3pointD.com

VRoot blogs two cool interfaces in development, one a neural interface for gaming, and the other a free PlaydoCAM. Nice.

Ogle Earth blogs one of the coolest models yet created for Google Earth, the space station from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I was going to let the image speak for itself, but it put me in mind of a cool idea: Google Space. Can’t wait to dial into http://space.google.com and see what lurks among the stars.

About two weeks ago, we asked the question, Will Second Life Ever Be Safe? That day may come, but it hasn’t yet arrived. As noted in the previous post here, the virtual world of Second Life was today hit by yet another attack that necessitated Linden Lab’s closing its Grid, the third time in two weeks. (The last attack, which came just yesterday, was blogged by Tony Walsh at Clickable Culture.) The attacks all have one thing in common: they take advantage of the single most attractive aspect of SL — the ability for users to create their own objects — and turn it against the virtual world. (more…)

For the third time in two weeks, the virtual world of Second Life has been hit by a world-shaking attack that’s necessitated Linden Lab’s closing the Grid to all comers. “I know this is totally frustrating — for us too,” writes Robin Linden (aka Robin Harper, LL’s VP for community development and support) in a forum posting today. “We’re working with the authorities to go after the people responsible for these attacks, as you know. When I have information to share I’ll pass it on.” Stay tuned for updates.

Here’s an idea that’s been kicking around in my head lately: PeopleTagging. It grows out of the question of who I am online. Am I my Web site? Am I my email address? My toon name? My password? Or am I the person sitting at the keyboard, and if so, how do you translate that into various online contexts?

PeopleTagging first, deep techno-philosophical questions to follow. PeopleTagging presumes a world in which we all have easy access to wireless RFID- and GSM-enabled devices (if we want them). It would also be helped along by an app like Wayfinder, a 3D digital earth for Java-enabled mobile phones that should be in beta as of May 2 (according to Ogle Earth), or Google Maps Mobile, a 2D version of the same idea. The basic concept is that you’d use your computer or your mobile device to search for someone within a network of friends or some other community, click on their name, and have your browser zoom in to their location anywhere in the world. Maybe you can then open a communication link to them — voice, IM, SMS, whatever — or, if they happen to be cruising around Second Life or There.com at the moment, would let you drill down further to find them within that world and even launch the application so you could meet up with them there. (more…)

Several Chinese research institutes are seeking to preserve a few deteriorating cultural treasures by recreating them online in full 3D, according to this story from China news site CRI English. While the story doesn’t mention what technology’s being used, it sounds slow and expensive, but highly detailed.

This is a great idea. Digital recreations can’t take the place of actually visiting places like Yuxu Palace and Wudang Mountain (”splendid buildings related to the magnificent Taoism culture. But some of the cultural relics have simply been eroded by time; many were destroyed; and some others have been submerged under water.”). But for those who will never be able to travel to the sites, for students, and for sites or artifacts that may be damaged by exposure to visitors, pixelation seems an excellent alternative.