Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Special discussion at Notha for Brains R Us Product 5 p.m. SL time 11/5

Hi everyone,
This Thursday , November 5th at 5:00 p.m. SL time, we will have a discussion on the Brains R Us product. This is an open session to learn more about the product. Bring your friends. The location is http://slurl.com/secondlife/Notha/211/208/30

There are many new things to show you. And if you have anything special you want to learn this is a good time to ask.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Brain Server update to version 1.7

Brain server owners should receive an update automatically to bring the Brain Server to version 1.7. This update provides a free security option to be used with an upcoming security plug in for the brain. This update will show avatars in the region on the map and allow your brain to query status of the sim your server is in at any time from anywhere. With the upcoming security plug in you will be able to see who is on your land or group owned land and to eject, ban or send home anyone even if you are not in the sim. Imagine someone IM's you that someone is causing trouble on your land and you are somewhere else. You will be able to send the troublemaker home using your Brain HUD without having to TP home to do it.

Currently the plug in provides a list of names to the Brain HUD in the form of an in world email. Soon your Brain HUD will be able to display a map of your home sim with a radar display of each avatar on your land. You will have a menu with a list of avatars that when clicked on will take you to the same avatar menu you have for local avatars.

Other fixes for the Brain Server are related to email and networking. The list of networked users is now correctly updated. Email acknowledgement messages are now sent properly. More changes will come to the system to improve email capabilities between brains and server.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Come visit the Red Room


The Red Room in Second life awaits you. Click the following link to come visit and get your free Brains R Us Halloween Gift Box. Red Room The room is based on the Red Room from Twin Peaks. Click on every thing if you dare. Have a seat. Stay awhile. Or just collect your freebies and return. :) Your free gifts are shown below:
  • Bat poofer
  • Beating heart
  • Chatter skull
  • Leaf emitter
  • Skull rezzor

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Brain HUD update with new object finder


A new release of the Brain HUD is available to all users. A new enhanced object finding capability has been added and a problem with memory running out when too many profile pictures are loaded has been fixed. Simply select check update from your HUD menu and you will receive a Brain HUD update box. Follow the instructions that come with the box to update your HUD and Brains R Us Brain.

Do you like to do grid hunts or other treasure hunts? Have you ever lost an item and found it difficult to retrieve. Did you ever want to find someone in a crowd of people? If you answered yes to any of these questions you will find the new object or avatar finding capabilities of the Brain HUD and Brain simply amazing. You can search for objects or avatars by selecting the appropriate search mode. Then enter:

/999 find objectname

where objectname can be any part of the objects full name. Case is not important. The object finder will vary its sweep range as you move around making it easy to find the object you are looking for. As some of you know, Second Life limist search to 16 objects at a time, but the brains search algorithm uses a dynamic beam technique to narrow the search and find what you are looking for. Once your brain has found objects that match your description it alerts you in open chat with a SLURL to the objects location. You can also enable a particle stream to show you where the found objects are.

Memory of course is a limited commodity for scripted objects in Second Life. You can easily acquire many profile and map images as you travel around Second Life. Previously old profile pictures were deleted when you logged in. Profiles pictures can still add up in crowded areas. The Brain HUD can store about 200 images. When you go over 200 images, the oldest map, broadcast and profile pictures will be deleted leaving the most recent ones. You may also delete images at any time by clicking on the trash icon. When the trash icon is red any picture you delete in the picture browser will be deleted. If you make a mistake drag off of the picture before releasing the mouse button and the picture will not be deleted. Deleted pictures can not be recovered but only references to pictures are stored in the HUD, not the actual pictures.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009



Did you ever wish that people did not see what you have on your land? Perhaps worried that someone will complain due to the new rules? The Runic Arts Cloaking Device will hide your items when you are away and automatically show them when you are around.


