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Communications Hub – Pt. II

As I was saying (before being interrupted by a known WordPress issue with long posts…), the Toshiba Thrive has taken over as the primary method of my electronic communication.

Where this really shines for me is being able to add in apps that handle all the communications methods I use, from IRC, to AIM (on the rare occasion), to WordPress entries and comments (like this entry) to all points inbetween. One can even torrent and use TOR and the Thrive doesn’t skip a beat or skimp on any of them.

Video chat.. got it, audio chat.. got it… all through Google Talk … or Ventrillo, or Teamspeak, or ..you pick ;) There is no longer any other need for yet another device to handle any of these functions.

Now, to my knowledge, and in the interest of disclosure, I do believe that the Thrive is a wifi only tablet… and while that may be a dealbreaker for some of you up front, be advised that you can tether to your phone or use a netbook usb dongle to interact with the 4G networks, if you like… and in the future, you can simply replace that usb dongle, so in effect, it’ll keep pace with you for a while, despite not having 4G onboard*.

In any case, I don’t want a cell phone on my wifi workstation tablet, so I’m happy with things the way they are.

(* some companies may in fact have a built in cell enabled version of the Thrive.. I leave it to you to check.)

So, The Thrive Is Great, But What Are You Actually Doing With It?

Well, for me the Thrive seemed to be the only tablet on the market to fit the bill for my uses… and that, as an artist, not only did I need a large screen, but I needed plenty of storage capability as well. I also liked to code, so the OS had to let me do that without worry and it had to be fast… no sense getting something awesomely transportable, with all these functions that turned out to be slower than molasses in winter.

The Thrive is fast, very fast, it multi tasks and it does exactly what I want it to do. Never have I had anything slot into my tech needs list so darn well and so quickly.

Thanks to wonderful apps like Sketchbook Mobile (SBM), I can draw, right on the tablet and do everything from storyboards to final line art (and with layers!) that I can then save as a .psd and ship over to photoshop for final colour and post processing. Its painless, and I suspect it’s goiing to save me alot of money on artist notebooks (digital means infinite pages after all).

Couple that with Winamp to handle my music, Gallery to handle my pictures (although Hey, GOOGLE! Three words -SORT BY NAME!-), Youtube to handle how-to and funny videos, a browser to handle my surfing… all I really need is a pair of headphones my can’t won’t chew up and I’m good for 8hr jaunts out into the world, or my living room, ready to focus on my work. And if i need a new full battery charge right now.. I can take off the back and put in a new backup battery (I don’t have one though), or I can simply plugin somewhere and keep on keepin on ;)

So that’s where we are, I have a Java compiler, a text editor, a graphics tablet, communications hub, video conferencing suite, a nice big screen for google maps, calendar, MP3 player/Audio recorder, Video Editor and Compiler…. all that AND its in one device which can expand to cover many more interests.

With luck, maybe the Toshiba Thrive will fit yours too :)

~Lourdes

Hardware Highlights

The Thrive is an honestly amazing bit of technology. At 10.1 and 7 inch varieties, I decided to go with a little more real estate and asked for the 10.1 inch model. I did this after alot of research into the tablets currently on the market and with mini-usb, Full USB, HDMI out and an sdcard expander, it kicks the snot out of the ipad and samsung galaxy.

I can plug in a full size usb keyboard or use a bluetooth one, I can add more internal memory via an SDcard (full size or mini via an adapter [full size only on 10.1" models]) and if I need more storage space, I can plug a full external Hd onto the device and have as much storage or access to stored media as I like, directly. Right now i’m using es file explorer to access things over wifi at home though, if I’m ever in need though.. external hd capacity is right there waiting.

Power Utilization

My god its full of stars! Literally, through all functions other than video use, the Thrive gives me a little over 8hrs of continuous multi-app use. I had resigned myself to tethering for power with other devices up to now, only taking them off charge when I had somewhere to go, but this allows me to get out from behind my desk (where my tower pc is) and move around.

I have discovered other areas of my house that I hereto for only heard reference to in legend… aka the ‘living room’.

Customization

The Thrive comes with the latest Honeycomb Android OS, though I hear Ice Cream Sandwich is coming soon. Nevermind that though, the Thrive is happy where it is and requires little customization of the OS itself to run like a powerhouse. In fact the only thing I had to do was replace the standard honeycomb keyboard with the ‘Hacker’s Keyboard’, available for free in the Google Market. As a result I have all the sanity of a regular keyboard, including function keys and arrows, and this makes life alot more friendly.

