1.1 more times!! The 0.1 being... hmmm....

heheh.

YouTube star goes mainstream

2007-02-12T23:52:00.001Z

So YouTube funny gal LisaNova has been spotted for her unique take on situations and comedy (very good looking too) has landed herself a spot on the cast of MadTV, a US sketch show. Well done on her. There is much more of this to come, naturally, but good on this particular character. I find her hilarious.

She says she will continue with YouTube, but I wonder if she will a) have the inclination to or b) be allowed too.

YouTube furries

2007-02-10T17:39:00.000Z

I think I have found some real life furries* amongst some anime "chicks" on YouTube. Check out rabbitinthem00n's friends too**.If you are unfamiliar with furrie culture online, check out Wikipedia. I want "her" anime mask (not shown in this picture, obviously). Her profile says she is 80. Well, no one really pays attention to that - I am 105 on YouTube after all. But, in this case, she could well be. Who knows?***

*Check out this piece for some Second Life furry background.
**Some of whom border on the slightly dodgy.
***Although her hands don't look like they belong to an 80 year old.

Masturbating cat

2007-02-10T17:30:00.001Z

OK - so I am disappointed that after the Big Brother furore, Channel 4 has decided to axe their planned Wank Week.

Shame, I was rather hoping they would feature this video.

*weird*

Time for some Tube Gossip

2007-02-10T17:07:00.000Z

Time for some more Tube Gossip from the manwhofellasleep. I shall be having to do the tube again soon. Oh how fun.

Taken from 28 December 2006
1. She bought it in New Look for a fiver.
2. Yeah, but how can they justify charging so much for soft drinks?
3. Fuck Christmas. Fuck New Year. Fuck London Underground. No. I'm not drunk. Fuck off.
4. You can call me Mr T-Bone Shabazz.
5. Is anyone going to believe that Ewan McGregor grew that 'tache?
6. Good King Wenceslas came to town...fa la la la la.
7. We could get naked children and cover them in bubble wrap.
8. She's a typical student, hates Tony Blair, hates the government, loves Che Guevera... doesn't really have a brain.
9. CSI's got a plot. It's gimmicky graphics and dead people.
10. Meet Pedro, the racist raisin!

Women of Warcraft

2007-02-10T01:08:00.000Z

An excellent gallery of the women of World of Warcraft - or should that be Phoarcraft - and who would most likely play them in a film. Via Wonderland.

I especially like Troll (played by, er, Pink) and Tauren played by Big Momma.

Second lives in the picture

2007-02-10T00:53:00.001Z

Spike & Clarissa,
originally uploaded by Knights Alive.

I had forgotten how great the Second Life photo pool is on Flickr. A fantastic insight into people's lives there...*

*There is a lovely sofa in one of these pictures - I want it in meatspace.

Meta meta

2007-02-09T20:03:00.001Z

So I have been checking in every now and again with LonelyGirl15 and co. I sort of binge on the videos all at once.

Anyway, given that the news came out today that the ARG Perplex City (or Perspex City, as I have been calling it for a long time, ahem) has been solved (a UK man found a red cube in a Nothamptonshire woods and bagged 100k), I was intrigued to see this set of videos from tigerlilylynn.

Now I have never participated in an ARG - too short an attention span and little patience - so I am not sure about all the language and arg norms.

Whether she/he is part of the action and planted as a guide, or whether she/he is a true ARG nut just being helpful, I am not sure. But this has all sparked my interest again and I will now have to go watch all these other characters' videos. I need to clone my eyes and brain!

Anna Nicole Smith dead

2007-02-09T00:32:00.000Z

Well bloody hell. Anna Nicole Smith* has only been found dead. Saw the news in a fleeting instant having just logged into my yahoo mail account. Effective eh?

Post mortem is due to be carried out. Tragic story, it really is. Wonder when the film will be made and who will play her? Pammy?

*Image: Fad Toys.

Second Life London Tube station

2007-02-08T23:53:00.000Z

Going Underground reports via Andy Green that there is a London Tube station in Second Life now. She* muses about a SL underground system. Joke not. This would be great. I advise anyone who tries out Second Life to go to bloghud and do a serach for trains etc. There you will find links to SL places where you can sit on a train and get taken on tours of places - the IBM island has a good one.

This, as in meatspace, is one of the best ways to be a tourist in my opinion. Sure, it's great to walk around and discover bits of cities that no guide book can tell you about. But I like going on organised transport to get a feel for where's where and what's what in the city. I am also, ultimately, quite lazy.

Anyway, off to check out the station and see if it leads anywhere.**

* Great links here too to videos of lego and dancing on tube platforms.
** Just had an initial search for it - can't find the bloomin thing (please can someone sort out Second Life's search functions??!!) and Andy's blog is damn hard to navigate imho!!

Samorost 2

2007-02-04T23:15:00.000Z

This is the most amazing thing I have seen all year. Via Lev Grossman.

Samorost 2 is in beautiful Flash - and I am not usually someone who has the patience to work out game puzzles. But here, it is so compellingly stunning, it just hooks you in and you want to click on everything. Magical.