The Cloaking Device allows you to control the visibility of your objects when you are away. The cloaking device will detect when you, a group member or someone on a list is around and then uncloak objects in which you have placed the included "Cloak - New v4.0 slave" script. You must have modify rights to the object you wish to cloak and you should not use this on objects that are not opaque.

There are five modes of cloaking available on the menu you will see when you click on the Cloaking Device. These are:

  • Hide - Hide all objects within shouting distance (100m) of the cloaking device.
  • Show - Show all objects.
  • Owner - Show all objects when the owner is within the scanning range.
  • Group - Show all objects when anyone in the same group is within the scanning range.
  • List - Show all objects when anyone on the list is within the scanning range.

The Cloaking Device is editable and inside you will see a notecard call viewer list. You may edit that list to contain the names of anyone you wish to be able to see your stuff. Make sure you spell their name exactly right with correct capitalization because computers are not too smart and cannot read your mind .. yet.

If you wish to have anyone in a group see the cloaked objects, simply set the group of the Cloaking Device to the one you want. Of course you must be a member of that group, if only temporary to set the group for the Cloaking Device.

You can change the scanning range by selecting "Range" from the option menu. The range can be set anywhere from 10 to 96 meters. You should reapply the cloaking mode after changing the range to make sure it uses the proper range.

You can change the appearance of the Cloaking Device to anything you like. If you are in one of the scanning modes, the Cloaking Device will disappear when you are not around, but no matter what mode it is in, it will appear when you are there.

Available now at all Brains R Us stores and on Xstreet.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Teleport and sim crossing issues

There is an issue with rezzing mono scripted attachments in Second Life. When someone teleports in or enters a sim with mono scripted attachments, the sim will freeze for several seconds. The Brain HUD is of course a heavily scripted gadget. I have recompiled most of the HUD in regular LSL and left critical scripts compiled in mono and the HUD is much better on rezzing now. Get a free replacement HUD by clicking on any dispensor. The Brains R Us starter kit you recieve will always have the latest version of the HUD. Your new HUD will automatically reregister so that you may start using it immediately.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Training Tuesdays


Well we missed some of you at training last night. Here is a picture of one of the training centers. We are planning to rotate the stores for training to give you an opportunity to see some of the other locations. Come join the fun and learn more about the product and meet other users.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Brain HUD free trial

The Brain HUD has been updated to version 2.138. What this version does is provide a 10 day free trial. You can purchase a free trial (see post below) which will give you 10 days to try out the HUD. After 10 days you will have to authorize your HUD at one of the 3 Brains R Us locations to restore full functionality to the HUD. Authorization costs 500 Lindens (approximately $1.81 in US currency) and is easy to perform. Simply pay the sign in the store 500 Lindens and click register HUD in the HUD menu. The Brain HUD will be fully functional once the registration is complete.

Many of you are familiar with free trials of software packages which require an unlock code to be purchased. This works in a similar manner with the exception that there is no unlock code needed. I believe this is the first time this capability has been made available in Second Life and we will look into the possibility of licensing this technology to other developers.

RSS feeds are also enabled now. You can add your own RSS feeds and toggle them off and on via menu. When you receive a RSS message the title and a link will be posted in local chat. It will also appear at the lower right of your Brain HUD as floating text above a silver ball. Just click the silver ball and it becomes bubble text. The bubble text floats upwards inworld and any one can click the bubble to get the link to the RSS article.

Brains R Us Product up on Xstreet

Hi everyone,
Pass this on to your SL friends, the Brains R Us Starter kit is now up on Xstreet. Your friends can try the new Brain HUD free for 10 days. Click on the link below and you will see the details. And even more exciting, you can earn free lindens. Check out the details at:


The Brains R Us Starter Kit contains the following items:
  • Free Brains R Us brain
  • 10 day free trial Brain HUD
  • Brains R Us Dispensor
  • Pink and Blue Brains R Us Caps
  • Landmarks to all Brains R Us locations
  • Getting Started notecards
Nevada and Nathan