Apps

With the Google Marketplace being right there, its easy peasy to go hunting for the apps that are right for you, many have free and paid versions, so you can check out the applications before you buy, with various restrictions that are removed from the full version. I have noticed though, that many software vendors on android are really good about not getting in your face about buying, or throwing ads in your face constantly. They really seem to want you to get a good idea of what you’d get from the full version. The only time you really notice its not a paid app that you have, is when you reach for the extra features. And honestly, that’s nice.. I don’t need popups annoying the snark out of me every five minutes like some pc and mac software used to.

Communications Hub

Equipped with Google Talk and gmail, straight out of the gate, the Thrive has already taken over (from my OG Motorola Droid) my primary communications functions.

There’s more space to read and to type at a respectable full keyboard speed, even if i do end up hitting ‘n’ instead of the spacebar due to honeycomb not allowing you to extend down the full screen (it keeps a status bar on the bottom which means you either hit the bezel and nothing happens, hit the spacebar, or for a righty like me, you hit the ‘n’). Alas, this is not toshiba’s fault. This is android, and while noted -its not a big deal, and if you watch your keys, your good to go.. Just something to watch.

More next entry ;)

~Lourdes

I haven’t added a post here since April of this year and while some of you may be thinking that ‘that’s it, she’s outta SL for good’ , nothing could be further from the truth. I told all my readers that the Eyes of Laysan were watching –and they have been :)

So I see finally that Linden Labs has got their shit together as far as connecting up their billing and verification systems and they’ve added wonderful little controls for indicating whether or not the avatar you are using is a simulacrum powered by virtual intelligence or a real being. and I see that the viewer has gotten a few more features (though I can’t say the redesigns I’ve seen since April, knock my socks off) and then there’s the advent of Mesh onto the grid which I have very personal feelings about (can we say bad idea from a philosphic, lets keep the barriers to entry low for everyone, view?).

Moreover it seems like the public opinion on Superhero groups doing actual in-world policing has switched to the emphatically negative and that, ironically (considering that community was part friendship enhance, bread and butter as well as, in some cases, the bane of my virtual existence) my place was largely founded in that community, I have come to agree with that conclusion.

As a maker of items of superheroic pervue, it may, on the surface, seem anathema to have that view now, but superheroics in SL now, serve no purpose other than RPG fun and, it seems largely, to become the very thing you fought against.

As RPG devices and supplies, I’m happy with what I’ve made. From a superheroic standpoint of a woman with her finger on the Central Power Battery, security to assure that these devices aren’t misused has always been keen on my mind. And most clients know that, and I think that extra time and effort put in has resulted in the fact that I have only once, many years ago, been forced to instruct the CPB to depower someone permanently.

When I return to business in SL, this will not change.

Am I ready to come back to SL just yet?

The answer at the moment so far is no. While SL has made significant strides in mediating the downward spiral at the lab, I’m still wary of a few things. So I’ll be keeping an eye on them and if those are resolved (as were billing and verification issues I had with Linden Lab [see above]) then you’ll be the first to know. For now, I’ll be popping in, trying out various upgrades (like Raycasting), and gauging the world’s readiness. Me and the Magrathean’s are alike in that regard, for differing purpose.

Stroker Serpentine

One thing that I am concerned about, and have been since I found out, is in the news of Stroker Serpentine’s departure from SL and the circumstances surrounding it. Once at the top of the world, with significant profit as well, Stroker, to all reports is penniless and, if reports are to be believed, using drugs to get through his day.

Say what you want, and I only had great contacts with Stroker and more specifically his online family and staff, but I’m pretty sure that this is a story that should’ve ended in the Anshe Chung way, not been an example of how to lose everything and destroy a human being and his family. That’s the one thing I really can’t stomach within SL, the perceived two facedness in which some users act and the outright maliciousness of those who just can’t listen to their better natures and feel the need to go after someone to the point of this, alleged, result.

There need to be boundaries. A point past which you wouldn’t want someone to go and therefore shouldn’t go yourselves. That’s all I’m saying. And so to Stroker, I hope he has cleaned up or cleans up soon and gets back to rebuilding his life, learning from the mistakes he made without the jeers of others egging him to lower depths.

Finally

As I said before the Eyes of Laysan are watching…

..and the labs, they are a researching and experimenting :)

~Lourdes

The eyes of Laysan are watching.