Adventures in the World of Warcraft w/ Sarah B

2007-02-04T22:44:00.000Z

WoW fans will love this - probably. Sarah B tells of her passion for WoW, her social life, and the pain of choosing to let your Warlock die. From minouye.

Big Media still in the dark

2007-02-04T16:09:00.000Z

Why don't Big Media get it yet?

The New York Times reports that Viacom has demanded that YouTube removes 100,000 of its clips from the site, uploaded mainly by the very people it is desperate to keep as the "audience". If you listen to what YouTubers say about such clips, their take is characteristic of the culture of media that is growing. By letting the "audience" sort out and share the clips it likes most, which "it" thinks other people might like too, there is a great attention generating thing that happens. Some who stumble across such clips while on places like YouTube may never have bothered to watch the Daily Show before. Hard to believe, I know. But by stumbling on it there, who knows - they might be drawn to watch it properly on the tv (cos that screen is still useful to many you know).

Same goes with music clips and film snippits. Anyone who has spent enough time on the web knows this happens.

Boing Boing makes some more serious points about the "shockingly bad behaviour" displayed by all the corporates involved:

YouTube can't afford to just let any lunatic -- including the savage pricks at Viacom -- indiscriminately censor the content it hosts. That's not fair to its customers.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

2007-02-04T03:22:00.000Z

Comments please. Via Somewhat Frank.

All the brains gone

2007-02-04T03:10:00.000Z

Strange and truly disturbing things seem to be happening. It emerged yesterday that computer science icon Jim Gray has disappeared after a solo sailing trip outside San Francisco Bay.

Late last year, the Cnet editor, James Kim died of exposure with hypothermia after his car and family got stuck.

Is there some sort of conspiracy going on here?

Kitten and his box

2007-02-04T02:24:00.000Z

I love the determination of this kitten.

DS Cat

2007-02-02T00:39:00.001Z

DS Cat,
originally uploaded by bizargol.

Saw this on Wonderland and had to post too. Do you think it is playing Catz? I just got that.

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

2007-02-02T00:20:00.000Z

So in December, my friend Bre Pettis from Imakethings.com tagged me in this blog tag thingy thing. Now I have to tell you 5 things you did not know about me, which is utterly against my online nature - at least not in such a direct way.

1. I was born in what is now part of China.
2. I once had to parade around Victoria train station in a giant Koala costume to advertise a student travel agents' Australia Day promotion.
3. My paddington bear is 27 years old.
4. I am pretty sure I still hold my school 100m record which I set in 1988.
5. I once refused to let Prince Andrew have a go on my bagpipes.

And finally, I have to tag five other people - so here goes. Alice, Aleks, Lisa, Bill, and Kosso.

Meowarchy: Demon Cats

2007-02-02T00:07:00.000Z

While we are here, check out this fantastic montage of Demon Cats. Look out for the ginger one who screams like a banshi and the smokey grey one who.. well... talk about being one pissed off kitty. *

*Although nothing in here is cruel in any way, the sounds are quite fiendish.

Zebro on Boston's Aqua Teen Blinking Bomb Scare

2007-02-01T23:58:00.000Z

Somebody has been watching a little bit too much of the new 24 series methinks.

The things that shut down Boston today, because everyone assumed these blinking things must be bombs, were in fact part of a marketing campaign by a Turner Broadcasting company,

... in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim's animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia...

... says NBC11.com.

See Zebro's account above.

Turner said "oops".

Circles

2007-02-01T23:11:00.001Z

The Wizard of the Wood,

originally uploaded by jpoyner48.

I also forgot how much I love this group on Flickr.

Cats in odd places

2007-02-01T23:02:00.001Z

Mouseloaf,
originally uploaded by SuziJane.

Was checking out one of my much-neglected Flickr groups, Cats in Odd Places, and realised there 2,795 photos inthere! Well done people. How many calendars does that makle hmmm?

Protest is alive and well

2007-02-01T22:56:00.001Z

Protest is alive and well
Originally uploaded by The Kitten's Toe.

Except it seemed to me that there was one woman doing most of the hard work and the men kind of just mumbled their protest. Hmm. Outside India House in London.

Born yesterday

2007-02-01T19:41:00.000Z

So I have been popping in and out of Second Life when I have time, but it is lonely and a bit boring when my mates aren't there to play with. Yes, I could go and be sociable and meet new people, but they are all BORN YESTERDAY.

I have nothing against new residents - nothing at all. But you don't have the same sort of shared cultural understanding developed over time, without a bit of hard work. Sometimes I just can't be arsed to do the hard work. I want to have fun.

I picked up a new hud gadget, the Bijo Age Scanner, which tells me the names and SL ages of the first 16 avatars within 100m, together with their verification status. A * next to their name indicates that they are within 20m and within that range, they will hear what I am saying, obviously.

The oldest avatar I have "seen" so far has been a month old. Hmmm...

Would be an interesting little experiment to track...

I actually have readers

2007-02-01T19:36:00.000Z

So my absence has been inexcusable, but you all know what life gets like sometimes.