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Brains R Us HUD training

Each Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Linden Time we will have training. It is a great time to learn the features of the HUD and a good time to have questions answered. So come on over to the Brains R Us classroom and meet with Nathan and Nevada. The teleport link is in your Brains R Us folder.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Virtual World Research

I went to a Smarter Technology Summit yesterday. This is where Brains R Us was able to present the product the first time to many. The event yesterday was quite interesting. This is Sponsored by IBM, smartertechnology.com it is an online community for strategists and IT decision-makers seeking to improve sustainability, efficiency and profitability through intelligent implementation of advanced technology throughout the enterprise. The discussion that day was about the upcoming Virtual World Conference. One discussion was about the enterprise and how they will fit into the picture. I view the Virtual Worlds evolving just as the Internet did with later having the Intranet for business. Here is a sample of some research that was done by the JWR. Very interesting research. That is why all these tools in development will make a difference as this evolves in this space.

Monday, July 27, 2009

New Brains R Us Store in Elpinor






We have opened a new store in Second Life in the region of Elpinor. Click here to visit - New Brains R Us Store.

Friday, July 24, 2009

RSS feed plugin available soon.



The ability to read multiple RSS feeds has been added to the Brain and will be available free in an upcoming Brain Update. Multiple feeds can be placed on a config notecard. The RSS plugin will then create a menu on the Brain HUD showing which feeds are available. The user may toggle any of the feeds on or off at any time. For Brain HUD owners, the feeds may be converted into bubble text to share with others.

Brain HUD version 2.12 released

Version 2.12 of the Brain HUD has been released. To get the latest version just select "check update" from the HUD menu.

Fixes:
  • Radar cleaned up and should work well in all areas.
  • Radar continues to function when HUD minimized (to collect avatar profiles).
  • HUD menu colors are now set properly from the HUD config file.
  • Particle effects on/off menu item now changes color to indicate status.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Free cap at Brains R Us


Come get your free hat at Brains R Us in Notha. This hat has resizing scripts built in to adjust it to fit anyone's head (or hair). It is free to copy and transfer. So give one to all your friends!

Got GPS? Well check out this Brain HUD feature!!!

Hi its' Nevada here. I remember purchasing my first GPS device. It was one of those in the car ones, not the new portable ones. I kept thinking now. do I really need this. As time passed I found that I NEEDED IT. Not so much for going location to location for directions, but at times in the city when I was looking for specific places or what was around me. Well that is how I feel about the Brain HUD.

I just recently acquired land in SL. As I looked around and wanted to introduce myself to my neighbors I was not sure if they were around or not as not everyone is always visible. With the Brain HUD's antenna on, the feature of gathering information of avatars nearby has been fantastic. I can tell by avatar name and what range they are in within 96 meters. And I can see them on the map in the Brain HUD. So I know if I am getting closer or not. This is the most simple to use feature.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

News on Brain HUD development


There are several new features in the Brain HUD. A new release is available now and a newer release will be out sometime this week. Use the check update item in your HUD menu. You should then receive the latest version.

Version 2.111 - fixed profile loading. Profile pictures will last for two logins. After you log out a second time they will be deleted automatically. They can be added again of course. Profile pictures are loaded automatically from any avatar within 96 meters.

Broadcast pictures are now saved until deleted.

You may wonder why some peoples profile pictures do not get saved. This can happen for one of several reasons. First, they may not have a profile picture. The Brain HUD does not save profiles unless there is a picture and it is searchable. The last reason the profile may not be saved is that http requests are not always answered by the sim.

Version 2.11x - new features

The upcoming release has the following features:

sub menus
particle effects
improved context and email operation

Sub menus are a way to provide menus as needed and only when needed. You no longer need to cycle thru menus that have no meaning at the time. For example, the avatar menu while very powerful does not have any use unless an avatar is selected. When you click on an avatars name in the radar, the avatar menu comes up automatically. When you cycle thru the menus, the avatar menu does not show up.

