Tuesday, March 8, 2011

New Pinata, for sale on Marketplace







A new item has been added to the Second Life Marketplace from Brain's R Us just in time for Mardi Gras. The Pinata is fun for any gathering and can be used for parties and as a traffic generator for your store. The kit includes a pinata, a prize server, a money giver (optional) and a bat giver. To play, a player gets a bat from the bat giver and wears it. The player clicks on the pinata to take a turn. When it is the players turn they will go into mouse look and try to strike the pinata by clicking the left mouse button. When the pinata is struck, lots of candy and coins pour out. Anyone can then click on the candies to eat them and one out twenty candies will have a prize. Owners can configure their own prizes and decide if lucky coins will pay out lindens. The pinata is great fun at any party with music, sound effects, animations, prizes and a chance to receive lindens.
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Pinata-boxed/2024453

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Online Indicator works with Google's GQueue's


The Brains R Us Online Indicator will show your online status to anyone in Second Life. It automatically displays your profile picture on the front and displays status messages above it. It can also send tasks to your Google GQueue. If you do plan to use this feature be aware that anyone can drop a notecard in then Online Indicator and thereby adding to your inbox. You may want to place this device somewhere semi-private.

Setup is very easy. Simply create a note card called config that contains your e-mail address or to your Google GQueue. Drop the config note card into your online indicator and your e-mail address will be set.

Anyone can drop a note card into your online indicator to add a task to your queue. The title of note card will be the name of the task and in the contents of the note card will be the description of the task. The online indicator will automatically e-mail your new task queue.

Google’s Gqueue is a great tool for managing your to do list, projects or anything else you may need a list for. You can get a lite version for free or the full vision is only $25 per year. You can integrate your Gqueue into your home page, web site or Google calendar. To see more please visit:

http://www.gqueues.com/

The online videos will show you how easy and helpful it is to use Google’s Gqueue’s.

Check the Online Indicator out here:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Online-Indicator-boxed/1973668


Friday, January 28, 2011

Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds coming up. Thought we would pass this along.

We went to this event last year on line. Very helpful and interesting. Thought we would pass it along for any of you that were interested.

Proposals are due by February 7 for workshops, government poster sessions and vendor participation. Don’t forget to send in your proposal ASAP for consideration!

2) Registration is now open!

3) We are on Twitter and Facebook. Stay in touch!

4) Keysha Gamor (Keysha.Gamor.ctr@ndu.edu) will be the POC for 2011 Conference.

The agenda is shaping up for the 4th Annual Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference 2011, scheduled for May 11-13! The keynote speakers are great this year! May 11 is a day of workshops, and the main conference takes place on the 12th-13th. Our theme for this year’s conference is: Headed for the Future. Watch the FCVW web site for conference updates: http://www.ndu.edu/iCollege/fcvw/index.htm .

As we get closer to the event, more and more information will be posted on the web site For starters, each month until the conference, a new keynote speaker will be featured on our homepage. Get a sneak peek at who’s coming, what they’re about, and what they plan to discuss. We will also start posting detailed agenda information so that you can begin to plan how you would like to spend your time while at the conference.

In the meantime, here are a few important reminders and updates to keep in mind:

Proposals

There’s still time to submit a proposal for a workshop or for the vendor fair. Spaces are filling up, so act now.

The online proposal forms can be found on the FCVW Conference homepage under the Call for Proposals tab: http://www.ndu.edu/iCollege/fcvw/proposals.html

      Due dates to remember:

      Proposal deadline: February 7, 2011.

      Notification of acceptance: NLT March 14, 2011.

Registration

Registration is now open. You can register for workshops, the two-day conference or both! Whether you plan to attend on campus, through video stream or virtual world, you will need to register. Please visit http://www.ndu.edu/iCollege/fcvw/registration.html to register today. Please register even if you plan to attend virtually through the webstream or inworld. Cost is $0. Directions for registering are on the website.

Stay connected

· Follow us on twitter @fcvw for the latest conference information and updates as well as information on virtual worlds. If you tweet on virtual worlds, please include the #fcvw hashtag.

· Find us on us on Facebook. It’s not only a great way to get timely updates on FCVW happenings, but it’s also a great way to network with other FCVW members and followers.