However, what IS inexcusable is that I failed to notice that somehow 55 comments have been waiting for my moderation - I used to get emails telling me when someone had commented, and I DID select no moderation!!

Jeez! Sorry people! Wow though... there I was thinking I was in an echo chamber (which, OK, I know I kind of am), but all you lovely people have actually been commenting!

So, apologies for that.

Normal services resumed - especially now that I have upgraded to the new blogger system which - finally - lets one use "labels"... sheesh - can someone standardised the language already?*

*Why am I suddenly speaking like an American teenager?

2007-01-07T00:25:00.000Z

College Saga - games meet meatspace

Very funny. Forget machinima. Heh.

2007-01-07T00:23:00.000Z

Magic Mag-net-ic

How much do I want one?

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T04:12:00.000Z

Dancing to some crappish music!!
posted by Doctoe Schnook on Jinseok using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Happy Rez day!

2006-12-31T20:06:00.000Z

Happy Rez day to me and a happy Hogmanay to you all! :0)
posted by Doctoe Schnook on Ungnyo using a blogHUD : [permalink]

I am Superman: Who are you?

2006-12-30T19:44:00.000Z

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman		90%
Wonder Woman		85%
Supergirl		80%
Iron Man		80%
Spider-Man		75%
Hulk		70%
The Flash		70%
Green Lantern		65%
Robin		60%
Catwoman		50%
Batman		50%

You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Man thing and cat thing

2006-12-22T22:51:00.000Z

Watching a slide show of Flickr pix at the Bloghud HQ.
posted by Doctoe Schnook on Nooribeom using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Chilling to music

2006-12-22T12:42:00.000Z

The music keeps changing, but good stuff nonethless (such as my chemical romance etc) here at Illusion Factory. Nicely designed. A few too many deckchairs though (in the shape of meditation cushions).
posted by Doctoe Schnook on Illusion Factory using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Christmas Fairy!

2006-12-21T15:09:00.000Z

Always wanted to be a fairy at the top of the Xmas tree - checking out the Crayon offices on Crayonville. Season's Greetings all! :0)
posted by Doctoe Schnook on crayon using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Earth calling Google

2006-12-19T23:59:00.000Z

Nasa and Google have finally made their partnership official by signing a Space Act Agreement. It means that Google will be able to bring us all sorts of virtual imaging goodies which may just be a little out of this world (!). It will just take some clever mashups to enliven what Nasa has to offer. Such other-worldly (ok, enough of the puns) goodies will include,

Real-time weather visualization and forecasting, high-resolution 3-D maps of the moon and Mars, real-time tracking of the International Space Station and the space shuttle will be explored in the future.

That is the bit that caught my eye. Imagine extending that into a 3D immersive environment. You could be in a virtual space shuttle with astroavatars (er, so the astronauts, except they are controlling their avatars as well as flying a tin can in zero gravity), while moving through Google Earth/Mars/Moon (which by this stage has a real-time updating mode too so that everything you see is fresh), the stars and planets all around you, all in real time, seeing what they are seeing. As if astronauts and Nasa have nothing better to do. Heh. How about a bespoke one built out of Multiverse's toolkit?

Fun eh? Damn more economical than Branson's ticket on Virgin Galactic!

2006-12-15T16:03:00.000Z

Amateur music making the YouTube way

Bloody genius. Who needs music lessons eh?

2006-12-10T03:50:00.000Z

Drilling through a laptop display

Whoa - I thought it was going to be like a Stargate type thing for a moment there.

You what: Mia Farrow to Discuss Darfur in Second Life

2006-12-07T00:55:00.000Z

You just couldn't make this stuff up.

I applaud this, but it is just not a collection of words you would ever imagine seeing in that order.

**oops sorry - hit publish there by accident**

I might go along and see what it feels like to be in the virtual presence of "celebrity" like her. No need for plastic surgery there eh? I might go in as an alt called The Real Mia or something - I have been working on a geriatric alt for Second Life. Almost done my pretties.

2006-11-13T00:43:00.000Z

Pushing and shoving at PS3 Japan launch

So the Sony PS3 has launched in Japan - but take a look at the mild frenzy it caused there as it was unleashed.

My first sofa

2006-11-12T02:33:00.000Z

Decided it was about time I started to build my own stuff in Second LIfe
instead of spending all my money on other people's. Problem is I am not
very artistic or logical. Anyway, this is my first sofa, tiffany lamps and
coffee table. I need many more textures. I think I will do some classes
too.
posted by Doctoe Schnook on Ungnyo using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Avaremixing

2006-11-11T18:24:00.000Z

Make yourself part of the art. Avaremixing.
posted by Doctoe Schnook on Cristat using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Loving the new BlogHud feature!