Particle effects work now. You can load a particle effect from the menu or turn it on or off. Particle effects are defined on notecards which are loaded in your brain. The brain creates a menu of these particle effects that you can access from your HUD. By clicking a picture on the picture browser you can change the image used in the particle effect and by using the avatar menu you can select a target for the particle effects.

Context and email now use submenus to improve operation. These menus are created in response to other user actions. Stay tuned for more info.

Brain HUD quickstart guide

A quick intro to the product.

Brains R Us Basics

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: This will provide you an over view of the product. Terri

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Buyer Review of Brain's "R" Us Brain HUD

Buyer Reviews:

Kajira1erin Magic on 2009-07-17
awesome I love this hud.. can keep tps in it to save searching.. can see how many people on a sim... takes photos and sooo much more I love it !!!!!!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Hud Menu

Teleporting. This is so great to have this feature right in front of me instead of looking for my locations in my inventory all the time. From the hud menu go to teleport. Click on the desired location and you are there. And it is so easy to setup the location the first time.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Brain HUD back on sale on Xstreet

Brain HUD is back for sale on Xstreet
While avatar profiles still accumulate quickly, you can delete them from the HUD menu when you are done looking at them.

Brain HUD taken off Xstreet temporarily

I have take the Brain HUD off of Xstreet while I work out some bugs. Some people complained that it was too aggressive in loading profile pictures and ran out of memory. I have added a clear profile pics option in the HUD menu and it seems to be working. A few other small problems have been fixed and radar operation is cleaner. An update will be coming soon and anyone with a Brain HUD will be able to get a free update by selecting the check update option on the HUD menu.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Brain HUD Ad

Quick start guide for Brain HUD










Brain HUD readme

Thank you for purchasing your Brains R Us Brain HUD. I sincerely hope you will find this the most useful and indispensable item that will make your Second Life easier and more enjoyable. Please feel free to contact me, Nathan Zetkin with any questions or issues.

The Brains R Us Brain HUD is an important component of the Brains R Us system. It can be used by itself but when used with a free Brains R Us Brain it will offer even more functionality. The Brains R Us HUD provides many commonly desired functions on its own but it also provides a way of easily executing brain commands. When you opened your Brain HUD box, you should receive a Brain dispenser. The dispenser will give free brains out to anyone who clicks on it. The dispenser is free to copy and transfer so give them out to your friends. Brains are free and are upgradable to add new functions. After your brain dispenser is rezzed for a few minutes it will show a series of images about the Brains R Us System.

Your Brains R Us HUD performs many functions, some never seen in SL before. You can access a quick start guide by clicking on the ? button once you have worn it. The Brain HUD attaches to the top left corner of your screen by default and works best in this position. A future upgrade is planned to place it on the right side of the screen. Upgrades are free. You can request an upgrade from your HUD at any time and one will be delivered if your HUD is out of date.

List of functions:

1. Dynamic menus for commonly used functions. There are 3 menus created by the HUD and your brain can create more menus depending on what plug-ins it has.

2. Sim performance indicators display frames per second(fps) and time dilation(TD). These indicators show when the sim is running well or lagging.

3. Picture browser - The browser button (to the right of the menu arrow button) opens a picture browser. You will see a strip of 7 small pictures at the top of the screen. Click any one of these to see the image larger below. Drag on the picture browser bar to see more images. Click on the browser button to see more picture categories. The button changes color to indicate the current category. The categories are:

blue - user pics
orange - profile pics (automatically collected from avatars around you)
green - maps of places you have been
purple - particles to be used with your brains particle effects engine
red - broadcast pictures (an upcoming brain feature)

When you click on a picture in the browser bar it shows up larger below. Drag anywhere on the big picture to resize it. Click quickly on the big picture to make it go away.

When you click on someone’s profile picture a link to that persons profile will show up in open chat.