· Join FCVW! If you are not already a member, you’re missing out on access to a wealth of knowledge and a large network of experienced professionals in virtual worlds from across multiple sectors. Click here to sign up for your FREE membership:http://www.ndu.edu/iCollege/fcvw/join.html .

If you have any questions, please email the FederalConsortiumVW@ndu.edu.

See you at the conference!

Paulette

__________________________________________

Paulette Robinson, PhD

Assistant Dean for Teaching, Learning & Technology

Information Resources Management College (NDU iCollege)

National Defense University

Washington DC

202-685-3891

Twitter--@pjrobinsonCall for proposals. A call for proposals is now posted on the website in three conference activities. If you have any questions, please email the FederalConsortiumVW@ndu.edu. Deadline for all proposals is February 15, 2010. Notification of acceptance will be no later than March 1, 2010. The online proposal form can be found on the FCVW Conference homepage:http://www.ndu.edu/irmc/fcvw/fcvw10/index.html under the news section.

1. Government project poster session—This session was one of the most popular at the conference last year. We encourage anyone in government or vendors (who are part of a government project) connected to a virtual world project to submit a proposal. The project can be in the planning phase, development phase, or maintenance phase as long as it is connected to virtual worlds. We have room for approximately 50 projects. We will have a table, electric plug and internet access for each project submitted. All of the projects are in one large room. Conference participants (530 last year) come around, admire your project and ask questions.

2. Workshops—this year we will have a pre-conference day of workshops on May 12 from 8-4. We will have a limited number of 3 hour slots and larger number of 75 minute slots for workshops. The workshops that are proposed should teach participants a skill that is related to virtual worlds. Breakfast, box lunch and pm snack will be served.

3. Vendor Fair—We have a relatively small vendor fair each year at the Consortium conference. Vendors are selected from proposals and have the choice of sponsoring the conference at three levels through the NDU Foundation. Once Vendors are selected, they will be notified and given the links to the NDU foundation information. You will get broad exposure from those in government, industry and academic interested in virtual worlds and virtual world related products. The vendor fair is in the midst of where food is served, just outside the government poster sessions and where the reception is held. I have had a number of vendors tell me it is the best virtual world conference they attend.

4. Virtual World live-video stream: If you would like to be one of the virtual world sites that we live video stream the conference (we streamed to 6 different virtual worlds last year), please contactBeverly.McCarter.CTR@ndu.edu. We had over 2,500 attending the conference last year through the stream or in one of the virtual worlds. It gives online participants the opportunity to see a variety of virtual worlds.

Don’t forget to follow us on twitter @fcvw for conference information and updates as well as information on virtual worlds. If you tweet on virtual worlds, please include the #fcvw hashtag. Thanks for your assistance.

Paulette

Paulette Robinson, PhD

Assistant Dean for Teaching, Learning & Technology

Information Resources Management College (NDU iCollege)

National Defense University

Washington DC

202-685-3891

Twitter--@pjrobinson

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

New Building Aid "Builders Palette" available soon

The Builder's Palette is a new tool that makes construction of multi-part objects quick and easy. We have texture organizers and sculpt organizers but Builder's Palette is the first tool that combine shapes and textures to create custom parts that can be easily assembled and modified in a build. Imagine being able to create an entire line of jewelry in a matter of minutes.

With the Builder's Palette you can do just that. Create the part of a necklace for example, consisting of a chain and a pendant or other parts. With a single click you instanly change the texture or shape of any of the parts. Builder's Palette is good for other things as well such as creating plant and flower arrangements, gadgets, furniture and even buildings. You can easily create your own palettes because everything but the scripts are full perm. I wil be working with part vendors to provide free palettes that they can distribute with their products.

Builder's Palette works well with other tools also. Itcan inject Prim Master scripts into the objects you are creating to make alignment simple and easy. It also works with the Opus Texture and Sculpt organizers to relay shapes and textures to your palettes. No more having to get textures from the texture organizer to your inventory. They can be applied directly to what you are creating. TheBuilder's Palette will also include a free Color Picker which I have upgraded to work with Builder's Palette. This allows you to easily find a color to apply to selected target prims.