2006-11-11T17:57:00.000Z

Ooohh in a world of wonder! This Bloghud/Flickr/Second Life/Blogspot
crossposting feature is just too much fun and way too clever for its own
good!! hehe Koz Farina has been up all night doing this - he needs to step
away from the computer!
posted by Doctoe Schnook on Cristat using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Postcard from Second Life

2006-11-11T17:48:00.000Z

Wicked custom illustrations by TCMCreations here at Cristat in Second LIfe.
Lovely - would like one for my wall I think. Oh wait - what wall? Currently
homless in SL.
posted by Doctoe Schnook on Cristat using a blogHUD : [permalink]

The Seven Phases of Owning an iPod

2006-11-09T23:39:00.000Z

A nice little cartoon here about the Seven Phases of Owning an iPod, found on Drivl via Kosso.

I am fast approaching Stage 5.5.

2006-11-09T00:33:00.000Z

Flight Patterns Art

This is pretty amazing - according to the blurb it is in fact data from the U.S. Federal aviation administration used to create animations of flight traffic patterns and density.

Yahoo digital time capsule

2006-10-18T23:01:00.000+01:00

I completely missed this digital timecapsule effort from Yahoo - which I saw while logging out
of Flickr.
For 30 days, from October 10 until November 8, Yahoo! users
worldwide can contribute photos, writings, videos, audio — even
drawings — to this electronic anthropology project. A mosaic of
revealing snapshots will be sealed and entrusted to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 
based in Washington D.C., officially taking its place in history.
Of course ealier this week we had the UK's National Trust do something similar 
by asking us all to blog our day - er yesterday. I love time caspules.

Letting people use images sound and video as well as text is a much better proposition.

Flickr tools (or those created out of Flickr's API) make it so much more of an attractive option
too imho.

So nice idea and lovely interface. Makes me feel like I want to contribute a picture and caption.

So I go to "contribute" and - eh? But what is this? What do you mean I have to load a photo from
my computer?

Why I use Flickr to organise my photos of course - a Yahoo company of course - not my bloomin
hard drive! It is full of numbered folders. There is no intelligent organisation there as such. It does
not even give me the choice to just drag in a snap from my Yahoo photo account. Nope. Oh dear. Wtf?

Second Life in Marie Claire

2006-10-18T21:53:00.000+01:00

Second Life in Marie Claire,
originally uploaded by The Kitten's Toe.

There I was in the hairdressers reading those hairdresser type mags (such as Marie Claire!) and lo and behold a wee article talking about Second Life.

Second Life surpasses a million

2006-10-18T20:18:00.000+01:00

Second Life surpasses a million,
originally uploaded by The Kitten's Toe.

At 20.03 I went along to the front page a low and behold the number of accounts in Second Life had reached 1,014,617.

They did predict it would do it this year. I remember when WoW had done that. Now look at it.

Window shop live SL building

2006-10-13T20:38:00.000+01:00

This is fantastically cool. Well-known Second Life builder Versu Richelieu is spending 72 hours in a shop window in the Big Apple while she builds in SL - all courtesy of Intel of course.

For 72 hours, Versu will eat, sleep, and live a completely digital life…all in a store window in New York City! Can she do it? Check out the live webcam and Second Life feeds below to see how she is doing! Or see the experiment in person at the Datavision Store on the corner of 5th Avenue and 39th Street in New York City.

I wish I could see this in NY for real - I am trying to think of who I know there who could go and take a photo or wave at me through the webcam. Any takers?

I am seeing more and more stuff happening which completely makes a mockery of our artificially divisive concepts of "real" and "virtual" life. Or at least, makes it apparent that these divsions have probably always been fairly meaningless.

Going to see if I can join her in SL. What would be great is if there was a Quicktime screen next to her in SL so that you could also watch her webcam live from within-world.

Checking out Muse Isle after just listening to their latest podcast. Live music and all sorts...

2006-10-13T20:25:00.000+01:00

posted by Doctoe Schnook on Muse Isle using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Whack your boss and other violence

2006-10-13T00:09:00.000+01:00

Manage Your Anger Safely
Brilliant if a little sick.

2006-10-10T01:26:00.000+01:00

South Park does WoW

Just watched the WoW South Park. Brilliant. Machinima and MMORPG go mainstream in one fell swoop

2006-10-10T01:02:00.000+01:00

The Internet vs. Hollywood - The Ska Brothers

Heh. All they need is better lighting and sound. At least Hollywood can afford all that. Gets a bit cheesy towards the end.

2006-10-10T00:43:00.000+01:00

Lonelygirl15 / Danielbeast interview on MTV

The young gent who "plays" Danielbeast who is YouTube LonelyGirl15's love interest in the "story" tells MTV how he auditioned for the part after seeing the part on Craigslist.*

*LonelyGirl15 is on there too

2006-10-10T00:27:00.000+01:00

YouTuber LisaNova Does P Diddy

So you know P Diddy Daddy Dinkums whateverhisnameis has his own YouTube channel. Woohoo. YouTuber favourite has the downlowdownlow. Yo.

Line Rider

2006-10-09T23:57:00.001+01:00

Line Rider,
originally uploaded by The Kitten's Toe.

Hours of fun for all the family. Honestly.

Google buys YouTube for $1.65bn

2006-10-09T21:55:00.000+01:00

Well blow me. Google has bought YouTube for $1.65bn.

Phewie.