4. Region map and radar. The HUD will show a map of the current region and if enabled a radar will show the names of the 16 closest avatars within 96 meters. Yellow dots on the map will show their position. The red/green dot on the map indicates your position. Clicking the round buttons next to the names will bring up an avatar menu. (Click the menu button if the menu is not open.) The avatar menu provides the following functions:

look at - causes your camera to move directly in front of the avatar you selected
move to - causes you to walk to the avatar selected
go to - warps you to the avatar you selected. ( be careful!!)
teleport to - a link will appear in local chat, click this to teleport to the avatars location
track - sets the avatar as the target of the tracking indicator (see below)
target - sets the avatar as a target for particle effects (brain required)
monitor - monitors avatar for online/offline (lasts until you log out)
give brain to - sends the selected avatar a brain dispenser (more on this later)
send home - teleports avatar home (must be on land you own)
eject - ejects avatar from your land
temp ban - bans avatar for 60 minutes from your land
ban - bans avatar indefinitely from your land
unban - unbans avatar from your land

5. tracking indicator - Right below the region map is a tracking indicator. When active it will track a selected avatar. the green line indicates which way you need to turn to face the targeted avatar. The square brackets come closer as you get closer to the target. This makes aligning your position for hugs and other couples animation very easy.

6. stop button - if you are moving to someone and get stuck, press the stop button to stop moving.

7. look at button - The look at button toggles the look at feature without using the menu. You will need to toggle this after using the menu to return to normal camera view. It is blue when look at is active.

8. AV monitors (3) You can set up to 3 avatars to be monitored for online/offline monitoring. Their profile picture will show up when they are online and go dark when they are not online.

9. help button - The help button is like the picture browser. It will show up to 5 categories of help screens. It will open the picture browser with different help topics for quick and easy help without reading note cards. The Brain HUD comes with one help set loaded and can download help guides for other topics and in different languages from a dedicated help server.

10. email browsing - When your brain receives email it sends it to local chat, but your Brain HUD will save your email messages to be reviewed at any time. (Note a brain and brain server is required for this to work.) When your brain receives an email, it will appear as floating text to a round button on the bottom of the HUD for 30 seconds. You can access the email menu to browse your messages or click on the mail indicator above the AV monitors.

11. bubble text - If you wish to share your messages with those around you click the round button below the floating text. A bubble will appear with the message floating up from your avatar.

12. trash button - The button next to the help button is for deleting pictures and messages. When it is red, clicking a picture in the browser will delete it from the HUD's memory. You may need to do this if you get a warning that you are running low on memory. Your brain HUD can store hundreds of pictures but you may come to a point where you want to remove images for various reasons. When your trash button is red, be careful; pictures that are deleted are gone from your HUDs memory. The actual images do not get deleted but references to them in the HUD will be deleted.

Some images are cleared automatically on login and some are restored automatically on login. Broadcast pictures are removed each time you login. Old profile pictures are removed but not recent ones. User pictures stored in your brain will be reloaded when you login. Particle images loaded by your brain will also be reloaded when you login with your brain attached.

When using the mail browser buttons above the AV monitor, you will also delete messages as you read them. Deleted messages cannot be recovered.


There are other functions in the HUD, some you will discover and some are in the menus. Have fun and please let me know if you have any problems or comments.

Nathan Zetkin

Brain HUD is finished and on sale at Brains R Us




The new Brains R Us Brain HUD is up for sale at Brains R Us in Notha for 500 Lindens.

The Brain HUD offers features never seen before in Second Life.

Come visit Brains R Us at:

http://tr.im/SLbrains

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Welcome to Brain's "R" Us

In this blog, we will inform you about the Brain's "R" Us system of products in Second Life. The Brain's "R" Us system is an avatar enhancement that provides many features that make life easier in the virtual world. The BRU system is made up of a brain that goes in your avatars head and an optional HUD that provides a modern user interface that makes common tasks simple to perform, and an optional server that enhances the brains ability to communicate with others and the world outside of Second Life. Stay tuned for more exciting news and information on Brain's "R" Us.