Also noticed I no longer have to wade through 9000 group and other messages by waiting for them to pop and clicking ‘no’ or ;yes’ or the ‘x’.. now i can get to em when I’m good n ready and x em all, easy as pie.

So Congratulations Linden Lab! Between the above and finally being able to RELIABLY set my camera angle to behind my avatar (not above and overlooking my avatar) I am starting to feel like Second Life is becoming user driven again…If this happened because you got Rod Humble as CEO, then welcome Rod… seriously… we needed you, sir!

~Lourdes

PS- things keep going in this nice direction without graphical bloat and other issues… I may actually contemplate a serious full on return :)

What I am not doing is going whole hog and reinstalling a huge main store and plugging my wares in the ad system or anything like that.

What I AM doing is logging in, speaking with friends, and revising code because well, I like to code :) Working with java and javascript and a little c# here and there has given me a whole new insight into how things should be put together, so I’m taking a look at code and optimizing where it desperately needs it, am adding new features and I may even release all that under the “When I’m damn good and ready” clause.

Until then, I’ve updated my picks to take you to the only remaining store I have in SL and to the Central Power Battery that resides there.

Could this change and SL see a full return of Miss Laysan? Possibly, but not until I’m reasonably sure that the lab is on a good enough tack. When the dust settles from display names and the march of the younglings, then its possible, if no other major WTF moments occur, but even then, the store will have a bit of a change of focus here and there, for the better all round.

To those looking for the inevitable, when will the V3 come out, or when is the V3 gonna be done, the answer is “When its ready”.

By the by, I was looking at the new Quantum Core ad… when did those guys go from being professional to utter dicks? Or did they always have those ‘be a dick’ to other’s functions, and I hadn’t noticed? Ah well, more from me later.. Code optimization awaits.

~Lourdes

I’m using Jedit with the the compiler and a few other very useful plugins (thanks Maggie!) and the JDK and JRE.

A few tips for those heading forward using Java for the first time.

- Install the JRE AND the JDK before you do anything else.

- Setup your Global Path

- Install Jedit

- Install Plugins for Jedit (if you want to use them).

- Setup your class paths in your editor/plugins

If you fail to do these things, you may run into alot of errors.. and I can’t tell you how much frustration this causes. The answers are kinda out there, but if you’re just starting out, unless you’re good at searching through obfuscation in terms you aren’t yet familiar with, finding the solution is extremely arduous, even with assistance, because again, you’re not familiar with the terms so you don’t know what you’re not asking and most folks give you answers to the specific question, not the whole picture… and the devil is in the details.

I’ve been going on two months now, sorting through various development environments, most with way too much overhead and encumbrance for my needs (I’m looking at you ECLIPSE [shakes fist] ), and I am so happy to have finally gotten a stable environment setup, its not even funny.

Besides the overblown encumbrances and way too many ‘features’ of IDE’s getting in the way, Errors did abound, and guess what.. here are two solutions I’m making available so you don’t need to claw through sites and documentation and advice for weeks on end to discover yourself;

• Javac not found ->  indicates you either a) did not install the JDK or b) you didn’t set up your global path on your system.

• xxxx.class not found -> your class path is NOT pointing to the directory you are saving your projects to.

So, for those of you being brought here for this specific info. Congrats. Do and go kick some :)

For everyone else, If there’s demand, maybe I’ll compile a running story on what its like to learn Java and the ins and outs as I go… in REAL HUMAN SPEAK until we all become familiar with the tech speak. Might help folks ease in to this without hitting their heads against walls like I have been for two months :) Check back and find out and certainly, share your thoughts in the comments :)

~Lourdes

I don’t know if anyone is reading anymore, if anyone cares what I have to say. But I ‘m writing this for myself really. And one day if I keep doing it, someone may be able to say, “She knew. She Spoke Out. She Acted.”

The real question is, why isn’t anyone else?  Or from a future perspective, Why didn’t anyone else speak out?

Is the world mostly sheep? Is SL a microcosm of sheep scattered with a few who see the problem but can’t get the others to tow a line? Is it really the way the system is setup? Do what we (Linden Lab) want, because you are locked in and too attached to your avatar to give up that extension into virtual reality?

I think there’s money involved too, a source that even as the spigot slowly turns closed, people will try to eek everything they can from.  And then there are those who do not care at all.