That is the value of people's gathering places nowadays? Just compare that amount to how much it would cost to give every child in the globe a laptop. Or free wifi for all. Or even just a better national health service. Incredible and quite wrong when you think about it - no matter how much I enjoy YouTube and the creativity it spawns.

And note: it is the creativity it spawns that is one of its biggest pulls for me. That can mean anything from teenagers in the bedrooms to video editing students cum comic geniuses to home-living inventors to 78 year old gripers to funny women to depressed men to machinima makers to pranksters to remixers making Bush and Blair do odd things while making a serious point at the same time.

Oh and after your fill of that (which can take hours frankly) you can sit back and enjoy a short trailer of the new episode of South Park (in WoW). Or other *very short and streaming* "TV stuff" which acts as a preview of what will be on my screen in the corner of the room soon.

Tube gossip

2006-10-07T20:15:00.000+01:00

Something strange has happened. I went to themanwhofellasleep's Tube Gossip page, which I have talked about in the past, to grab some snippets of wit.

But, for some reason, I don't find it funny anymore. Maybe it is because I no longer take the Tube to work?

I dunno. Maybe it is because it is now featured in Time Out magazine and is too mainstream for me therefore? Hmm.

Catch me if you can

2006-10-07T20:02:00.000+01:00

IMG_0117,
originally uploaded by junku.

Lovely.

Hello Kitty Fire Extinguishers

2006-10-05T22:51:00.000+01:00

hellokittyfireextinguishers,
originally uploaded by eyemage.

Once upon a time, I struggled to find Hello Kitty ware.

Now just look at the endless possibilities for Hello Kitty. Fabulous. The way forwards to make us all "fire aware" in our own homes?

2006-10-05T07:55:00.000+01:00

TheHill88 does The Producers

One of the channels I subscribe to on YouTube is TheHill88. She is a sweet Autralian girl - one of those kooky drama school types. She is unpolished, but very appealing. Her version of The Producers (not sure which song - something about being betrayed by an accountant - I have never seen it) whips the arse off of the Japanese Nsync lip syncers.

Wibree me

2006-10-03T22:53:00.000+01:00

I have always been a fan of bluetooth technology, even though it seems to be thoroughly underused.

One of the reasons I like it is because of the wearable technology stuff it enables - bits and pieces on you all communicating with each other. I have used it a lot for zinging someone a picture, rather than using MMS (when we are in the same room of course).

So, I was interested in Nokia's announcement of the Wibree standard, in one of the worst press releases I have ever read.

It will be an open industry standard that will work with bluetooth - there will even be dual wibree-bluetooth chips next year. It hopefully provide a much better way to connect up mobile/portable devices, with small, button cell battery power devices - watches, wireless keyboards, toys and sports sensors, and the like.

It is much faster than bluetooth - 1Mbps - and eats up far less power, which has always been its drawback. It should mean a lot more social and practical applications and uses popping up around it. Lots of ultralocal personal networks. Hopefully. And it will be free.

Creative commons photos and Schmap

2006-10-01T14:15:00.001+01:00

TED Global dinner at Keble,
originally uploaded by The Kitten's Toe.

So I had an email from someone at Schmap, freeware-based interactive mapping guide thing.

They wanted to use one of my photos from TEDGlobal (technology, entertainment and design conference) for the Oxford guide. They found it on flickr with a cc licence (attributable, non-commercial sharealike), so they are entitled to use it. I said, ok, that's fine. But then, I thought, is this strictly non-commercial use? Sure, it is freeware, but they must need to make money someehere, through ads or something. So does that count? I am not sure. It is the first time someone has asked to use one of my snaps.

Nice of them to pick it though.

CNET launches 'Second Life' presence, News at CNET.co.uk

2006-09-28T15:01:00.000+01:00

Must check out Cnet's new pad in Second Life.

Lots of work to do on it yet, they say, but...

For the time being, the space will be used for a series of interviews with virtual-world luminaries, and as a forum for News.com reporters to come and talk about stories they've written.

Sounds interesting. They claim to be the first mainstream media organisations to have a functional and permanent space there. They are still not the first media orgs in there. They are kind of celebrating the fact that mainstream media is pretty slow in catching on to these things. Check out Eric Rice's interview about it.

And that reminds me of this.

Alan Yentob. The man with the longest job title in the world. Director of Drama, Entertainment and CBBC and BBC's Creative Director. "Hello, I am big media. Can you tell me why you strange people who I don't understand like these YouTubes things please? I can't possibly go on there myself in for hours to understand it. *sigh*

Debunking the MySpace Myth of 100 Million Users at Forever Geek

2006-09-28T14:32:00.000+01:00

Forevergeek has an interesting little analysis that digs into some of the facts behind the inflated figures on Myspace.

The latest annoyance has been the self-indulgent claim of web 2.0 bloggers that MySpace has 100,000,000 users. Interestingly, this specific headline says accounts, but the article and subsequent articles all say users. I would say that anyone with half a clue knows that 'accounts' are not the same as 'users', but that would be obvious, wouldn't it?

He concludes that the figures have been blown up by 133%, yet the mediasphere (so, big media and the blogosphere) continue to take them as fact unthinkingly.

This is something that has irked me for a while: you see this happening across all kinds of websites and it is nothing new. People commonly set up accounts which lay dormant and neglected - I know a lot of people who do that, myself included. But people often actively choose to have multiple "faces" because they can - like a public and private persona. This is especially so for virtual worlds such as Second Life.

To me, Myspace is in danger of becoming like networked spam or something similar. A PR clubhouse. I know it has a different feel, but it is Spam 2.0. There are so many bands and brands there, my concept of authenticity is getting muddled. See avatar marketing.

MTV's games

2006-09-22T21:11:00.000+01:00

First, the news earlier in the week was that MTV had stuck its foot into virtual worlds by creating Virtual Laguna Beach in There.com, to run alongside the TV show.

Now, the New York Times writes that MTV Will Acquire Maker of Music-Oriented Games.

It is buying Harmonix, which made the PS2 game GuitarHero.

'It is about people coming to MTV who are passionate about music and wanting to interact on deeper and deeper levels,” said Christina Norman, the president of MTV. 'It’s not just about wearing the T-shirt.'

Shame it's not in Second Life, but maybe it had something to do with the teen grid and conflicts in ages blah.

Anywway, I think it is a brave attempt to update themselves. Let's see how it goes. So GuitarHero for There.com? SL?

Checking out Susi\'s machinima gallery...Quite peaceful!

2006-09-22T02:09:00.000+01:00

posted by Doctoe Schnook on Ochreous using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Testing out the bloghud from within Second life - testing!

2006-09-22T02:04:00.000+01:00

posted by Doctoe Schnook on Ochreous using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Tube Idol? YouTube's Underground music video competition

2006-09-21T23:17:00.000+01:00

In an attempt to draw people's attention away from "copyright-infringing" content, YouTube has launched its Underground competition in "a quest to find the most talented and entertaining unsigned musicians and bands out there."

Submit videos that best represent your group's musical, lyrical and video-making skills. The YouTube community will vote and decide just who rules the YouTube Underground.

Submissions start on 2 Oct and close on 18 Oct.

If it is a success, it will no doubt grab the attention of the music industry and help YouTube convince advertisers to do big-money deals with them. Sponsored by Cingular too. Ideal phone fodder.*

*Bloomin good prizes actually.

2006-09-21T07:14:00.000+01:00

9 months of gestation in 20 seconds

Ha - now we have the pregnancy timeshift! Kosso wanted his best mate to do that with his wife.

2006-09-15T02:38:00.000+01:00

Renetto shows us Lonelygirl15 on NBC...

"LonelyGirl15 is doing for the YouTubes what Sopranos has done for the HBOs. Originol content, baby, here we come!", says he.

Officer Dan explains machinima

2006-09-14T22:41:00.000+01:00

Here is a great little flick about machinima called Machinima! With Offier Dan by Amorphous Blob Productions. This is the future of games and film prodoction as entertainment, and so much more in my book. Check it out on Machinima.com

Imagine how skilled up kids would be, as our future knowledge workers, if they were encouraged to put their creative energies into learning about narratives, coding, architectures, social relations, economics and so on through machinima. The film and games industries would have a ball - even music and publishing industries would feel the effect of this ludic spray.

It brings together all the kinds of things we see happening across the networks - participatory media, citizen journalism, blogging, vlogging and podcasting - in a world that you can contruct yourself and share.

Far more interesting than a game you buy, a film spin off, which you can't do much with, and which doesn't let you play/connect with other people.

Take your avatar to work

2006-09-14T00:21:00.000+01:00

More Figures,
originally uploaded by MichaelBuckbee.

I have blogged about a 3D milling service which turns your in-world/game avatar and other objects into a dinky little physical object before.

Fabjectory here is another such service and although it is only for Second Life stuff at the moment, Michael Buckbee does say more coming soon. According to the FAQ:

The figures are built from a plaster material that is built up in layers to form the right shape. Texturally, the figures feel quite a bit like fine sandstone.

BlogHUD In the Grid

2006-09-13T22:25:00.000+01:00

Check out this interview with Koz about his Second Life BlogHUD blogging tool, by Miller Copeland for In The Grid, a new in/outworld magazine.

They touch on the social networking application crossover potential of bloghud. I like the idea of keeping the tool free for the central community blog, which is a really useful resource, and charging a small one off fee (in Lindens, of course) to get the pro version which will let you post to your own blog you already have set up. Central hubs, as well as ludic sprays into other spaces are important.

2006-09-13T22:15:00.000+01:00

A tour of Thomson NETg in Second Life

A pretty impressive campus has been built in Second Life by Thomson NETg, a corporate training firm. Very nice campus - this video offers a good tour. Heading into SL to bloghud it.

The Lonelygirl That Really Wasn’t - New York Times

2006-09-13T21:51:00.000+01:00

The Lonelygirl That Really Wasn’t
story in the New York Times identifies the real LonelyGirl15 - 20-something Jessica, a film school grad. (Update: Check out this montage on YouTube of Jessica snaps).