I care. I cared so much. I vowed to defend the grid in my off times from those who would attack and disrupt it. As Sally Jupiter said in Watchmen, “I was a hero goddamit!”. But now… I see things on the grid more like the Question… the more Linden Lab push their crazy rules and changes on those like me that don’t want them, the more I disassociate from that world and am simultaneous drawn to figure out why.. there’s justice in the why.

But here’s the worst part. In that world, we have no means. No method to fight back against oppression. No matter what we do, as long as we participate in Second Life, as long as we are on their blogs and their forums, buying Lindens, no matter what we do… Linden Lab wins. They have all the controls, all the doors, all the keys.

Except, there is one way we could make Linden Lab listen. Take the plunge. Disconnect. Pull our accounts, refuse to give them another dime… All of us. Heck 50 percent. Close down, pay nothing, buy nothing until they come to the table, put in a governing council with elections for residents, and agree in writing to listen to them and run changes by the electorate FIRST when it comes to major changes in the society that is SL.

I’ve said it time and again that we need government in SL with resident involvement and very few people ever listen. They think its impossible. And because they think its impossible, that it could never happen, no one even tries. Its pathetic… because no seems to be able to get mad enough to cut the cord.

Its taken me a while. I’ve grown attached to my virtual self, my virtual expression, She is me, I am her. But the two of us had a pow wow and avatar and I sorted the variables and have come to our conclusion. It makes me sick to exist in a world where I have no say in its structure. And She has no desire to exist there either. I am safe behind my keyboard, my extension exists on their servers. The only way I can get her out, is to stop logging in. I wish I could take her with me. But for now, she’ll have to exist in limbo or as a shade, walking the world in sadness, tethered to me watching the fall of all the residents freedoms til the end, it doesn’t seem fair to her or me.

Seems a little meta there. We’re not two people, my avatar is my extension, I have inhabited and provided life, my face to the world inside, and it saddens me no end to be losing that face, that extensible self, as if losing a limb. Which is why I find it so hard to cancel her account. I want her to live. But I want her and myself and all of you and yours to be free there.. the only option that will have an impact is if we all follow suit and disconnect our financials to linden lab and make a demand, enmasse together to them for representation. Not in SL, but in RL and they will only listen when their bank accounts stop filling with our blood sweat and cold hard cash.

So that’s where i am right now and I hope some of you will think this through and come to a decision on what to do. Its only your world, your imagination, if you are free to shape it,  imagine and make it yours. And Linden lab has made that eminently impossible from the inside. Its time we came at the problem from the world that they can’t control, the real one.

Thank You.

I am not dealing with Linden Labs BS any further.

I think its been some time again since I’ve posted and it grieves me to have to come here and post something like this, but these are the times that you have to take stock of the situation and decide whether or not you can continue.

As many of you know, I’m a Guardian of Hope of the BLC as well as a developer, Fashion Designer, Builder and Scripter, all within Second Life. I have recently returned in-world to get things going again after a 6month hiatus due to GFX and PC issues and I was very much, excited to be back in world. Philip Rosedale came back (awesome, I thought) and M. Linden got the boot (awesome I know :) )

But a few days ago, Linden Lab announced they were merging the Teen Grid into the Main Grid of SL, letting teens 16 and older (with plans for everyone from 13-17) to mix in the PG areas of the Second Life Adult Grid.

Add to this the taking away of every resident’s uniqueness by turning in a half ass name change feature that would more readily have been exercised by actually putting in a simple webform and fee system to change resident login names, and we have the strong brew that brings me to the following statement;

As of this date, Lourdes Laysan, will no longer be releasing ANY new content to the Second Life Main Grid until these two issues are resolved to our satisfaction.

Now I know many of you are also worried about these issues, and I can’t tell you what to do. If you think you can make it through in this environment if these major proverbial bombs go off, more power to you. I can’t in good conscience.

Additionally, if anyone who has been following my work is interested, I have a metric ton of research, lab models, prototypes and other projects going forward for the V3 Ring and Other project areas which I am now prepared to release exclusively to a buyer for not less than $300,000L (approximately $1090.00 USD). I will not be describing the lot further in any detail. Many of you are aware of the high quality of my work and my impeccable ethics and that will serve.

For now, All I intend to do is continue my research until there is a buyer, and after that, wander SL as a shade and document what I believe to be the coming ruin of its civilization.

I will be contactable in-world by you dropping a notecard to me with your interest in procuring, The Repository.