But maybe the drama, mystery - the narrative - is still going on? Who's to say all this "being discovered" is not part of the on-going plot?! hehe.

Anyway, it says something interesting about the way we handle and probe notions of "authenticity" in a digital age and the tools that we can collectively use to hold people to account.

2006-09-13T20:37:00.000+01:00

Kitty Nano

One of the top picks today on YouTube is a series of iPod Nano advert parodies. This has to be my favourite.

42 Entertainment and the Beast

2006-09-12T00:03:00.000+01:00

Here is what the company behind the Beast, the ARG in 2001 around AI, says about that particular campaign - 42 ENTERTAINMENT.

They are said to be linked to the same company said to be behind LonelyGirl15.

2006-09-11T23:39:00.000+01:00

Lonelygirl15 Press Conference

Genius. Watch the other three too.

Danah Boyd on lonelygirl15

2006-09-11T13:43:00.000+01:00

Indeed, the "secret" of lonelyGirl15, one of YouTube's biggest stars is out. It is an experiment in performance - Danah Boyd has a good analysis of lonelygirl15.

It was about narratives, identity, and about the responses and the reactions it caused from YouTubers who were hooked. Now the mystery is gone, will it be as compelling? I doubt it.

You get the sense that everyone feels a bit deflated now that they all know they were right. Why bother engaging with it anymore if the mystery has gone?

2006-09-06T22:59:00.000+01:00

Game Over (by PES)

A masterpiece.

Berkman course in Second Life

2006-09-06T22:34:00.000+01:00

Check out the new course that Professor Nesson and his daughter at Berkman will be teaching - in RL, SL, and through all the media you want at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Watch the funny video intro. Good on them.

It is the first Harvard course to be open to the public as well as the the first Harvard course to be offered as an Extension/Distance education through SL.

2006-09-05T17:42:00.000+01:00

Another YouTuber does daily photo over the years thing

This time, it is Noah who apparently took a photo of himself every day for 6 years. doesn't look much older though... I would like to see a piss take of this.

Brian Flemming - mark of the devil?

2006-09-05T01:39:00.000+01:00

Are you kidding me? Brian Flemming (I) (who I just blogged about below) was born 6/6/66??

AHA!

(or is that like some in joke which everyone knows is a joke, except for very un-in people like me just cos I don't read arty shit?)

Crowley, Gibson, the occult, and LonelyGirl15

2006-09-05T01:10:00.000+01:00

The mystery (or hype) surrounding YouTuber hot hit LonelyGirl15's authenticity has extended into the bizarro via Brian Flemming's Weblog.

I blogged about her last month in my kid geniuses or fakes post.

For some time, YouTubers have been crying foul about her and who she purports to be. Whatever is the "truth", I get sucked into the video responses and comments every time she posts.

But check out Brian F's musings. He links to William Gibson's most recent novel which I read ages ago - Pattern Recognition. I had forgotten about it until I spotted his post from Friday.

Cayce Pollard is an expensive, spookily intuitive market-research consultant. In London on a job, she is offered a secret assignment: to investigate some intriguing snippets of video that have been appearing on the Internet. An entire subculture of people is obsessed with these bits of footage, and anybody who can create that kind of brand loyalty would be a gold mine for Cayce's client. But when her borrowed apartment is burgled and her computer hacked, she realizes there's more to this project than she had expected.

Indeed. Even Alice over at Wonderland is wondering whether LG15 is in fact an Alternate Reality Game.

In her latest video, LG15 talks about some religious ceremony she has been chosen to take part in. Her parents are not allowed to see her take part in it and she has to diet and "memorise stuff" for it.

Now this has just got the commenters cracking out the occultist conspiracies all over again. Religious rantings are dotted all over the shop. Brian F points out a number of inconsistencies to the "story" and her vids too - some of which I had not really noticed before. But most interesting is the theory that her religion is linked to occultist, Aleister Crowley. Indeed, one commenter suggested she was going to be taking part in this.*

What's great about this is that everyone wants to be detective and everyone has a theory. I spent a good two hours comparing the alleged Aleister Crowley photo on her wall with ones on Google images. That was after reading up on him and other occult/cult activities. (Update: I went back to the video on 6 August where you can see the picture - it is this one to the right. Check it out. It is above the candles at 1min 52 secs in)

God help me if my search history ever get published "by accident".

Whatever the truth is, whether it is a clever ARG, a marketing campaign, some clever kids having fun, or some cult's attempt to indoctrinate YouTubers, it's much more fun than the shite on telly.** And yes, by blogging about it, and hitting on all those Crowley pics, the "campaign" or whatever it is, is working innit.

*Oh, and remember her "friend" is called Daniel. Or DanielBeast on YouTube. Those subscribing to the "she's a satanist" theory are delighted with this.
**Well, in-between Kath and Kim, and Dragon's Den, that is.

2006-08-24T00:55:00.000+01:00

Summoner geeks

Geeks. Dungeons and Dragons. Summoners. Hilarious. Watch it.

2006-08-23T17:44:00.000+01:00

Cat-powered generator

Genius. A clever way to generate your own electricity, while giving your feline some much-needed exercise.

2006-08-21T18:36:00.000+01:00

Toilet Trained Neat Cat (=^..^=)

This cat also doubles up as a toilet cleaner.

Magnificent. Excllent for those hard to reach bits in the bowl.

2006-08-21T18:34:00.000+01:00

Toilet Training For Cats

All I need is a cat now.

Looking through the wrong end of the wire

2006-08-21T10:26:00.000+01:00

BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Looking through the wrong end of the wire
Useful post here by Buzzmachine's Jeff Jarvis on the value of networks. He argues, quite simply and a bit obviously, that we each put different values on our social networks. There is no point trying to place some corporate value on it. You can't because affinities that people feel to different niches at any given time are inherently human and intangible in nature.

He continues:

Network providers used to try to measure the value we put on networks negatively, in terms of switching costs. That was what AOL counted on for too damned long as they thought it would cost us too much hassle to switch off our AOL email addresses. Ha! But we each value a network positively on what it brings us. That is different for each of us and each of our connections. For example, I see no value, personally, in LinkedIn; it has never done a thing for me but attract a new form of spam, inconvenience, and embarrassment when I don’t link to someone. But for others I know, LinkedIn provides jobs, business, income, reputation; it is damned near invaluable. Similarly, I see little value in MySpace; for middle-aged me, it is merely a curiosity.

He also makes a point about A list bloggers which I have been banging on about for some time.

one should value a network as the sum of its networks. We see the internet that way. We also should see the blogosphere that way. This is why I continue to think it is adsurd and wrongheaded to analyze the blogosphere on its supposed A list. he vast majority of people who read blogs never read any of the blogs on that A-for-alleged list. They read and interact with the ones that are meaningful to them.

Quite. We are only just at the start of realising what the mass of niches means for us and our "media". But too many people are too concerned with making their fortunes and building up their egos to think about this carefully enough anymore.

YouTubers' big media backlash

2006-08-18T00:35:00.000+01:00

So I had almost finished the most insightful post you are ever likely to see from me when my laptop imploded. Not 30 seconds before I had hovered over the save as draft button but failed to follow through.

Basically, I was getting a bit irritated by the backlash from youtubers about Geriatric1927's media attention. He was covered in the news here. Guess why? Because it is an interesting story, just like the thousands of other interesting stories there are on YouTube. Youtube is getting more interesting. I have been there for six months, and there are changes. It feels different.

Look, big media can be YouTubers too. It's YouTubers who have the power. Just seize the power and stop going on about it. YouTubers can ignore big media. They already say they like YouTube because if the diversity of people, of personalities, of stories, if you read responses to Renetto's Who Are You question. Big media is not giving them what this seems to be and the reasons why are highly complex.

But YouTubers can always take their channels, stories and personalities somewhere else. Another site. There will always be other interesting content to spend hours sifting through on a cold night. I love the machinima. I love animal videos. I love the conference videos, the pranks, and the arty ones too.

The point is, no one can stop me putting up as many videos as I want, entertaining millions, anywhere I want. If it is compelling enough, there will always be an audience. Look at blogging; look at podcasting. Look at Rocketboom. And if the tools are there, there could well be little communities of participants and non participants, and reltionships - or at least some sort of connections - between them. And that is why this, to me, has become so compelling and immersive. Each stream of responses to one video or another is an ever-changing stream of emotion and creativity (on the whole).

When I was little, my sister and used to "play telly" and "radio". We did it with a cardboard box and coathanger. Luckily we had a tape recorder for radio. And a mic.

It was fun. Imagine how fun it is now.

2006-08-17T22:41:00.000+01:00

David Brent for Microsoft outtake

This is brilliant. Except Ricky Gervais knows his comic value mainly lies in his naughty laugh.

Apparently it is a seires of out takes from a Microsoft UK training video for employees.

Good god. What kind of techniques are they teaching them?*

Btw - apologies if this is turning into a YouTube spam blog. It's just fun. And the telly's shit until Big Brother tomorrow. And Kath and Kim.

Junku's back

2006-08-17T22:08:00.000+01:00

IMG_0079,
originally uploaded by junku.

Either that or I just have not been checking my contacts' photos in enought detail. The acrobatacats are back.

I want one. Or four.

A response to Geriatric1927

2006-08-17T22:02:00.000+01:00

Rich here explains the way I feel about Geriatric1927's annoyance with the media.

But this is great - you see, originally, Peter, or Geriatric1927, wanted to use this PUBLIC space as somewhere he could gripe and moan. So this is a glimpse of that cantankerous so and so who perhaps lies below the soft wherthers' toffee like exterior!*

*afterthought: but I do completely understand his wish to assume some sort of anonimity. The web is a release for people who seek that. That's why I have always found it an endlessly fascinating web of places.

2006-08-17T21:53:00.000+01:00

Telling it all 7

This is what happens when big media gets in the way. I feel gutted for him. But he has ti realise that he IS talking to the world.

2006-08-17T21:40:00.000+01:00

Obsessive Toilet Flushing Cat

What a clever pussy.

The fascination.